MILO KELAHER

Designer & front-end developer Auckland, NZ

MILO KELAHER

I work across identity, editorial and interface — and I build the thing I designed, so it survives the trip from file to browser.

Scroll

Approach

Most work looks fine and does nothing. I care about the other kind — the sort that earns attention, holds it, and still works on a slow connection.

Index 06

01 Meridian Brand identity & digital platform 2026 02 Northbound Editorial system for a travel quarterly 2025 03 Hollow Field Album artwork & motion package 2025 04 Cadence Product design for a rhythm-training app 2024 05 Salt & Stone Packaging for a small-batch producer 2024 06 Vantage Design system & component library 2023
Meridian — Brand identity & digital platform Meridian 2026 Northbound — Editorial system for a travel quarterly Northbound 2025 Hollow Field — Album artwork & motion package Hollow Field 2025 Cadence — Product design for a rhythm-training app Cadence 2024 Salt & Stone — Packaging for a small-batch producer Salt & Stone 2024 Vantage — Design system & component library Vantage 2023

Process

Five steps, and the boring ones matter most.

  1. 01

    Listen

    What the business actually needs, what the people using it actually do, and where those two disagree.

  2. 02

    Frame

    The problem written down in one paragraph everyone signs off on. Most bad projects are a framing failure wearing a design costume.

  3. 03

    Make

    Fast, ugly, in the browser. Real content, real data, real constraints. Opinions get cheaper once something exists to react to.

  4. 04

    Refine

    The part that separates fine from good. Typography, timing, edge cases, the empty state nobody remembered.

  5. 05

    Ship

    Built, tested on real devices, handed over with documentation someone who was not in the room can follow.

Capabilities

Four things, done properly.

Most studios list twenty services. These are the four I will put my name on, and the order they usually happen in.

01 / 04

Strategy

Positioning, naming, and the awkward questions that come before any visual decision gets made. Most bad projects are a framing failure wearing a design costume.

Audit Naming Messaging Workshops
02 / 04

Identity

Marks, type systems, colour, and the guidelines that keep it all from falling apart in month three. Quiet enough to last, specific enough to recognise.

Logotype Type system Colour Guidelines
03 / 04

Digital

Sites and products designed in the browser rather than in a static file. Accessible, fast, and responsive because it was built that way, not retrofitted.

UI design Prototyping Design systems Accessibility
04 / 04

Build

Hand-written front-end. Semantic HTML, modern CSS, no framework unless it earns its place. The thing that ships is the thing that was designed.

HTML & CSS Motion WordPress Handover

About

Ten years of making things that had to work.

I started in print and moved to screens when it became obvious that was where the interesting problems went. Since then I have worked with studios, in-house teams and founders who had a rough idea and a short runway.

The work above is a sample. If you want the full case studies, or a conversation about something you are planning, get in touch.

10+Years practising
60+Projects shipped
4Awards & mentions
∞Revisions survived

Journal

17.08.2026 Another post More text. 1 min read 17.08.2026 Post 1 Some text 1 min read

Next

Let's make something good