A working notebook from the partners at Martin & James on naming, verbal identity, and category design. Curated quarterly. Read by founders before they brief us.
- Editors
- Daniel Martin & Sofia James
- Peer review
- 14-person core team, Brooklyn
- Cited in
- Inc., The Drum, Brand New
- Since
- 2021
The M&J
Quarterly.
Essays from a two-partner studio that has rebranded 47 venture-backed companies since 2017. Long-form, opinionated, occasionally disagreeable — the kind of writing we wish existed when we were briefees.
This issue started with a disagreement about the word category-defining. We had used it, on this site and in decks, for nearly a decade without interrogating it. Sofia argued it had become a tic — the kind of phrase founders repeat because investors nod. Daniel argued it was still load-bearing, and that the alternative — category-clarifying — was a dodge.
We wrote the four essays that follow out of that argument. The first is a defence of the original phrase, written by Sofia. The second is Daniel's case against it, with three examples of brands that overclaimed and paid for it. The third is a joint piece on what we now ask clients to mean when they say it. The fourth is a short, slightly grumpy memo on naming founders the way we name products.
We publish the Quarterly for the same reason we still write briefs by hand: writing is how the studio thinks. If a sentence here changes the way you describe your own company, we have done our job. If you find a position you disagree with, write back — we read every reply, and the best ones become the next issue.
— D.M. & S.J., Brooklyn
Every issue since 2021, indexed by theme.
Six most recent issues below. Each row carries the issue number, its editorial theme, publication date, three essay titles with a one-line dek, and a read time. Use the theme tags to find the writing that is useful to the brief you are about to write.
-
No. 14 Autumn 2025
In defence of "category-defining."
Sofia argues the phrase still does real work — if you can prove it. 9 min read.
- Against the phrase. Daniel's case that "category-defining" has become a tic, with three overclaiming cautionary tales. 11 min.
- What we ask clients to mean. A joint memo on the four tests we now apply before the phrase leaves the studio. 9 min.
- On naming the founder. A short, slightly grumpy note on the founder-as-product essay series. 9 min.
-
No. 13 Summer 2025
The 40-page playbook, not the Figma file.
Why every M&J engagement ships with a written verbal identity before it ships with a mark. 11 min read.
-
No. 12 Spring 2025
Rename, rename again, then stop.
The discipline of letting a name work. 12 min read.
-
No. 11 Winter 2024
When the founder IS the brand.
Where the personal identity helps a Series B company, and where it starts to eat the company. 9 min read.
In print since 2021 — 14 issues, 112 essays, 1.4M words read.
A sustained, published body of work — not a content calendar. The Quarterly is how the studio explains how it thinks, in public, on a fixed schedule.
- 14 Issues published since 2021
- 112 Essays, written by the two partners
- 1.4M Words read across the archive
- 3.4× Average uplift in unaided brand recall, measured 6 months post-launch across 22 tracked engagements
- 94% Client retention rate across active accounts
- 60% Of new business from founder-to-founder referrals
- 47 Venture-backed companies rebranded since 2017
- 9 wks Average kickoff-to-launch window — about half the industry standard
The Quarterly has been cited in Inc., The Drum, and Brand New, and selected as a case study in the 4th edition of Designing Brand Identity (Alina Wheeler, Wiley, 2024).
Frequently asked, before you subscribe.
Plain answers to the practical questions founders ask us before they read a single essay — and before they pitch one of their own.
- Who actually writes the Quarterly?
- Every essay is written by Daniel Martin or Sofia James. Nothing is outsourced to a junior, ghostwritten, or AI-generated. Long-form pieces are peer-reviewed inside the 14-person studio before publication.
- Can I cite or republish an essay?
- Yes — with attribution and a link back to the original issue. Several essays have been cited in Inc., The Drum, and Brand New, and one is a case study in the current edition of Designing Brand Identity. For translation or anthology rights, write to us directly.
- Can I pitch an essay to the Quarterly?
- Occasionally. We publish one or two outside pieces per year from founders, CMOs, or category designers we have worked with. Pitch a 200-word outline and one paragraph on why you — not us — are the right author. We respond within three weeks.
- Who subscribes, and how often does it publish?
- Around 18,000 founders, operators, and in-house brand leads read each issue. It publishes four times a year — the first Monday of March, June, September, and December — and never more often. No daily digest, no mid-week newsletter, no sponsored inserts.
If the thinking here resonates, the next step is a 30-minute strategy call.
The essay reader is exactly the kind of founder we built Martin & James for — between their first million and their first hundred million, with a brand that needs to do more than look good in a deck. We cap the studio at 18 active engagements a year to protect partner-level attention on every one.
Brooklyn · since 2017 · Daniel Martin & Sofia James, partners