Axel | Honter

Designer and agency owner. Building Honter, the end of make-it-pop. Better client feedback for designers, in public.

[Axel | Honter @axeltdesign]

"Make it pop."
The most useless words in design. And it was never our fault.
The people reviewing our work aren't designers. They feel something's off, they just can't say what.
So I'm building the fix. The end of make-it-pop.
Building in public. Follow if this is your life.

[Axel | Honter @axeltdesign]

@ojocolombia2026 que fácil es identificar a un petrista!

[Axel | Honter @axeltdesign]

Cant wait to show you guys!!!

[Axel | Honter @axeltdesign]

Revision hell isn't a design problem. It's a translation problem.

Think about who actually reviews your work.
A CEO. A marketing lead. An exec who asked for a deck. Smart people. Not designers.

They look at your work and feel something. "This isn't quite right." But they have no words for it, because nobody taught them hierarchy, contrast, pacing, tone.

So it comes out as "make it pop."

You guess what they meant. You guess wrong. Revision two. You guess again. Revision three.

The whole spiral comes from one missing piece. The reviewer can feel the problem but can't name it.

Fix the naming, and the revisions mostly disappear.
That's the bet I'm making with Honter. The end of make-it-pop.

[Axel | Honter @axeltdesign]

Real feedback I've gotten. None of it means anything:

"Make it pop."
"I'll know it when I see it."
"Make the logo bigger." (it's already the biggest thing on the page)
"It's missing something."
"Make it more premium. But also fun."
"Just one small change." (it's never one. it's never small.)
"Send me the final final v3."
We all laugh at these.

Then we spend the weekend guessing what they actually meant.

That's the part that isn't funny. And it's the part I'm building the fix for.

The end of make-it-pop.

[Axel | Honter @axeltdesign]

It kind of sucks that I’m shutting down another startup. Oh well, let’s keep working until I build something that’s actually useful to people.

[Axel | Honter @axeltdesign]

Do you think this is a good product for marketing agencies or any creative agency out there?

I’m giving free access to all the Pro tools for 3 months to anyone who’s interested.

https://t.co/fCSf4XYprW

[Axel | Honter @axeltdesign]

Definitely better than sending your work as a PDF file.

[Axel | Honter @axeltdesign]

@kacieahmed Client delivery, the way your work deserves. https://t.co/fCSf4XYprW

[Axel | Honter @axeltdesign]

@Techstars Client delivery, the way your work deserves. https://t.co/fCSf4XYprW

[Axel | Honter @axeltdesign]

@CiprianiRanieri https://t.co/S2ygkNtQEL

[Axel | Honter @axeltdesign]

@mscode07 https://t.co/KcRi4qOoVw
Present your work beautifully

[Axel | Honter @axeltdesign]

@aakashgupta The tool is real. But someone still has to know what they're building toward. Galileo generating a homepage doesn't know your positioning, your price point, or why your last rebrand flopped. That part is still human.

[Axel | Honter @axeltdesign]

I keep seeing “designers are cooked.” Do you really think a CEO of a company is going to learn AI and those kinds of processes? Do you think they have time for that shit?

Designers are just getting more tools to work with, so learn how to use them instead.

[Axel | Honter @axeltdesign]

@alexoakdev Product people who get branding win. Not because of prettier visuals. Because they decide what story to tell before they write a line of code. The brand is the filter every product decision gets run through.

[Axel | Honter @axeltdesign]

Your cybersecurity firm's website is losing you enterprise deals before you ever get on a call. The CISO already decided. They just didn't tell you.

[Axel | Honter @axeltdesign]

Brand works through repetition. If every touchpoint looks different, none of them build on each other. You start from zero every time someone sees your name. That is not marketing. That is noise.

[Axel | Honter @axeltdesign]

@Exclaimer Centralizing assets is a good first step. The harder problem is getting people to actually use them consistently. A brand kit is only as good as the culture around it.

[Axel | Honter @axeltdesign]

@soleio True. The best designers I know get their best work through word of mouth, not job boards. If you're building those connections only when you need to hire, you're already late. Start the relationship way before you need it.

[Axel | Honter @axeltdesign]

@danmall True for bloated agencies. But there's a third path: small studio, 2-3 people, one offer. You keep tight margins and have actual leverage. Not drowning in Slack fires, not alone on calls either.