Fixate Studios

Fixate Studios is a collective of TTRPG creators, writers, and world-builders producing narrative-driven tabletop content. They needed a brand identity and landing page that communicated their craft without leaning on the usual fantasy cliches. The brief was clear: feel premium, feel grounded, feel like a studio that takes storytelling seriously. I designed the full brand system, logo, typography, color palette, and visual language, then brought it to life through a single-page marketing site that doubles as a statement of intent.

I approached the brand the same way the team approaches their games, by building a world first. I started with written tone and personality exercises before touching any visuals. What would Fixate sound like in a conversation? What bookshelf would it sit on? Those answers informed a visual direction rooted in editorial design and indie publishing rather than the high-fantasy aesthetic that dominates the TTRPG space. The logo was iterated through over forty explorations before arriving at a mark that feels both sharp and inviting.

The brand and landing page needed to go live ahead of a Kickstarter campaign for their debut module. That gave us a four-week window covering discovery, brand design, web design, and development. I front-loaded the brand exploration in week one, locked the visual system by week two, and spent the remaining time designing and refining the landing page. The compressed timeline forced sharp prioritization, every design decision had to earn its place.

The TTRPG space has a strong visual vocabulary, ornate borders, parchment textures, medieval type. Fixate wanted to break from that without alienating the audience that lives in it. The challenge was finding a visual lane that felt fresh and elevated while still being recognizable as tabletop content. I solved this by keeping the content deeply rooted in TTRPG culture while wrapping it in a design language borrowed from independent publishing and contemporary editorial design.

Working within a tight timeline and a niche audience taught me that constraints don't limit creativity, they focus it. The four-week deadline forced me to trust my instincts earlier and present fewer, stronger options instead of casting a wide net. I also learned that the most effective brand work happens when you understand the audience's existing visual expectations well enough to knowingly subvert them. You can't break rules you don't understand.