You’ve built something real. But somewhere along the way, the brand stopped reflecting where it’s heading.
How by Why is an independent brand and design practice, led by Mark Blackler, working directly with founders and leadership teams to bring strategy and creative direction into the same conversation.
A brief might begin with a name, an identity, packaging, a website or simply the sense that something isn’t quite right. We start there, then work out what the brand actually needs.
- Practice
- Independent brand and design practice
- Led by
- Mark Blackler
- Works with
- Founders and leadership teams
- Based
- Wentworth Falls, Blue Mountains, Australia
- Disciplines
- Brand Strategy · Visual Identity · Motion · Digital Design · Packaging · Naming · Signage & Wayfinding · Website · Print
- Sectors
- Architecture · Interior Design · Sports Nutrition · FMCG · Hospitality · Food · Photography
- Talk
- mark@hbw.works
01 Clarify
Understand what exists, what’s changing and what actually needs to be solved.
02 Shape
Find the position, idea or organising principle that gives the brand direction.
03 Express
Design the identity, and everything it needs to work day to day.
04 Support
Stick around after launch, so the brand can grow without losing what made it work.
SCK
Intersecting Realities · 2025 · Architecture, Interior Design
SCK (Studio Carson Kelly) — Intersecting Realities. Brand strategy, creative direction and visual identity for an architecture and interiors studio.
SUB:3
Bending Time & Space · 2025 · Sports Nutrition, FMCG
SUB:3 — Bending Time & Space. Identity, packaging and motion for a new performance nutrition brand.
CLOSED
A Smuggler’s House · 2024 · Hospitality
CLOSED, a Newcastle bar — A Smuggler’s House. Concept, identity, signage and print. The name emerged during the work.
KOJA
Unapologetically Good · 2024 · Food, FMCG
KOJA — Unapologetically Good. Brand strategy, visual identity and packaging for an established food brand.
Chris Sisarich
Beauty Amongst The Mundane · 2024 · Photography
Chris Sisarich — Beauty Amongst The Mundane. Identity and website for a photographer, built to stay behind the pictures.
Our Boy Roy
The Friendly Neighbour · 2022 · Hospitality
Our Boy Roy — a hospitality identity organised around Roy, a changing character. Visual identity, signage, print and social.
HBW Manifesto
Brand is not what you see. It’s what you feel.
Brand is often reduced to what’s visible, a logo, a colour palette, a system at the end.
But that was never the point.
Brand is the feeling that remains after the interaction.
Strong brands don’t begin with design. They begin with clarity.
Concept comes first. An idea you can say out loud is an idea that can be built on.
Then it is made beautifully, and on purpose. Nothing here is arbitrary.
What do you stand for? Why does it matter? What should people feel?
When that’s clear, everything that follows becomes intentional.
There is no gap between what you say and what people experience.
When they align, trust builds. When they don’t, people notice.
Consistency is what turns moments into memory.
We start with understanding. We shape what it becomes. We express it with intent.
Not as a deliverable, but as something people feel.
By asking why, we discover how. How by why
Position
Strategy · Naming · Identity · Storytelling · Design
The answer is rarely in the brief alone.
We ask why before deciding how — looking beyond the immediate request to understand the problem, opportunity or change behind it.