If you’re like us, you’re already thinking about ways to reinvigorate your client-facing materials and think through your marketing strategies so that you can hit your targets in 2026. We love this time of year—when the enthusiasm is on the rise and the appetite for strategy is strong. If you have dreams of a brand refresh or a website renovation this year, don’t neglect strategy! Give yourself the space and time to work through your ideas.

As it turns out, sometimes you must go backward to move forward—a process that feels undeniably inefficient. This phase of business can’t be rushed. This year we learned, often impatiently, that progress meant making decisions, undoing them, and occasionally remaking them, each time finding a bit more clarity. If you had asked us when we started Cowbird, “Will it take you four years and change to begin to understand what it is your business provides,” we would have laughed and laughed. But now we know better.

Is the rhythm of the triplet, in all its effortlessness, lulling us to sleep? This might seem to be a relatively small communication issue, or a non-issue at this scale, but as our reliance on LLMs grow, imagine an increasing lack of originality seeping into the tone, voice, language pattern and content of our writing. Is the triplet the bellwether? When thinking about the potential scale for this type of homogeneity in brand messaging, we must remember the purpose of branding at its core: distinction.

Because of their performance backgrounds and their work with dancers, Alison Johnson and Barbara Hoon—both teachers and longtime adherents of Classical Pilates—understand how difficult it is to make a living as a performer in New York City. They’re also familiar with the tough transition into the world outside of dance once injury or age makes it impossible to continue performing at the professional level. To address these issues, Alison and Barbara created Pilates for Performers (PFP), a non-profit Pilates teacher training program for performing artists in New York City, and they came to us to help bring their brand to life.

Lola came to us at an inflection point in her business. She was looking to expand her offerings, upgrade up her marketing assets and rethink her messaging. She had recently added several fitness packages to her services and was looking to upgrade her top-level navigation, rethink the layout of her website and create a powerful, coherent design that carried over into her social media presence. She was also eager to develop and diversify her marketing tactics and needed a well-organized website to serve as a place to funnel new leads.

Marni’s journey from artist and music executive to coach and consultant is one grounded in transformation, and our work together reflected that same spirit. With Future Present, we helped distill her vision into a digital experience that feels grounded, purposeful and alive with potential.

By speaking about your business on camera and posting video content that the world can see, you are authenticating your brand and connecting directly with your audience. However, we know first-hand that appearing on camera can be difficult. Here are a few tips for becoming more at ease in front of a camera.

Clients come to us for a variety of reasons, but many of them are hoping to jumpstart their business and redefine their brand identity. We’ve found that these business owners often fall into one of these four categories: The Disconnected, The Disorganized, The DIYer, The Dreamer.

The new year offers a ripe moment to implement lessons we’ve learned from the previous year and to set new business goals. In 2025 we’re front-loading concepts like setting boundaries, establishing transparency with clients and building a more scalable, sustainable small business. 

It is our habit to take the winter months as a time to reflect on our year, to clarify our materials and fine-tune the strategies and the structures we’ve built. This year, we’ve learned many things the hard way, including what happens when clients are left to their own devices; the thing all small business owners should keep in mind; and why small projects do not equal simple projects.

Ushering clients through a complete rebrand can be challenging. Change is difficult, and acknowledging the preferences of disparate stakeholders while creating a functional, elegant design can be even more challenging; however, having certain frameworks in place at the beginning of the project can help the experience run smoothly and maintain the momentum and excitement of the rebrand.

This Squarespace website design uses dark imagery and clean typography to create a moody, mysterious, minimalist style.

It can be intimidating to get in front of the camera for a portrait shoot. If you’ve booked a session recently (with us or another photographer), here are some practical tips to help you prepare.