Dead Sharp
Branding and website to launch a small business.
Background
Dead Sharp started as an attempt to get away from screens on the weekend: something hands-on, useful, and satisfying. What began as a hobby quickly turned into a side hustle, sharpening knives for local residents and chefs.
Approach
Working out of my garage and focusing mainly on kitchenware, it made sense to lean into a 1950s garage/diner aesthetic—hand-drawn fonts, custom icons, and checkered patterns.
Since most customers were finding me via Google Maps, I took a mobile-first approach and prioritised clear, scannable info over waxing lyrical about myself or my methods. Ain’t nobody got time for that.
Impact
As much as I’d love to run A/B tests and optimise conversions, there just aren’t thousands of people in my area looking for knife sharpening.
But for a hyper-local microbusiness, it’s trucking along nicely. Customers find me easily, rarely have questions, and bookings come in steadily—good signs that the site’s doing its job: explaining things clearly and getting out of the way. Even small design decisions can make a tangible difference when your audience is just around the corner.
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