I’ve always had a strange relationship with email. I write a lot of them, I care about the tone, but the organisation behind it has always been chaos. Tags in Gmail, filters, little systems I tried to maintain. Nothing stuck.

My setup is simple on papier. All emails meant for me personally land in one Gmail account. CLASSIC FUTURE, WELTKERN®, other projects and everything important ends up there. It works, but it used to feel messy.

Then I tried Jace.

What is Jace?

An AI powered inbox that sorts your emails, drafts replies in your voice, and acts like an assistant who actually knows your entire email history. Simple.

The interface

Left: Your categories and tags.
Center: the inbox or the email thread.
Right: a Chat panel where you talk to Jace.

Inbox view handles the emails. Chat view is like a ChatGPT window connected to your entire email brain. I’ll add screenshots to show both.

Use Cases

1. Handling repetitive support questions
We get a lot of recurring support requests. Classic confusions or identical questions that come back weekly.
Jace understands the pattern, collects the relevant points and drafts the correct reply almost instantly.
My team doesn’t waste time repeating the same explanations. Most answers can be sent nearly as is.

2. Sorting invoices and receipts into the right place
This is one of my favorite features.
When a receipt or invoice arrives, Jace recognises it immediately and sorts it into the correct internal mailbox. No more manual tags or Gmail rules that break. Just clean organisation.

If a reply is needed, “draft reply” gives me a contextual message in my tone. If I want a nuance, I write it in the chat panel. The draft updates on the spot.

3. Finding, gathering and compiling documents into one PDF
When I need justificative documents, normally it’s a solid hour of searching, downloading, renaming and merging.
I asked Jace to handle it. It found everything across emails and attachments, compiled a clean PDF with a cover summary and attached it to the email I needed to send.

Seconds instead of an hour.
This is where the real time savings accumulate.

4. Asking anything about past conversations
This is where the Chat view shines. I can ask:

• Where are we with this offer

• Did we get a reply to the message we sent last week

• What did we send exactly, and when

• What is the latest status of a conversation spread over several threads

• What did I promise, quote or confirm the last time

• Can you Summarize this thread between “client X“ and “team member X“ (useful when I jump in later in the conversation).

And it answers with full context, something Gmail can’t do.

And beyond that, there are dozens more

• Searching for a booking confirmation.

• Asking for a full summary of a project spread across multiple threads.

• Sending offers, with Jace automatically using the correct pricing because it already learned everything

• Asking general questions not related to email at all.
  Switching languages seamlessly

• I often speak to it in French and it prepares the draft in English. When I receive something in German, it produces a summary for me in English. You can work entirely in French, English or any languages without friction.

The possibilities are honestly endless!!

Why I use it daily

It makes the inbox lighter and clearer.
It handles multiple accounts, which is essential for me.
Setup takes five minutes.
And the team behind it improves the tool constantly. Every time I’ve sent feedback, they answered and fixed things quickly. Jace isn’t perfect, but it’s evolving fast in the right direction.

If you want to try it

If you use Gmail or Outlook, or if your domain forwards into one of them, just try it. The free version is enough to understand how it works.

For intensive use, the paid plans are worth it. The team gave me a code I can share:

Use the code CONNECTION10
for 10% off any plan.

Try Jace.ai now

I use it every day, the people around me use it, and it’s still massively underrated. Give it a chance and see how it fits your workflow.

Enjoy!
Nizar

We collect things most people don’t even see.

Not because they’re hidden, they’re actually everywhere.

But because most people don’t think they matter.

I’m talking about the paperwork that comes with a product but isn’t the product.

Receipts, warranty slips, instruction booklets, return forms, random shipping labels, tax folders, cafeteria signs, public office printouts.

Some of it is designed. Some of it just happened.

And yet, this overlooked graphic matter is the foundation of our most creative work!

Inspiration, but not how they teach it

Inspiration is personal.
In design school, they talk about it. In studios, they expect it.
But everyone finds their own way of making sense of it.

A lot of designers build from what’s trending, what’s shared, what’s current. And that totally makes sense. It’s fast, accessible, and part of the conversation. But it’s also crowded. Overexposed. Sometimes shallow.

From the beginning, at CLASSIC FUTURE, we found ourselves pulled toward something else: Toward the overlooked. The stuff that isn’t meant to be inspiring, but somehow, weirdly, is.

That’s where our READY MADE practice comes from.

We collect graphic fragments. We scan them. We isolate details. We remix. We treat them like open-source design DNA, freely available, often ignored, but full of potential.

What most people never see

We collect things most people don’t even look at. The stuff that comes with a product but isn’t the product. Paperwork. Warranties. Instruction slips. Random printouts. Anything functional, printed, and usually tossed aside. Sometimes it’s designed (intentionally). Sometimes it’s just default layouts or auto-generated forms. Most people don’t even register them as “designed.” But to me, that’s where the magic starts.

