Identity & print program
A full identity and seasonal print program for a Richmond arts organization, from mark and type system to the posters on the wall.
Independent design studio — Staples Mill Road, Richmond
Gramm Arcu Studio is an independent design practice on Staples Mill Road in Richmond, Virginia. We give small businesses, cultural organizations, and independent publishers identities, books, and websites that are built to be read, used, and kept.
Good design, like good writing, depends on grammar. It needs structure that holds, spacing that lets the reader breathe, and a point of view that stays consistent from the first word to the last. That conviction is behind our name. Gramm Arcu Studio treats every identity, publication, and website as a piece of language: something clear enough to be understood at a glance, and considered enough to reward a second reading. Precision, in our experience, is not the opposite of warmth. It is how warmth becomes legible.
We are a deliberately small practice. Projects are led by Keith Marcus, the studio's owner, and carried through with a close circle of collaborators — photographers, printers, developers, and writers — drawn in when the work asks for them. Working at this scale means nothing is handed off and nothing is lost between departments. The person you meet on the first call is the person still answering questions after launch. It also means we take on a limited number of projects at a time, so each one receives the attention it deserves.
Four disciplines, one standard of care. Each engagement is scoped around the client in front of us — no fixed packages, no assumptions, no two projects alike.
Naming support, marks, typography, color, and the printed matter that introduces an organization to the world. Identities that are distinct in their field and durable enough to grow with the people behind them.
Books, journals, catalogues, programs, and annual reports for publishers and cultural organizations. Grids, typography, and production supervised from first layout to the press check.
Considered, accessible websites that read well and load quickly. We design and art-direct every page, and we stay involved through build, launch, and the improvements that follow.
Commissioned illustration for covers, editorial features, packaging, and wayfinding — drawn with intent, matched to the voice of the publication, and delivered in every format the work requires.
The studio occupies a single bright room at 1804 Staples Mill Road, near the edge of the city where Richmond starts to feel like Virginia again. It is a working room: a large table for pinning up proofs, a shelf of specimens and paper samples, and a window that does most of the lighting. Clients are welcome to visit, spread a project across the table, and talk it through in person. Most engagements start with coffee and end with a plan.
A small selection from recent engagements. Full case studies are shared in conversation, and in person at the studio when clients allow.
A full identity and seasonal print program for a Richmond arts organization, from mark and type system to the posters on the wall.
A series of titles for an independent publisher: grids, typography, covers, and production oversight carried through to the press check.
Every engagement moves through the same four movements. The order never changes; the pace does, because each project sets its own.
We begin by reading, listening, and asking questions. Audiences, ambitions, constraints, and what success should look like are written down before any design begins.
Ideas are sketched quickly and shared early. First drafts are honest attempts, presented plainly, so feedback can be about substance rather than polish.
This is the longest movement. Typography, color, layout, and language are adjusted until the work reads clearly and feels inevitable.
Files are prepared properly, guidelines are written in plain English, and we stay available after handover for as long as the work is in use.
06 — Begin
Tell us what you are making, and we will tell you honestly whether we are the right studio to make it with you. No pitch decks, no pressure — just a careful reading of your project and a straight answer.
Write to us