gautham × antseed
2026
Antseed

Three early directions for the Antseed brand, with the references behind each one. They all start from the same thought: there’s nobody in the middle.

antseed

00 Brief

Antseed is an open market for AI inference. You get 700+ models from independent providers, with no aggregator taking a cut and no account to make. The product knows what it stands for. The brand hasn’t caught up yet.

82B+Tokens processed
700+Models
158+Providers

Whichever direction we pick has to feel open and shared rather than corporate, and it still has to earn the trust of developers.

00.1 The name

Ants carry seeds. Seeds pay them for it.

Some plants grow a small fatty snack on their seeds. Ants carry the seed home, eat the snack and leave the seed in the nest, where it sprouts. Nobody is in charge and both sides get something out of it, which is pretty much how Antseed works. Biologists call it myrmecochory.

00.2 Directions

Three directions. Each takes the same idea somewhere different.

Ant-traced script lettering
01Swarm

Lots of small marks that come together to make the identity.
Ink-line illustration grid
02Market

Black ink characters and flat colour. Funny and human.
Painted landscape illustration
03Folklore

The look of folk art, which belongs to everyone.
01

Swarm

01.00Rob Farmer, Ant Picnic, 2025. Source
The idea

Built from thousands of small marks.

There's no middleman in Antseed. Providers find each other and handle requests directly, a bit like an ant colony where nobody is giving orders.

I'd like the identity to behave the same way. Lots of small marks, ants, dots and trails, that gather into words and pictures and then wander off again. It also builds on the dot Antseed already uses, so it isn't starting from zero.

  • TypeA script that only ever appears drawn by ants. A plain grotesk and a mono for everything else.
  • ColourMostly black and paper, with chartreuse. Pink only for data.
  • ImageReal photography with trails and pixel masks drawn on top.
  • MotionThings gather, then scatter.
  • RootsVera Molnár, Sol LeWitt, Craig Reynolds’ Boids.
01

Swarm

The swarm writes the brand.

Try itPick a word, or run your cursor through the ants.
References
From the moodboard.
Ants as type
Letters made out of ants. The script only exists while they're drawing it.
01.01Ants as the strokes of a script.
01.02Chartreuse and black.
01.03Dotted script over a photo.
01.04A smaller, quieter use.
01.05Dotted lettering on a t-shirt.
Marks that make letters
Type and pictures built from hundreds of small marks. From The Brand Identity.
01.06Studio Dumbar, Cumulus Park, 2020. Words made of scattered marks.
01.07Studio Dumbar, Cumulus Park. Dot letters loosening into a swarm.
01.08Rubio del Amo, Harinas La Encarnación, 2026. A dove drawn in hand-placed dots.
01.09Oda, Cartesia, 2024. Old engravings broken into dither.
The trail
A dotted line left behind by lots of small movements. It can lead you around a page.
01.10A ring of ants. Nearly a logo already.
01.11A trail linking things on a page.
01.12A trail made of images.
01.13A whole drawing in one dotted line.
01.14A numbered dot-to-dot. The trail as a drawing.
Dots over image
Dots as texture, or as a way to show data. Pixel masks over photos, or cross-stitch for something more hand-made.
01.15Cross-stitch lettering.
01.16Lines drawn over a photo.
01.17A pixel mask over a cow.
01.18The same idea on an illustration.
01.19Pixel type on an ID card.
In motion
The style in motion.
FilmStudio Dumbar, Amsterdam Sinfonietta identity in motion. Music drawn as patterns of tiny marks. Source
FilmUniversal Everything, Crowd Formation. Many figures, one shape. Source
02

Market

02.00Graza billboard. One drawing does all the work.
The idea

An open market, drawn by hand.

Antseed is a marketplace. Anyone can sell inference, anyone can buy it, and nobody in between takes a cut. Markets are about people, so this direction draws people, and the odd ant, buying, selling and carrying things around.

Black ink, flat colour and a bit of humour. It should feel a lot friendlier than the usual AI look of glowing orbs and gradients.

