Halv — a half-marathon

A half-marathon for people who do not run. Identity, training app, and a finisher’s medal that is honestly very small. The work began with two weeks of conversations and a single, half-finished sketch on the back of a flight ticket — which is, in our experience, where most good projects start.

We agreed early to keep the surface area small. One typeface, one printer, one engineer, one editor — every decision passes through the same four hands. The result is a project that feels of one cloth, even when it is doing very different things in very different places.

We built the system from the smallest reusable thing — a number, a label, a card — and let everything else inherit. When the smallest thing is right, the largest thing gets obvious.

There were two studio reviews a week and one client review every other Friday. Nothing was approved by email; everything was approved out loud, in a room, with the work pinned to a wall.