It’s this whole world of graphic material that lives everywhere and yet is completely ignored. Before I knew anything about design, or typography, I thought fonts were just… there. Like air. Like dinosaurs. I assumed they’d always existed. Just part of the digital world. Not something people made. Not something with origin or intention.

And that’s exactly what I find fascinating. Typography is, without exaggeration, one of the most visible human-made creations on the planet. It’s absolutely everywhere. It spans every screen, every printed page, every product, every instruction manual, every billboard. And yet, for how omnipresent it is, it’s also one of the most overlooked and least considered elements in the world. That paradox, the hyper-visible becoming invisible, is what this whole archive is about.

That’s where this project began. First as a personal habit. Then, little by little, I pulled others at the studio into it. Now it’s part of how we work. Part of how we see. Part of what we teach.

It’s become our number one source of inspiration. And that’s important, because no one teaches you how to handle inspiration properly. Not in design school. And definitely not in fast-paced studio culture.

Why we call it “READY MADE”

There’s obviously a nod to Duchamp here, the whole idea of taking an object, changing its context, and letting it speak in a new way.

But we’re not being ironic about it. We’re not flipping urinals and calling it art. We’re flipping delivery notes. Tax returns. Expired receipts. And seeing them for what they really are:
raw design material.

To me, it’s like that thing Virgil Abloh said, that maybe we spend too much time designing the candle, when just putting the candle in the right space changes everything.

That’s what our READY MADE project is about.

We elevate the ignored by placing it in a new frame.
But let’s be clear: I’m not saying you should just scan a receipt and make a poster.

The real magic is not in the object, but in the DNA inside it.

The “DNA“ method

We treat each piece like a specimen.
Every one of these vernacular items carries strands of design logic, tension, composition, accident, constraint.
Not every element is valuable, but something always is.

A layout choice. A color interaction. The way type misaligns and somehow works. The fact that it was printed off-center and looks better that way.

We isolate these bits. We study them.
And then we start to remix.
Not lazily. Not literally.

We recombine fragments into new graphic strands, custom DNA for each project.

Sometimes it’s 3 references. Sometimes it’s 30. We don’t just copy, we fuse. Cinema, architecture, manuals, jazz records, brutalist blueprints, we let them mix with the vernacular.
That’s when design gets interesting again.

Why InDesign is not the lab

Here’s something I tell everyone who joins our studio:

Read more

I’ll start doing more of these shorter posts in between longer reads. Just little drops from the day-to-day (like useful tools, cool finds, and things we actually use at CLASSIC FUTURE and WELTKERN®!)

This time, it’s a quick look at five mini-softwares we use for different sides of our work. I think these might be helpful for you too, whether you’re a solo designer, a creative studio, or even just running a service business of any kind.

Now, don’t get me wrong. Sometimes, sticking with the big, well-known legacy software makes total sense. Those tools are popular for a reason, they’re powerful, clean, reliable and well-supported.

But other times, you just need one function. One very specific, simple thing. And for that, paying a high subscription fee every month doesn’t make any sense. Especially when there are leaner, smarter alternatives out there!

Some of the tools I’m listing here were found on AppSumo, which if you’ve never tried, is honestly a really interesting platform. It’s built on a simple win-win logic: up-and-coming software companies offer lifetime deals to gain traction and get feedback, and users like us get access to powerful tools for a one-time payment, no subscription and you can always get a refund (after 60 days!!) if it’s not for you.

There’s a bit of everything on there. Some of it is hit or miss. But several of these tools? We’ve tested them, we use them daily, and they’ve made their way into our core workflows.

So, here’s a look at five of those tools, the ones we’re loving right now. Some are still available on AppSumo, others aren’t anymore, but I’ll include links and notes where it makes sense.

Here’s what we’re loving (and using) right now

Real tools, real use cases! (Not only from AppSumo but mainly)

1.

PushLab Growth
Launch Your Own Affiliate Program in Minutes

• What it does: Build and manage your own affiliate program super easily.

• Price: $59/lifetime

• Normal Price: Usually a monthly subscription model.

• Why it’s great: If you’re selling anything — services, products, subscriptions — you can get affiliates promoting you without paying monthly fees forever.

2.

Orchestra
Manage Subscriptions and Client Requests

• What it does: Handles client requests, feedback, subscriptions, all in one place.

• Price: Varies based on tier but from $69-$789/lifetime (normally $300-$1824))

• Why it’s great: Perfect if you’re selling ongoing services. Your clients can submit their needs, and you can bill them monthly, easily.

3.

Linke
Branded Short Links + Analytics, for Cheap

• What it does: Shorten links, track clicks, customize with your own domain.

• Price: $49/lifetime (normally $129).

• Why it’s great: Super clean dashboard, custom domains, real-time insights — great for social bios, newsletters, link tracking, etc.

4.

Eniston
Build Your Internal Wiki Without the Headaches

• What it does: Create a knowledge base for your team — document workflows, SOPs, onboarding info.

• Price: $79/lifetime (compared to $299 normally!!).

