writing
IDEAS + FIELD NOTES
Thinking in public.
Essays and practical notes on organizations, meaning, systems, technology, and the work of making complexity intelligible. Writing is where the questions behind the work stay visible: provisional enough to develop, concrete enough to use.
01
Business as Sculpture
Form, assembly, systems, and organizations
02
Notes from the Field
Observations from strategy and client practice
03
Lessons from the Studio
Practical principles for moving ideas into form
ONGOING INQUIRY
Latest writing.
New essays will appear here across three ongoing series—each approaching organizations, design, and change from a different angle.
1. Built, Found, Assembled
TLDR: While a work of sculpture can be built, found, or assembled, a brand is always necessarily an assemblage of some which is built and much which is found.
1. Guiding Principles
TLDR: A foundational brand strategy should inspire your team, identifying the north star that drives the business and the essential principles that define its character. By way of illustration, this list presents our core values and context for putting them into action.
1. Begin with the Obvious
TLDR: Consistently investing time in strategic thinking before implementation will save you time, money, and headaches.
WRITING + PRACTICE
Ideas are more useful when they return to the work.
These essays are not a separate content program. They are a record of questions being tested across studios, organizations, research, and digital systems—and a way for prospective clients to understand how Argot Nots thinks before a conversation begins.
01
Notice
A tension, pattern, or assumption worth examining
02
Frame
Language or a model that makes the question enterable
03
Apply
A principle carried into organizational or design practice