Perspectives on design, scale, and culture.

News Articles

Article

The Class Problem in Creative Industries: Why Diversity Stays a Line in a Strategy Deck

Working-class representation in UK creative industries has fallen from 26% to 19%. Unpaid internships, art education cuts, and London-centric hiring are making it worse. Here's what needs to change.

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Article

Why Copying Your Competitor's Brand Won't Work (Even If It Worked for Them)

Tech and AI startups often want to copy successful competitors like Apple or Stripe. Here's why that approach backfires — and what to do instead.

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Article

The Serif Resurgence: Why AI Companies Are Choosing the Most Human Typeface

AI startups are increasingly choosing serif typefaces over the expected sans-serif. It's not nostalgia — it's strategy.

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Two orange 3D puzzle pieces interlocking against a pale yellow background, symbolizing the article's core argument that creative visual culture and economic infrastructure are inseparable, foundational components of success.
Article

Visual Culture as Economic and Social Infrastructure

The UK creative industries contribute £125bn annually. Here's why visual culture is economic infrastructure—and what William Morris understood that AI forgot.

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A white U-turn arrow icon centered over a blurred, multicolored gradient background, symbolizing a shift or return to specialized expertise in the AI era.
Article

The Quality Gap: Why the AI Era is Fueling a Return to the Specialist

As generative AI floods the market with low-quality content, a new premium is being placed on specialist craft.

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Creative Boom logo.
Interview

Creative Boom: Why studios like In-Col are rewriting the agency rulebook

As rigid agency models continue to give way to smaller, more fluid ways of working, In-Col Studio is part of a growing wave of creative businesses proving that lean structures and trust-led collaboration can be just as powerful as scale.

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A hypnotic green and purple spiral centered on a white background, visually representing the concept of brand hallucinations or distortions caused by AI.
Article

Your Brand Was Hallucinated: Escaping the Algorithmic Echo Chamber

In 2026, AI tools have made design a commodity. In-Col Studio explains why calculated friction and human strategy are the only ways to escape the regression to the mean.

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Two hand-drawn white 'X' marks centered on a solid black background, symbolizing the 'death' of the secretive black box business model in favor of radical transparency.
Article

The Black Box is Dead: Why Radical Transparency is the Only Moat Left in 2026

The AI novelty curve has flattened. With models accessible and compute cheap, the barrier to entry has collapsed. If a competitor can fork your tech and replicate your features in a weekend, what do you actually own?

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Editorial photoshoot for L'Estrange London featuring a man in a crisp white linen shirt and matching pants.
News

LESTRANGE

In-Col Studio has been appointed to support LESTRANGE with design and creative direction.

Vibrant green matcha tea swirling inside a dark ceramic cup, centered over a graphic background with the repeating text 'MATCHA'.
News

ANM partner with In-Col Studio to support JFOODO

In-Col Studio is supporting JFOODO in shaping their visual communications to promote Japanese green tea in the UK market.