• Why it’s great: Intuitive, customizable, and you can brand it with your domain. Makes onboarding and internal training a breeze.

5.

Rork.app
Build Mobile Apps with AI — No Code, No Fuss

• What it does: Rork lets you build fully functional, cross-platform mobile apps using AI.

• Price: Free to start, then $20–$200/month depending on usage.

• Why it’s great: It’s perfect if you’ve got an app idea but don’t code. Write a solid prompt, drop it into Rork, and get a working mobile app you can test on your phone. Perfect for sketching and testing ideas fast, kind of like Loveable, but for apps.

That’s the five for today. There are more I could share, some we use daily, others we’ve tested and loved. I’ll probably do deeper dives on a few of them later. Or share some that aren’t on AppSumo anymore but are still worth checking out!

Also, yes, for those waiting on the next longer post (the one on graphic READY MADE I teased earlier), it’s still coming! Just thought I’d drop this little detour in the meantime, something useful and instantly actionable.

Let me know if you end up trying any of these. Always curious to hear what works for others!
— Nizar

PS: Subscribe to CONNECTION on Substack

Get automatically entered into the welcome giveaway (👀 A.P.C. bag + books), and starting next week, we’re diving into real topics — type, money, publishing, office costs, and creative systems that actually work.

Most of it’s reserved for yearly members.

So if you’re into honest breakdowns and useful resources, now’s the time.

Think of CONNECTION as a private space, a shared notebook, a digital studio visit,
a place where ideas can breathe and meaningful exchanges can happen.

It’s the digital version of visiting our office — where people usually leave with stories, ideas, goodies, but always with real conversations. Not everyone can make that trip, so I wanted to recreate that feeling here: intimate, generous, and full of thoughtful takeaways.

We’ll dive into the real stuff. The behind-the-scenes, the creative processes, the failures, the systems we test, and the long-term vision we’re building through WELTKERN® and CLASSIC FUTURE.

It’s where I’ll share the kind of insights and resources that are too detailed, or too nuanced, for an Instagram post. Not because they’re secret, but because they deserve a more thoughtful space.

And yes, we’ll talk about design.
And money!
And editorial design.
And business models.
And licensing.
And branding.
And strategy.
And fonts.
And publishing.
And e-commerce.
And ecosystem.
And ready made.
And value.
And pricing.
And how to grow.
And how to connect.
And working with clients.
And how to build something relevant.
And then tear it down and build again.

We’ll talk about all of it — openly, freely.

There are no strict rules here. Just one goal: That what you find here matters. That it gives you tools, insights, and context — something you can actually use in your own practice, in your own way. Maybe you’ll even want to share something too, a resource, an idea, maybe even take over this space for a post!

What’s coming next on CONNECTION

Some of the posts already in the works — honest, detailed, and meant to be useful.

Subscribe to CONNECTION on Substack

Get automatically entered into the welcome giveaway (👀 A.P.C. bag + books), and starting next week, we’re diving into real topics — type, money, publishing, office costs, and creative systems that actually work.

Most of it’s reserved for yearly members.

So if you’re into honest breakdowns and useful resources, now’s the time.

From a Student Project to a Globally Used Typeface

The full story behind TWK Lausanne — how it started, how it evolved, and how it became part of global brands.

The Economics Behind a Book

Let’s talk budgets: production, design, margins, sales. Real numbers, hard truths, and where value really lives and ways to change this and create a virtuous circle.

Our Office: How Much Everything Cost?

A breakdown of what we spent to create a space that reflects how we work — from furniture to coffee machine.

The Graphic Ready Made Playbook

How vernacular design must become your richest source of inspiration.

Your Membership, Materialized

When you subscribe to CONNECTION with a yearly plan, you’ll receive a limited-edition CLASSIC FUTURE membership card, a small, solid symbol of your place here.

Each card is individually packed and sent directly to you, while supplies last.

It’s more than a welcome gift — it’s a quiet thank-you. A signal that this space means something to both of us.

One more thing!
The CONNECTION Welcome Giveaway

To mark the launch of this space: a Welcome Giveaway (until May 15)

One of you will win a beautiful Japanese denim A.P.C. shopping bag (120$) filled with:

» Möbel by New Tendency (32$)
» 2–22 by Wood Wood (60$)
» Exfoliating Hand Wash (Hinoki) by OEM (40$)

It’s my way of saying thank you, and starting CONNECTION with intention, with care, and with something real!

Giveaway open to all annual subscribers until May 15, 2025 at 11:59 PM (Zürich time).

Final words

If any of this resonates with you — the way we work, the questions we ask, the things we’re trying to build — I’d love to have you here.

CONNECTION is just getting started, but it’s already one of the most personal things I’ve shared. You can expect about one post per month, sometimes more, plus a few smaller updates along the way.

And if there’s a topic you’d love to see covered, feel free to send a message or drop us a line at connection@classicfuture.com.

I’ll meet you there!
Nizar