Glyn Studio

A creative studio building brands that customers choose and competitors study

[Paul Kelly @ObayagbonaPaul]

Durian's visual system

[Paul Kelly @ObayagbonaPaul]

Easily one of my favourite projects and I get to work with the best people on this.

[Paul Kelly @ObayagbonaPaul]

Stills from Durian

[Paul Kelly @ObayagbonaPaul]

Early in building Durian, we knew we wanted to create something that didn't look like just another AI-led solution, which meant going beyond the surface.

One of the first brand ideas we landed on was "Never Miss a Customer." It made sense because Durian is built to help business owners capture every lead. But when we dug into the competitive landscape, we saw the same message everywhere. "Never miss a call." "Never miss a lead." "Never miss a customer." We were about to blend in before we even started. So we decided to zag.

We built @glyn_studio around giving brand souls, which means going beyond the generic and the obvious. So the question became: how do we communicate the same truth in a way that actually means something?

We went back to the problem Durian was solving. A Small business in the US loses $126,000 annually to missed calls and late-night enquiries; real revenue that slips through the cracks. But the deeper problem was that most small business owners started out doing something they loved. Then, almost without noticing, they were drowning in admin, juggling too many things at once, and the joy that got them started started to feel like a burden.
So we asked ourselves: if Durian solves that, what does it actually unlock for these owners? Could it mean more time to deliver great work? Fewer nights lying awake, anxious? Actually showing up to your kid's game knowing things were handled?

That thinking led us to "The Superhuman You", the idea of being present everywhere, even when you're only in one place. Multiple versions of yourself, automatically handling calls, chats, and enquiries while you live your life or are focused on work. Then, mid-fine-tuning, @akintheodoxx had an epiphany and said: What if we just said: 'Always Be Present’?

I knew right there we had found the soul of Durian. It's one irreducible idea that validates everything Durian does: being present for your customers, your family, your life.

The best brand ideas work like a key. They don't just unlock one door; they unlock everything. And that's exactly what Always Be Present did for Durian.

Once we had it, every decision became easier. Copy that used to feel like feature-listing transformed into something more human, we stopped focusing more on what Durian does and started talking about what it gives back. Time. The version of yourself you actually wanted to be when you started the business.

The visual language followed the same logic. Rather than leaning into the accepted aesthetic that dominates the AI space, we built a system rooted in presence, using heatmaps as a metaphor for being everywhere at once.

Even the smallest brand touchpoints all trace back to that single idea. That's how you know you've found the real thing. That's what a soul does for a brand. It's the thing that makes every execution feel inevitable.

Logo animation by @HeyTesian
Brand design by @iodocollins
Creative direction by me.

[Paul Kelly @ObayagbonaPaul]

More shots from the Squirrelshots project.

[Glyn Studio @glyn_studio]

@brandarchivexyz 🎉 https://t.co/van8XMPe3P

[Paul Kelly @ObayagbonaPaul]

Close up shots of some of the slides.

[Paul Kelly @ObayagbonaPaul]

Most photographers build portfolios. Few build brands.

Squirrelshots was a Launchpad engagement where we explored how a photography business could move from “talented freelancer” perception to “intentional brand” perception.

This concept was one of the visual directions we developed during the process.

Because strong brands don’t just showcase work. They shape how the work is valued.

If you're at that stage where your business has grown but your brand hasn't caught up yet, that's exactly why we built Launchpad.

Launchpad → https://t.co/YbJ3sFkByM

[Paul Kelly @ObayagbonaPaul]

March Dump.

Some work done @glyn_studio

[Paul Kelly @ObayagbonaPaul]

Working with Syncplify to build a brand system that could scale with their growing product suite, was a great experience for us. We wrote a breakdown of the process in the article below.

https://t.co/ArcRRCsXBU

[Glyn Studio @glyn_studio]

One thing we’ve learned working with companies is that brand problems rarely start as design problems. They usually start when the company has evolved, but the brand hasn’t caught up yet.

That was the case with Syncplify.

View the full project: https://t.co/QtV1CPyS3C

[Glyn Studio @glyn_studio]

@gobayfi thank you

[Glyn Studio @glyn_studio]

NEW CASE STUDY
Between 2024 and 2025, we partnered with Syncplify to evolve their product identity and digital presence, rethinking how their brand shows up as their product suite expanded.

View the full case study: https://t.co/QtV1CPyS3C

[Glyn Studio @glyn_studio]

NEW CASE STUDY
Between 2024 and 2025, we partnered with Syncplify to evolve their product identity and digital presence, rethinking how their brand shows up as their product suite expanded.

View the full case study: https://t.co/QtV1CPyS3C

[Paul Kelly @ObayagbonaPaul]

Excited that this is out! This was one of those projects where a simple logo refresh turned into something much bigger. We worked with Syncplify to evolve its brand as its product ecosystem grew, ultimately building a more cohesive and scalable brand system.

View the full case study: https://t.co/O6F57syvmy

[Glyn Studio @glyn_studio]

@dbranddr @ObayagbonaPaul Thank you EA

[Glyn Studio @glyn_studio]

Excited to drop our first case study of the year

[Paul Kelly @ObayagbonaPaul]

What does it look like when a company revisits a brand system years after it was first built?

We recently worked with Syncplify to evolve their identity for where they’re heading next.

Full case study drops Friday.

[Paul Kelly @ObayagbonaPaul]

What does it look like when a company revisits a brand system years after it was first built?

We recently worked with Syncplify to evolve their identity for where they’re heading next.

Full case study drops Friday.

[Glyn Studio @glyn_studio]

@skyecreativeWW Which quote resonates the most with you?

[Glyn Studio @glyn_studio]

“You can’t scale chaos.”
Last Friday on Glyn Space, @skyecreativeWW broke down what actually makes a creative business sustainable.
If you’re building a studio, you shouldn’t miss this.
You can listen to the recording on our profile or watch on YouTube: https://t.co/FvXlPwZNmO