Kitchen Confidential for Designers: Why I Treat Your Brand Like a Saturday Night Rush
Image courtesy of Daniel Bradley, Unsplash.com
For over 25 years, my life was measured in dinner services. I lived by the clock, the heat, and the absolute, unwavering law of mise en place. If your station wasn't set—if the shallots weren't minced and the sauces weren't strained—you were dead before the first ticket hit the rail. In a professional kitchen, discipline isn't a suggestion; it’s survival.
Image courtesy of Faizur Rehman, Unsplash.com
“The roar of the exhaust fan is now a curated playlist; the heat of the line, the glow of a monitor. I traded the chef’s knife for a camera, but the hustle remains the same.”
Today, I’ve traded the chef’s knife for a camera and a suite of design tools, but the philosophy hasn't changed. Whether I’m shooting product photography in Calgary or building a brand from the ground up, I’m still looking for the "why" behind the "what."
I’m still obsessing over the prep. Because in design, just like in a five-course meal, if the foundation is garbage, no amount of garnish can save it.
Two recent projects—the CERCO Marketing Agency brand guide and the TABVAR 2025 Annual Report—reminded me that great design is really just high-level organization with a soul.
CERCO: The Recipe for a Digital Identity
A marketing agency without a brand guide is like a kitchen with five different head chefs all trying to cook a different cuisine on the same line. It’s chaos. For CERCO Marketing Agency, the challenge wasn't just "making things look pretty." It was about creating a definitive brand style guide—an actionable road map that ensures their "Think Big, Take Action" philosophy translates into every pixel and every print.
CERCO Brand Design by Patrick Dunn, Shifting Focus Design & Photography ©
“I’m still looking for the “why” behind the “what.” I’m still obsessing over the prep. Because in design, just like in a five-course meal, if the foundation is garbage, no amount of garnish can save it.”
I approached this like a new menu. I didn’t start with colors; I started with the ingredients. Who are they? Who are they feeding? I stripped it back to the core values and rebuilt it with a disciplined colour system and a typography hierarchy that balances "creative edge" with "professional weight." It’s a document that protects their brand equity, ensuring that whether they’re using their primary logo or a minimal icon, they still look like the smartest people in the room. This kind of branding guide development is the ultimate mise en place for a growing business.
View more of my CERCO case study here.
TABVAR: Making the Data Digestible
“Annual reports are usually the unseasoned mashed potatoes of the corporate world.....[ ].... but their report needed to be a celebratory narrative of their conservation work in the Bow Valley. ”
Click on the image to view the case study. Design by Patrick Dunn, Shifting Focus ©
Annual reports are usually the unseasoned mashed potatoes of the corporate world—dry, lumpy, and hard to swallow. But for TABVAR, their 2025 Annual Report needed to be a celebratory narrative of their conservation work in the Bow Valley. They have a massive impact on the climbing community, and that story deserved better than a spreadsheet.
My time in high-pressure kitchens taught me the value of ruthless editing. If a garnish doesn't add flavor, get it off the plate. I applied that same logic to report design. We took complex environmental data and financial disbursements and turned them into clean, intuitive infographics. I wanted the stakeholders to feel the mountain air, so I used professional photography to anchor the data in reality.
The result? An information visualization piece that builds trust and proves TABVAR’s legacy. When corporate report design is done right, it doesn't just inform; it inspires.
Check out more of the TABVAR Annual Report case study.
Support the work at TABVAR.org.
The Final Service
At the end of the day, whether you’re a chef or a Calgary graphic designer, you’re in the business of storytelling. You’re telling the world who you are and why you matter. I’m not interested in "good enough." I’m interested in the truth of your brand, executed with the precision of a mid-August Saturday night rush.
Infographic Design by Patrick Dunn, Shifting Focus Design & Photography ©
If you need a corporate photographer or a designer who understands that the "prep" is just as important as the "plate," let’s talk.
I’ll bring the discipline; you bring the vision.
