Field notes.

Practical writing on web design, ecommerce, SEO, Google Ads, branding, AI and building digital things in South Africa — written by the team working on real client projects.

Ikonik field notes bust
WeeklyNew notes
HonestNo fluff
FreeRead anywhere
Featured

New writing from the studio.

Featured · Web design
Web design

Why most South African business websites underperform — and the five fixes that pay for themselves.

A field-tested checklist for founders and marketing leads whose website is technically live but commercially quiet. Covers structure, speed, search intent, conversion and the analytics you actually need.

Jenna Deacon12 min readComing soon
Read the article →
Ecommerce

WooCommerce vs Shopify in South Africa: which platform actually fits your business?

The honest, non-affiliate comparison. Total cost of ownership, SA payment gateways, customisation ceilings and the point at which each platform stops helping.

Jenna Deacon9 min readComing soon
SEO

Local SEO for South African businesses: what actually moves the needle in 2026.

Google Business Profile, citations, review velocity, on-page and the local-pack changes we've seen this year. What still works, what wastes budget.

Jenna Deacon11 min readComing soon
AI & automation

Building a WhatsApp AI agent that customers actually trust — and one that won't get you fined.

POPIA, tone, escalation paths, when to hand over to a human, and the specific failure modes we've seen in the wild.

Jenna Deacon8 min readComing soon
Branding

The rebrand checklist: what to protect, what to change, what to quietly retire.

The strategic decisions behind a good rebrand — from equity audits to launch sequencing — with real examples from Ikonik projects.

Jenna Deacon10 min readComing soon
Case notes

Behind Kaleido Afrique: building custom multi-warehouse split shipping on WooCommerce.

A technical write-up of the shipping engine we built for a luxury pan-African homeware brand — three warehouses, one basket, one experience.

Jenna Deacon14 min readComing soon
SEO & paid

Google Ads for South African SMBs: how to set a budget that actually generates leads.

Baseline benchmarks, industry averages we've seen, keyword strategy for a small budget, and what to cut when the CPCs climb.

Jenna Deacon9 min readComing soon
Have a project?

Fewer meetings. More momentum.

If reading isn't your thing, tell us what you're building or trying to fix. We'll come back with scope, price and a plan.