The designerbehind the brands.
Big-brand thinking for businesses building something real. I'm Nic Barnes, and I help good businesses show up the way they deserve to.
I started Studio Barnes because too many good businesses were getting overlooked.
Not because they weren't good at what they did. Because the way they showed up didn't reflect the quality of the work happening behind the scenes.
Over the years, I've seen the same thing happen again and again. Businesses jump straight into logos and websites without stepping back to think about what they're trying to say and who they're trying to reach. Then they wonder why marketing feels hard, why the wrong enquiries keep coming in, and why people don't quite get what they do.
I believe good businesses deserve better than that. That's why Studio Barnes exists. To bring big-brand thinking to businesses building something real.
In brief
- Experience
- 15+ years building brands
- Clients
- Startups to established businesses
- Brands worked on
- Coca-Cola, Toyota, Lexus, BYD, Ford
- Based in
- Pretoria, South Africa
I help turn messy brands into something people actually choose.
That usually means building strategic identities and websites that pull their weight, with big-brand thinking tying it all together.
But before we build anything, we make sure we're solving the right problem. A new logo won't fix a confusing business. A flashy website won't solve unclear positioning. Good design works harder when it's backed by good thinking.
What you can expect
- Honest conversationsI'll tell you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear.
- Practical thinkingNo jargon. No bloated processes. No ninety-page PDFs.
- Work that earns its keepEverything we create should have a job to do.
Book a call and tell me where the business is going. I'll show you the clearest way to get there.
→Book a call