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Verum Artifex Studios Start a project

Independent design studio · Washington, D.C. area

Brand, product design, and creative direction.

I’m Abiola Fapohunda. I help founders and creative teams turn ideas into brand identities, digital experiences, and character-led films.

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Nova and Onyx working together on a luminous drawing beneath the atelier arches

Nova & Onyx · Studio concept art

Selected work

Recent work across brand, product, and film.

Each project opens on the decision that shaped it.

Chrome, gold, blue, and red VA emblem on a dark work surface

Design gallery · Visual identity

Brand marks

Marks and lettering for distinct brand personalities.

 Grounding, mood check-in, and return-visit screens from the Aura design concept

Design gallery · Product concept

Aura

Adaptive onboarding and interaction design for a meditation concept.

 INKBOUND key art showing the boy, Nova’s phoenix, and Onyx’s chrome guardian

Screening room · Animated proof of concept

INKBOUND

An animated proof of concept directed by Abi, with a notebook of the directing decisions.

Explore the full portfolio

Frame from INKBOUND. Onyx, the chrome guardian, braces low and faces a black hand reaching out of a painting, with the boy behind her.
INKBOUND · 0:42Frame from the YouTube cut

Screening room · One decision

Turn the guardian toward the threat.

In the first pass, Onyx faced the camera as the hand reached in. Here she faces it, braced between the painting and the boy, so one angle shows where the threat comes from and who she’s protecting.

Open the director’s notebookWatch from 0:42

Review desk · CreatiSync working prototype

Keep the subject clear.

One thumbnail, two passes. Drag across the image to compare the first pass with the revised composition, then read what changed.

Follow the decisionRead the studio case study
Revised composition. A smaller tiger walks the glowing route Nova traces across the table, and Onyx points to the model city, so the two read as if in discussion. First pass. The chrome tiger fills most of the frame in front of a large moon, and the city hangs in the sky between Nova and Onyx. First pass Revised composition
One Impossible Thing thumbnail, first pass and revised composition, from the studio’s files.

Studio review / 01 · Brief: a film thumbnail that reads on a phone, with the tiger as the subject

What stayed, and what changed

  1. 01 · Kept

    The title and the overall layout.

  2. 02 · Revise

    The tiger was too large, and the city looked like it was floating.

  3. 03 · Revised composition

    It reads more like a discussion between the characters.

For founders preparing to launch

Launch Page Sprint

Bring one offer, product, or event and your existing copy and brand assets. Get one page designed in Figma for desktop and mobile, with a developer handoff.

Share what you’re launching and when. Abi reviews the brief before sending a fixed quote and timeline.

Request the sprintSee what’s included

Studio services

How we create with you.

Get help with a defined task, shape a new launch, or bring creative direction into a larger project.

  • Quick fixesFocused support for an immediate design task.
  • Focused projectsOne defined deliverable, from an identity refinement to a launch page.
  • Systems & directionCreative direction for a campaign, brand rollout, or visual workflow.
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Work with the studio

Let’s make something together.

Tell me what you’re making, where you need help, and when you need it.

Start a project Hiring or collaborating?