01
Manifesto
We don’t design logos. We write the rules a brand lives by, then hand them over so anyone can use them long after we’ve left the room.
The studio
Ordinal started in Lisbon in 2017 and opened a second studio in Porto in 2022. Nine designers and one strategist, no account managers. We work with founders, cultural institutions and companies in their second decade: people who need an identity that survives a handover.
2017
Founded in Lisbon
64
Identity systems delivered
2
Studios, Lisbon and Porto
02
Selected work
Four systems, still in daily use.
View all work
03
Services
Five chapters, one system.
Take one chapter or the whole book. Every engagement ends with a guideline your team can use without us in the room.
04
Process
Twelve weeks, five phases.
A typical identity project, week by week. You see work every Friday and sign off at the end of each phase, so nothing arrives as a surprise.
4.1
W01–W02
Listen
Interviews, audit and a kick-off workshop with your team.
4.2
W03–W04
Define
Positioning, naming and a one-page brief we both sign.
4.3
W05–W09
Design
Three routes, one direction, then the full identity system.
4.4
W08–W11
Build
Applications, templates and the guideline itself.
4.5
W11–W12
Hand over
Training, final files and 30 days of support.
Strategy-only engagements run four to five weeks. Guidelines for an existing identity take three.
05
Do and Don’t
One wordmark. Seven ways to break it.
Touch a rule to see what happens when it is ignored. Or grab the logo and push it too close to the edge.
06
References
On the record.
Three clients, in their own words. Every entry links to a project in chapter 02.
A.1
Halden Ceramics
Porto · 2025
“They handed us a rulebook and a team that could use it. Two years on, nobody has needed to call them.”
Inês Carvalho
Founder, Halden Studio
A.2
Norte Observatory
Lisbon · 2024
“The signs survived a winter on a hill with no light. That is the review we care about.”
Tomás Reis
Director, Fundação Norte
A.3
Quarto Press
Porto · 2024
“Our guest designers read the guideline once and get it right. I have never seen that before.”
Marta Lins
Publisher, Quarto Editions
Selected clients
2017 — 2026
Request a brief
We reply within two working days
Tell us what you’re building.
Four questions are enough to start. Answer what you can and we’ll ask for the rest.
01
Who are you?
Name, company and one line on what you do.
02
What do you need?
Strategy, identity, guidelines, packaging, digital.
03
When?
A start date, a deadline, or just a season.
04
Budget
A range is fine. It helps us be honest early.