  • TypeA soft serif, plus a mono for prices and labels.
  • ColourBlack line on butter yellow, lilac, sky blue and green.
  • ImageInk characters in one line weight, usually busy doing something.
  • MotionLines drawing themselves on. Small bounces.
  • RootsRichard Scarry, Saul Steinberg, Sempé, Bruegel.
References
From the moodboard.
Big Cartel, up close
How&How, 2025. Loose ink drawings carried across posters, phones, pricing and merch. Via BP&O.
02.01Pricing cards, each with its own drawing.
02.02Drawings over phone screens.
02.03The logo, with a doodle that keeps changing.
02.04An octopus poster on the street.
02.05The poster series.
02.06Merch: “Stop dreaming. Start doing.”
The line
One line weight, black ink, drawn quickly and with a sense of humour.
02.07A sheet of characters rather than one mascot.
02.08New Yorker spot drawings.
02.09Halftone shading, which ties back to the dot.
02.10Saint Urbain, Digs, 2026. A cast of dogs in thin line.
Line on colour
Black drawings on flat colour. Simple enough to work on a billboard.
02.11Mailchimp's illustrations across lots of colours.
02.12A simple idea, drawn well.
Characters at work
Characters doing things: trading, carrying, building. That's what a market is.
02.13Graza's style in an email.
02.14Characters in an app's empty states.
02.15Characters on a t-shirt.
Brands doing it now
Recent identities where loose ink drawing carries the whole brand.
02.16Danny Miller, Fishwife. Characters in one black line on flat red.
02.17Buck and Roman Muradov, Notion, 2024.
02.18Illa with Dasha Surma, Tuma, 2024.
02.19Saint Urbain, Digs billboards.
02.20Gander, Phil’s Finest, 2023.
02.21Collins, Mailchimp poster, 2018.
In motion
The style in motion.
FilmAnimade for Dropbox, 2017. The rebrand illustrations animated. Source
FilmGiant Ant for Mailchimp, Guidance. 2018. Source
FilmBuck for Mailchimp, Momentum. 2020. Source
FilmBuck and Roman Muradov for Notion, 2024. Source
03

Folklore

03.00KEEN by Mother Design.
The idea

Made by many, owned by no one.

Folk art doesn't have one author. Communities make it, copy it and change it over generations, and nobody owns it. Antseed is similar: an open network that belongs to the people who run it and use it.

So this direction borrows the look of folk art. Rich, hand-made pictures with lots of pattern and warm colour. Most AI brands feel cold and corporate, and this would stand well apart from them.

  • TypeA sharp, high-contrast serif with a plain grotesk.
  • ColourRed ochre, umber, deep green, yellow and cobalt.
  • ImageHand-painted and full of pattern and detail, often in arched frames.
  • MotionSlow, if anything moves at all.
  • RootsGond art, Madhubani painting, Polish wycinanki, Mexican amate painting.
References
From the moodboard.
Keen, up close
Mother Design with illustrator María Jesús Contreras. One painted world, cut up into scenes for every part of the brand.
03.01The whole painted world in one frame.
03.02The beanstalk, used as a menu.
03.03The world inside an oval frame.
03.04The illustration wrapped around a room.
Keen, scene by scene
Snapshots from the brand's motion work. Fine pen line, flat colour, a symbol hidden in every scene. Via Design Compass.
03.05An eye in the clouds over the city.
03.06Sun, lion and the phases of the moon.
03.07A sheepdog big enough to lie on.
03.08A tent, a campfire, a plant pot in the sky.
Keen in motion
Loops from the launch. The scenes drift through arched and circular frames.
03.09Scenes passing through a frame.
03.10The framing devices: orbit, aperture, intersect, overlap.
María Jesús Contreras
The illustrator behind Keen, in her own work. Dense, funny and a little surreal. From mariajesuscontreras.com.
03.11A picnic run by rabbits.
03.12A horse, a garden and too many cats.
03.13Counting sheep.
03.14Goldfish in a glass, plants everywhere.
03.15Cats in teacups.
03.16Bees asleep on daisies.
Other brands, hand-painted
Food and drink brands using painted, folk-leaning illustration. From It's Nice That.
03.17Biabum, Salva Bar, 2024. A wall of folk-painted posters.
03.18Estúdio Caxa, Bar Exquisito, 2020. A market painted in tiles.
03.19Studio Bigfat, Goenchi Feni, 2024. An engraved label full of ornament.
Earth colours
Red ochre and umber, colours people have painted with for thousands of years, lifted with yellow and blue.
03.20A palette taken from cave painting.
03.21Columns and vines on a warm gradient.
Ornament and plants
Pattern and decoration done by hand. You can see the care in it.
03.22Decorative and slightly surreal.
03.23A still life of everyday things.
03.24Flowers drawn with real detail.
In motion
The style in motion.
FilmMother Design, the Keen case film. Source
FilmMother Design, the Keen homepage moving through the painted world. Source
04 Compare
01 Swarm02 Market03 Folklore
The ideaLots of small marks make up the brand.People and ants trading, drawn in ink.The look of folk art, which nobody owns.
Works best forProduct, motion and the website.Social, merch and campaigns.Launches and big brand moments.
Watch forAnts looking like bugs, or drifting into generic particle effects.Getting too cute.Reading as wellness or fantasy rather than tech.
Antseed brand directions, October 2026GauthamImages from the moodboard belong to their creators ·