Naomi Adekunle

Narrative designer in Lisbon, She/her

About

I write the words that hold a product together — onboarding, empty states, the apology after an outage. Twelve years across fintech, food and public transit have taught me that clarity is a design decision, not a final polish. I work best embedded with a team, close enough to the problem to argue about it.

Projects

2023

Voice & tone system at Halberd Coffee

Halberd had grown from three roasteries to forty-one stores in under two years, and every surface sounded like a different company. I audited 900-odd strings across the app, the loyalty emails and the in-store screens, then rebuilt the language around four principles the baristas actually recognised. The handbook ships with a rewriting checklist, so the next person doesn't need me in the room. Support tickets about the rewards tiers dropped by 38% in the quarter after launch.

2021

Founding copy for Terrace & Vine

Terrace & Vine came to me with a spreadsheet of suppliers and a name they weren't sure about. Over eleven weeks we worked out who the restaurant was talking to, and what it refused to say. I wrote the menu, the letters that go out with the wine club shipments, and the small sign by the door that guests keep photographing. It was the first time I understood that hospitality writing is mostly about pacing.

Terrace & Vine, house letter The note that goes out with every wine club box There is a hill behind the vineyard that nobody photographs…