The Daly Ripple Effect
Success demands more than a buzzy launch moment or a single media blitz. We build long-term, dynamic strategies that create unstoppable momentum over time. See the results of our sustained impact at work.
Standards Manual
Back in 2014, we launched designers Hamish Smyth and Jesse Reed’s first Kickstarter campaign to reissue the 1970s NYCTA Graphics Standards Manual as a hardcover book. It became an overnight sensation, widely invigorating a niche design community and surpassing its fundraising goal by over 700%.
Ever since, Daly has fully managed the design duo’s subsequent campaigns, business launches (they now run three separate but intertwined design companies!), and ongoing comms—helping to sustain the incredible ripple effect of that very first project.
August 2015
Hamish and Jesse launch their second Kickstarter, to reissue the 1975 NASA Graphics Standards Manual, reviving NASA’s dormant worm logo. Daly lands them on the front page of The New York Times Science section, and the project becomes the most successful graphic design campaign on Kickstarter ever.
May 2016
The Standards Manual online store launches to support the continued, frenzied demand for the manuals, and Daly secures a Vanity Fair feature on the duo: “Meet the Guys Turning Old Graphic Design Manuals into Kickstarter Blockbusters.”
May 2017
Hamish and Jesse open their own design office, Order, along with New York City’s first graphic design retail bookstore, aptly named Standards Manual. Daly locks a Fast Company feature titled, “Order: The New Design Office That Spun Off A $1.9M Kickstarter Business,” and a New York magazine story calling the retail shop a “Best of New York”—with additional glowing coverage in The Verge, Curbed, Cool Hunting, Wired, and more.
May 2017
The impact of Order & Daly’s revival of the Worm logo starts expanding out of the design nerd universe, into other spheres of culture—kicked off by Coach launching its “Coach Space” pre-fall collection. This marks the beginning of an abundance of high fashion x streetwear x NASA collaborations, with brands like Balenciaga, Heron Preston, and Vans.
October 2018
Standards Manual & Daly host a sold out event for legendary designer Michael Bierut’s new title Now You See It at their Greenpoint bookshop.
August 2019
Standards Manual unveils its next design tome, Parks, cataloging the ephemera of U.S. national parks, and continues publishing niche design books on an annual basis, including The Worm, an intimate look at NASA’s beloved worm logo, QSL?, a fascinating glimpse into the niche but rich world of ham radio, and Classified, a collection of classified advertisements from 1970s small-town America. Across all these releases, Daly lands an expansive array of press coverage for the publisher, in an extensive mix of publications, from Bloomberg and Outside Magazine to WNYC.
November 2019
MoMA approaches Order to lead a brand refresh for the museum that is more modular, adaptable, and scalable, and asks the team to produce the new brand guidelines digitally—planting the seed for Hamish and Jesse’s third venture together, which they quickly bring Daly into the fold to help amplify.
May 2020
SpaceX brings the NASA worm logo back on The Falcon 9, taking NASA astronauts to the International Space Station—space, tech, and design media rejoices.
July 2020
Hamish, Jesse, and their business partners at digital design firm Shore officially announce Standards, a new way to automate and design brand guidelines. With the unveiling of a simple marketing site, Daly secures coverage across Fast Company, Design Week, Creative Review, Creative Boom, and more—and within 3 days, Standards has a 10,000-person waitlist, which grows to over 28,000 within weeks.
October 2021
Order breathes new life into 1800s New York steakhouse Gage & Tollner with a stunning rebrand across signage, menus, and more. Daly garners the rebrand widespread coverage across New York magazine, Bon Appétit, and The New Yorker.
July 2022
CNN Business publishes a story titled “Why everyone’s wearing NASA-branded clothes,” referencing the runaway success of the NASA manual reissue on Kickstarter, and declaring that the trend is far from ending.
October 2022
With Standard Manual’s most recent release, Daly pitches It’s Nice That, who gushes about the design imprint’s impact in a glowing article: “You know the drill by now: If it’s Standards Manual, it’s sure to be beautifully designed.”
July 2023
Standards officially launches to the public with a Daly-placed feature in Fast Company, more than 10,000 paying customers, and enterprise clients including NASA, Headspace, Skillshare, SeatGeek, RISD, Songtrust, Zipline, Bloomberg, Logitech, and more.
May 2024
Comic blog 13th dimension catches wind of Standards Manual’s newest project, to reissue the 1982 DC Comics Style Guide, driving hundreds of pre-orders before the launch date—the Daly team steps in to launch the book earlier than expected.
