[welcome to micah jay design]

[about]

I've been designing for small businesses, community organizations, and independent operators long enough to know what the good ones have in common: they don't want to look like everyone else, and they can tell the difference between a brand that means something and a mark that could belong to anyone.

That's what this studio is for. Real identity work for the people who care whether it lands. Not a template. Not a package deal. Not a logo generated on a Tuesday morning by a machine that has never seen your storefront. Something built for you, on purpose, that reflects the actual thing you're building.

I make work with fingerprints on it. That's the whole pitch.

[how it works]

a conversation to start. what you're building, what you need, what you're up against. from there, a written proposal. if it lands, a contract, a deposit, and we're moving. revisions, presentation, delivery — the specifics get spelled out in the contract so nobody's guessing.

rates depend on what the project actually needs. pricing gets worked out after the first conversation, not before.

[what we can do together]

a logo alone is a mark. a brand identity is the whole system — everything that makes a business recognizable across every surface it lives on. skipping the system to save time or money is how businesses end up looking like every other business in their category.

here's what a full identity system usually includes:

• a primary logo and secondary marks that work at any size

• a color palette that reads across print, screen, and physical objects

• a type system for headlines, body copy, and everything in between

• applications across the surfaces you actually use — packaging, signage, digital, print collateral

• guidelines that let you (or anyone you hire later) use the system correctly

not every project needs all of this. some businesses need a full ground-up build. some already have pieces and need the rest brought up to match. the right scope gets figured out in the first conversation.

i also do promotional work, editorial and print, and motion. if it involves designing something for someone who wants it made with care, we should probably talk.

[let’s get rad]

if you want to get rad, let's do it.

email is the best way to reach me. i check it constantly and i get back to people fast — usually same day, always within twenty-four hours.

tell me what you're working on. a sentence, a paragraph, a whole epic — whatever you've got. from there we'll figure out the best way to keep talking.