Most outdoor brands are loud. They use aggressive geometry like sharks or bulls or jagged mountain peaks to scream toughness from the shelf.
Our goal for Brevn was the exact opposite. We wanted a brand that was quiet. We wanted to communicate that you are the hero, not the product. We want you to stand out, not the gear. The technology should just be the silent partner that helps you stay in the moment.
Finding the Right Partner
Before we even started, we had to find a partner. This is incredibly hard for a startup. You need to find an agency that is the right size. They need to be big enough to deliver but small enough to care.
We looked at a lot of portfolios and honestly, it was a sea of sameness. Everyone is turning out high-quality execution. The mockups look slick and the typography is tight but very few agencies differentiate themselves. It all looks the same.
We chose Onfire Design because their portfolio showed more than just execution. You could see the thinking behind the designs. There was personality in the work, not just polish. We knew we needed thinkers, not just decorators.
The Lesson:
When choosing a partner, look past the polish. High-quality visuals are just table stakes now. Look for the personality and the strategy behind the work. If their portfolio feels like a template, your brand will too.
The Brief and the Sea of Sameness
Before we briefed Onfire, we did our own homework. We mapped out the entire landscape of our competitors to understand exactly what they looked like.
What we found was another sea of sameness. Everyone was using the same aggressive visual language. It was all sharp angles and bold masculine fonts that tried to look technical. We knew immediately that if we wanted to stand out, we couldn't just be a better version of that. We had to be structurally different.
This research became the backbone of our brief. We didn't just say "make it cool." We showed them the wall of noise and said "We need to be the silence." We also told them we needed a flexible system. We needed a word logo and a separate brand mark because when you design physical hardware, you don't always have space for the full name.
The Lesson:
You can't brief "different" if you don't know what "same" looks like. Do your research before you write the brief. Map your competitors, identify the clichés, and give your agency a clear map of the open territory.
The "Ta-Da" Trap
We discussed the process early on. We agreed that we didn't need flashy presentations. We cared about the content, not the reveal. We wanted to avoid the "Ta-Da!" moment so we could see the working and spot valuable ideas in the margins.
But this is foreign territory for most designers who are trained to polish everything before showing it. Even though we asked for rough work, we still got polished presentations. Because of that, the first round missed the mark. They spent time perfecting a direction that was focused on the wrong thing (the technology) instead of the right thing (the feeling).
The Lesson:
Simply asking for "rough work" isn't enough. You have to change the process. If we had used a shared workspace (like Miro or Figma) to see the work in real-time, we could have course-corrected days earlier. For small startups and agencies, real-time collaboration beats the "weekly reveal" every time.
Hiding in Plain Sight
We eventually got there later in the exploration. Because we pushed to see the edges of the work, we spotted something weird. It was included in the presentation, but you could tell they weren't sure if they should even show it.
It was a little ghost.
Initially, it looked more like a Pac-Man ghost. It was a bit retro and geometric. But the idea was perfect. A ghost is present but intangible. It can pass through barriers without making a sound. It was the perfect metaphor for our design philosophy. We want gear that is always there when you need it but disappears when you do not.
From there, we worked to refine it. We moved away from the gaming reference and softened the form to meet our brand values. We wanted something friendlier and more organic. We wanted a spirit that felt helpful rather than haunted.
The Lesson:
The best ideas are often the ones the agency is afraid to show you. They worry it’s "off-brief" or too risky. Your job as a client is to create an environment where they feel safe enough to show you the weird stuff, because that is usually where the magic is.
O for Awesome
The name Orson for the brand mark was a happy accident. During a review meeting, I looked at the ghost icon and said, "That is awesome." The team at Onfire looked up and said, "Orson? Yeah, that is a cool name."
It immediately reminded us of that classic slice of Kiwi pop culture where David Tua appeared on Wheel of Fortune. He asked for an "O for Olsen" to honor his hero, but the whole country heard "O for Awesome."
I loved the symmetry of that misunderstanding. It felt right. It gave us a name that felt human and a little bit humble. It is a reminder that while our engineering is serious, we do not need to take ourselves too seriously.
The Lesson:
Leave room for serendipity. You cannot brainstorm a cultural connection like that. Sometimes you just have to be listening when a mistake happens.
How Different is Different Enough?
Finally, we had to tackle the word logo. We had a base font that was close to being right, but I wasn't aware that using it straight out of the box could come with a steep licensing fee.
While the fee was unexpected, it wasn't the main driver. The real issue was that the stock font was only ever a starting point. It didn't actually match Orson. We needed the word mark to work in harmony with the brand mark, and the base font wasn't quite there.
We dug deeper to make it fit. We adjusted the shapes, the details, and the spacing until the word mark felt like it belonged to the same family as the ghost. In doing so, we created something uniquely ours. We didn't just avoid a fee; we built a cohesive brand.
The Lesson:
Don't get distracted by the price tag. If the font had been perfect, we would have paid the fee without hesitation. It's a small price to pay for the right asset. But never pay for something that is just "okay." Demand that every part of your brand matches your vision perfectly.