12pt Creative

In Mount Pleasant, near Charleston, South Carolina, 12pt Creative (also called 12point) works as an independent design studio. It specializes in branding and business development and says it brings more than thirty years of graphic design experience to the job. The pitch is consistent, credible brands, starting with the logo.

From logo to the full set of brand assets

The studio develops brand assets as a connected group: logo identity, a website, digital products, social media management and traditional print. The team is made up of artists whose skills run from illustration and photography to web design, social media and brand development. Because most potential customers first see a business on a phone or tablet, the studio says it builds brand content to be easy to reach on mobile devices while still looking right on desktop and laptop screens.

Who the clients are

Its descriptions mention a wide variety of clients: restaurants, legal practices, dental offices, retailers, artists, technology start-ups and other design studios. The studio's creative lead came to the business through restaurant branding, working for agencies and directly for two notable concepts, before opening it. Its web developer and photographer have built and managed sites for restaurants, attorneys, dentists and tech businesses, and the photography has appeared in Charleston-area magazines and newspapers.

A people-first view of design

The studio's own philosophy is that every business, whether a restaurant, a law practice or a design studio, is in the people business. It argues that concentrating on the people a company wants to attract makes it easier to focus on what matters. The team says it works with clients rather than simply for them: it listens, offers suggestions and comes up with ideas, while also guiding the client towards a considered vision for the brand. It describes itself as independent, which it says allows it to stay focused on the brands it takes on.