Brand Reference · Frame Studies
Same idea, brought back on-brand.
A reference gallery for editors. Each entry takes a real frame and rebuilds it to the system — same concept, same message, corrected execution. The recurring fixes: our controlled stroke-glow instead of a soft bloom, one consistent line system, a calm room, and Lausanne carrying the copy with a single Larken accent. Drag any handle to compare.
Which human might want to watch this content
Before · Editor draft
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What changed, and why.
Six moves take it from "looks like the brand" to "is the brand." Each maps to a bright-line rule in the system.
01
Glow, not bloom
BeforeSoft blurred halo bleeding off every shape — reads as a filter, not a finish.
AfterThe exact stroke recipe: drop-shadow 6px + 14px, tight and intentional. Edges stay crisp.
02
One icon system
BeforeFilled photo and T mixed with outlined doc and film — three weights fighting.
AfterAll hairline, square corners, miter joins, equal optical weight. A real set.
03
Calm the room
BeforeDashed busy grid plus heavy grain competes with the content for attention.
AfterClean emerald vignette, hairline grid faded at the edges, a single soft stage light.
04
The voice is Lausanne
BeforeGeneric bold sans, every word the same weight — no editorial hierarchy.
AfterLausanne 550 with one Larken italic, honey word — the line gets a point of view.
05
Rhythm & baseline
BeforeUneven gaps, icons drifting, caption floating without an anchor.
AfterEven cadence, shared centerline, caption pinned to a consistent baseline.
06
Color discipline
BeforeMuddy mid-green everywhere; no clear role for any color.
AfterEmerald for structure only, honey for the single emphasis. Nothing else.
Useful
Come
Back Trust +92
After · On-brand
Back Trust +92
Before · Editor draft
⇄
The same rules, on a loop.
A cycle diagram lives or dies on its arrows. These four moves do the work.
01
Arrows, not doodles
BeforeThree hand-sketched arrows, each a different curve, weight and angle — looks unfinished.
AfterOne circular-arc system: equal radius, equal sweep, identical arrowheads. A true flywheel.
02
The words are the nodes
BeforeLabels float at random heights; the loop reads as three separate ideas.
AfterSet on an even triangle around the hub in Lausanne 550 — the rotation reads instantly.
03
One hero in the hub
BeforeA flat blurred +92 sitting off-center, competing with the bloom around it.
AfterPinned dead-center in Larken italic honey — the payoff the whole loop drives toward.
04
Calm the room
BeforeNoisy dashed grid and grain pull the eye everywhere but the message.
AfterClean emerald vignette, one soft stage light, nothing else asking for attention.
5%
will ever get monetized
Before · Editor draft
⇄
A number is a moment, not a poster.
The idea was right — lead with the stat. The execution leaked off-brand in four places.
01
Kill the foreign red
BeforeA pure-red ▼ triangle — a colour that isn't anywhere in our palette. It screams "stock template".
AfterNo stray marks. If the figure needs a unit, it's the one honey accent on the % — nothing else.
02
Outline, not halo
BeforeA heavy black outline + drop-shadow stroked around the figure to force contrast on a muddy field.
AfterClean emerald-deep field with a soft stage light does the contrast. The number sits in it, crisp.
03
Calm the background
BeforeA blotchy green-to-black gradient with no structure — looks like a default export, not a room.
AfterThe brand canvas: radial emerald vignette + a faded hairline grid. Quiet, intentional, ours.
04
One type voice
BeforeAll-caps label crammed under the figure, same weight, fighting for the same space.
AfterLausanne 800 figure, a quiet Lausanne 550 label beneath at lower-case — clear hierarchy.
It's made us $250,000 in the past few months
Before · Editor draft
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Highlight with light, not a marker.
Pulling the dollar figure forward is right. The marker-pen execution is what broke it.
01
Underline, not a box
BeforeA hard pure-yellow fill box around the number — looks like a highlighter on a printout.
AfterA thin honey underline under the figure. It lifts the number without shouting.
02
The voice is Lausanne
BeforeThe whole sentence set in serif italic — Larken is for one accent word, never the full line.
AfterLausanne 550 carries the sentence; the figure is the only thing that gets the accent.
03
Right yellow
BeforeA saturated traffic-yellow that isn't our colour — it vibrates against the dark field.
AfterOur honey #FAC53A — warm, not electric. The single accent, used once.
04
Calm the field
BeforeBlotchy gradient, no structure.
AfterThe brand canvas — emerald vignette + faded hairline grid.
What I found
Before · Editor draft
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One accent word, quietly lit.
The structure was right — short title, one word emphasised. The glow and the yellow were wrong.
01
Kill the glow
BeforeA thick white outer-glow ringing every letter — reads as a default text-effect preset.
AfterCrisp Lausanne on the dark field. The canvas gives the contrast, not a halo.
02
Honey, not lemon
BeforeAn electric lemon-yellow on "Found" — wrong hue, and double-glowed.
AfterLarken italic in honey on "found" — the one warm gesture, exactly as the system specifies.
