Sidepress
Our newsletter curation tool. The course follows this brand from the first set of directions to the one that is live now.
Directions we explored
Course · Early access
Design a brand with AI that people stop and look at.
A self-paced course on the procedure we use to design our own brands and our clients’ brands with Claude. You get the lessons, the skill that runs the procedure for you, and the prompts and examples behind it.
Sign up for early access $99 · one-time
What you get / 01
The lessons, and the skill that does it with you.
The course
Short video lessons you watch in your own time. Each one follows a real brand from the first brief to the identity that shipped.
The skill
Our brand design procedure packaged as a Claude skill. Install it and Claude runs the same process on your project: references first, then numbered options side by side.
The prompts
The prompts we use at each stage, including the ones for critique, which is where most of the quality comes from.
The worked examples
The option boards from our own projects, including the directions we threw out and why.
The lessons / 02
From a brief to a finished brand.
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01
Question the brief
What to settle before any design happens: who the brand is for, where it will be seen most, and which references contradict each other.
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02
Show it your inspirations
How to collect references and competitors, and get Claude to read what each one is doing with type, colour, imagery and texture.
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03
Ask for many directions
One polished logo stops the exploration. We ask for several directions that differ in register, each numbered, named and given its own personality words.
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04
Compare them side by side
Every direction in the same real context: a landing page with your real copy, the product, light and dark, down to the 16px favicon.
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05
Critique in specifics
“More premium” burns rounds. We show the kind of feedback that moves a design: which element, compared to what.
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06
Iterate to the final
The rounds on palette, type and marks we went through to land on a finished brand, and how to tell when to stop generating and decide.
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07
Ship the brand
Turning the chosen direction into logo files, a brand guide with the reasoning in it, and a live website.
Made this way / 03
Two brands, and the directions along the way.
traction studio
Our own brand. Designed with the same procedure, including the rounds on colour and type.
Directions we explored
Questions / 04
- Who is this for?
- Founders, marketers and product people who need a brand that looks designed and don't have a designer on hand. You don't need to write code.
- What do I need?
- A paid Claude account. The skill runs in Claude, and the lessons are recorded there.
- When do I get the course?
- We are recording it now. People on the early-access list hear first when it opens, and get the skill and prompts with it.
- Which AI model does it use?
- Claude. The lessons show where the current model is strongest at design work, and we update them as the models change.
Early access · $99 · one-time
Sign up for early access.
Sign up and we’ll write to you when the course opens. You pay nothing until then.