KOVA STUDIO ® — Independent design studio, est. 2017
Brands that refuse to blend in.
Identity, digital, art direction and packaging — one small Lyon studio, eight projects a year, zero templates.
Small on purpose, sharp by design
We cap the studio at eight projects a year so every identity gets the attention it will need to last a decade.
120+
Projects shipped since 2017
9
Years independent and profitable
14
International design awards
30+
Clients on long-term retainers
Four disciplines, one standard
Brand identity
Naming, logo systems, typography and guidelines — identities built to survive real-world use, not just the case study.
Digital design
Websites, products and interfaces designed around content and conversion, then built to ship fast and load faster.
Art direction
Campaigns, photography and motion with one job: make the brand impossible to confuse with anyone else.
Packaging
Structure, materials and shelf presence for products that have to win the argument in three seconds or less.
Proof beats promise
Four recent projects across spatial, identity, editorial and digital. Every one still in use, unmodified, today.
Maison Verre — spatial identity
Identity and wayfinding for a glass-arts pavilion: signage that reads at fifty metres and a mark that folds into the architecture itself.
Núcleo — hardware brand system
A brand system for an embedded-computing company: technical without the clichés, warm without losing an ounce of precision.
Presse Minuit — book series
Cover system and typography for an independent publisher — twelve titles a year, one unmistakable spine on the shelf.
Hue Records — visual language
A generative cover-art engine for a music label: every release unique, every release unmistakably Hue.
Said behind our backs
“KOVA didn’t give us a logo, they gave us a spine. Every decision since the rebrand — hiring, pricing, product — has been easier to make.”
Amélie Fontaine
Founder, Maison Verre
“Fast, opinionated, precise.”
“They treat deadlines as promises.”
“Worth every cent, twice over.”
30+ clients trusted us since 2017
The questions every first call starts with
Anything else — write to us, we answer the same day.
Brand identity engagements typically start at €12,000; combined identity-and-website projects at €28,000. We scope every project individually and send a fixed quote — no hourly surprises.
A focused identity takes six to eight weeks. Identity plus website usually lands at ten to fourteen, depending on how fast decisions get made on your side of the table.
Yes — we reserve two slots a year at reduced rates for founders we believe in. Tell us why it should be you.
Happily. We hand over living guidelines, source files and a working design system — then stay on call as art directors whenever you need us.
Lyon, on the Croix-Rousse hillside. Most of our clients are elsewhere: we work remotely by default and come on-site for the moments that matter.
Notes from the studio
Slow design: why we cap the studio at eight projects a year
Every January we turn down more work than we accept. Here is the arithmetic — and the conviction — behind that decision.
Field notes from the annual retreat
One week, no client calls, one mountain valley. What a small studio actually gets out of going deliberately offline.
Designing identities that age well
Trends are rent; principles are equity. Three tests we run before any mark leaves the studio.