03
Larken for the accent only
Before"Found" was a generic bold italic, not our serif — the accent loses its signature.
AfterLarken on the accent word, Lausanne on the rest. The contrast is the brand.
04
Even baseline
BeforeWords sat at slightly different weights, floating.
AfterOne line, one baseline, centred — the title reads as a single unit.
How the algorithm currently works
Before · Editor draft
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A straight rule, not a scribble.
Underlining the key word is a good instinct. The hand-drawn marker scribble is the tell.
01
No hand-scribble
BeforeA wobbly marker-scrawl underline — the single most common "off-brand creator" move.
AfterA clean honey rule, even weight, sitting on the baseline. Deliberate, not doodled.
02
Underline one word
BeforeThe scribble ran under a whole phrase — the emphasis blurs across too much.
AfterThe rule sits under the one load-bearing word: currently. One idea, one mark.
03
Right hue, used once
BeforeBright yellow type and a bright yellow scribble — the accent is doubled.
AfterWhite Lausanne, one honey rule. Colour appears exactly once.
04
Calm the field
BeforeFlat green slab, no depth.
AfterEmerald vignette + hairline grid — the canvas has a centre.
The YouTube algorithm
has changed
has changed
Before · Editor draft
⇄
Borrowed stock vs. our own restraint.
This is the big one. The idea is fine; almost every visual choice fought the brand.
01
No stock collage
BeforeA grid of stock-photo faces — generic, busy, and nothing to do with Mike & Matty.
AfterThe empty brand canvas. Confidence is the message standing alone, not a wall of borrowed people.
02
Lose the "matrix"
BeforeFalling-code matrix numbers over the faces — a tired effect that signals "tech cliché".
AfterOur quiet hairline grid carries the "system" idea without the costume.
03
Sentence case
BeforeShouting ALL-CAPS in a heavy slab — aggressive, and hard to read at a glance.
AfterSentence case in Lausanne, one Larken accent on "changed". Calm carries more weight.
04
One accent, one idea
BeforeWhite box behind the text, grey faces, green code — three competing colour stories.
AfterCream type, one honey word, emerald field. A single, legible point of view.
No graphic.Let the moment land.
Before · Editor draft
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The best graphic is sometimes none.
A punch word stamped on a close-up usually means the editor didn't trust the moment. The most premium move is to ask first — does this line need text at all?
01
Restraint is a decision
BeforeA giant "YOU" manufactured over the close-up — reaching for emphasis the cut should already carry.
AfterNothing. The delivery, the eye contact, the pause do the work. Confidence reads as silence on screen.
02
If not text, then what
BeforeText used as a crutch — the default when a beat feels flat.
AfterCut to b-roll of the thing you're describing, or hold the performance. Show it; don't label it.
What if I don't know what problem to talk about?
Before · Editor draft
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The caption rides the light, not a box.
Spoken-word captions should sit on the footage, not in a plastic container on top of it.
01
Scrim, not slab
BeforeA hard rounded box punched over the shot — opaque, heavy, fighting the room.
AfterAn emerald highlight hugging the words on a soft bottom scrim. Reads instantly, stays in the world.
02
One block, centred
BeforeGeneric bold sans, no system.
AfterLausanne 550, bottom-centre — the on-screen-graphics subtitle template.
In the first quarter
$250k
Before · Editor draft
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The number lives in the foreground.
A big stat is a poster moment — it belongs in the open frame, not floating in the bookshelf behind them.
01
Honey, not highlighter
BeforeAcid lime-yellow — a colour that isn't in our palette — glowing on the back wall.
AfterThe figure in cream with one honey unit. Brand colour, one accent, low-left in the open foreground.
02
Anchored, not floating
BeforeText pinned to the shelf behind the hosts — reads as set dressing, competes with their faces.
AfterSat on the table-level negative space with a soft scrim. It owns the frame without crowding anyone.
It's not as easy as it seems to post 20 times.
Before · Editor draft
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One highlight, one colour.
The instinct to highlight the caption is right — but the number doesn't get its own clashing colour.
01
Emerald only
BeforeA green highlight on line one, then a yellow number block on line two — two systems fighting.
AfterOne emerald highlight across the whole line. The number sits in the same flow — no second colour.
02
One block, centred
BeforeTwo stacked bars at different widths — ragged, two-tone, busy.
AfterLausanne 550, one centred block on a soft scrim — the subtitle template, holding a two-shot just as well.
Link in the description
Before · Editor draft
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A prompt, not a pill.
Calls-to-action should feel like part of the film, not a button bolted onto the frame.
01
Rule, not bubble
BeforeA rounded translucent pill floating mid-frame — generic, app-like, breaks the room.
AfterA single emerald rule and clean Lausanne, low-left. The lower-third treatment — quiet, branded, in the world.
02
Off the centre
BeforeDead-centre over his hands — pulls focus from what he's saying.
AfterTucked into the open left-third on a soft scrim. Present, but it never fights the delivery.
Mike & Matty · dark room · @mikeandmatty
Drag any handle, or toggle Before / After above.