This is the briefing I provided to brand designer Jack VF in March 2025 for the Self Referential identity.
First, some background on the company:
Self Ref is a company I created to offer development services to successful/well-funded small teams and solo-founders who prefer to work alone.
Clients are happy to pay our rate because we’re fast, our results are really high quality, we quickly earn their trust that we’ll deliver what we promise, and we give them daily insight into what we’re doing and how much time we’re spending so they can steer our attention as they prefer.
The future…
I have this client who is just one guy making an obscene amount of money with a mobile app he built with AI. It has some AI slop, but it’s a really good product.
He hired me because he’s not a developer, and while he moved really fast to get his product out, he needs technical help to keep the app working well and feeling modern.
I want to do what he does.
I’m exploring building some products with Self Ref. My vision for the brand is that it will become associated with software products in the future, not just development services.
One thing I’m working on is an AI app that lets AI write and run its own code, which you can use to have AI write backend features for your product. Things like: write an API that converts markdown to a Google Doc, or write a service that creates AI brainrot videos and posts them to Youtube.
It works with the company name… AI that can create new AIs and AI tools is… self-referential.
Not a profound idea, but potentially something that can make matrix-escaping money?
About me
Self Ref is just me. At least for now? I kind of prefer to work alone.
I’ve been making software professionally since my first company at age 14 in 2007.
I think there’s a profound relationship between computing, information theory, and the universe.
I also believe that practicing software development makes people smarter. If you do it with enough curiosity and audacity, it precludes you from being an idiot in important ways that society could benefit from if more people were to do it.
There’s also a lot wrong with software today. I think people should be in control and possession of their online identities and data, rather than it being controlled by a few big companies.
I’ve done deep research into technical ways to afford people sovereignty over their own data, and I’ve published a handful of technologies to enable that.
Aesthetically…
I’ve been a musician for as long as I’ve done software.
I currently play drums in a band called Crawler. It’s dark and loud and chaotic. Noisy, electronic, juxtaposed, gross, intense, and easy listening somehow at the same time.
I also played drums in a band called The Drowned God for 10 years, which was signed, did tours, etc…
Combining these worlds, I like the juxtaposition of dark artistic themes with primitive/low-fi/nostalgic technology.
Vision for the identity…
When I was exploring names for the company, I looked at primitive concepts at the core of computing and information theory.
Self-reference is what makes computers programmable. A system that can read, modify, and execute its own instructions isn’t just a tool — it’s an engine for creativity, automation, and intelligence.
I am looking for an identity that captures the idea of self-reference and the primitive nature of computing, and blends a sort of dark artistic style with the nostalgic feel of primitive technology.
