Every new identity project starts with the same temptation: to say everything at once. A logo that explains the whole business, a palette with a colour for every mood, a type system with four families. It feels generous. It rarely works.

Less, but sharper

Restraint isn’t minimalism for its own sake. It’s about choosing one idea and letting it carry the weight. For Kalde, that idea was the glaze test — a small, imperfect square of colour. Everything else in the system exists to support it.

Three questions I ask

What is the one thing people should remember? What can we remove without losing it? And what would still feel right in five years? If an element doesn’t pass all three, it goes.

Room to grow

A restrained system is also easier to live with. Teams can extend it without breaking it, and the brand gets stronger with every use instead of noisier.