Every Cozova project begins the same way: a blank document and a single line at the top. Not a mood board, not a logo exploration — a sentence. It describes what a stranger should feel in the first three seconds of meeting the brand.
It sounds simple. It is also the hardest part of the job. Founders arrive with forty things they want their brand to say. The sentence forces us to choose one, and to agree on it before a single pixel moves.
What makes a good sentence
It is written for a stranger, not for the founder.
It describes a feeling, not a feature.
It is short enough to repeat in a meeting without notes.
If we can’t say it in a sentence, we definitely can’t say it in a logo.
How it guides the rest
Once the sentence is signed off, every decision has a referee. Does this typeface sound like the sentence? Does this animation? When a debate drags on, we read the line aloud and the answer is usually obvious.
Written by
Inês Moura
Inês founded Cozova in 2016 after eight years leading brand teams in London. She writes the first sentence of every project.
