Scope is a deliverable
The discovery week produces a written scope and a fixed price. You own it whether or not you continue with us, and you can take it to another studio.
StudioEst. 2016
The studio is one desk
max is deliberately small. One person designs and builds, two long-standing collaborators come in for larger work, and you meet them before they start. There is no account layer because there is nothing for it to sit between.
01Beliefs
Six working beliefs
Not values on a wall. Each of these has cost us money at least once, which is how we know we mean them.
Design in the browser
Static mockups hide the states that break products. We design in code from week two, so what you approve is what exists.
Argue for less
Most briefs contain two features that matter and four that sound good in a meeting. Cutting the four is the highest-leverage thing we do.
Go where it is used
If the software is used in a van, a plant room or a waiting room, we stand there before we draw it. This is not research theatre; it changes the build.
Accessibility is a gate
Not an audit at the end. Contrast, target size, dynamic type and keyboard paths are enforced in CI, so a failing build does not ship.
Leave nothing behind
Your repository from the first commit, your cloud accounts, your domain. Handover is a scheduled step with a recorded walkthrough, not a favour.
02Process
How a project actually runs
The same shape every time, because a predictable process is what lets the work itself be ambitious.
Week 0
A call, then a written proposal. If it is not a fit we will say so and suggest who is.
Week 1
Paid discovery. We map the flows, sit where the software is used, and write the scope and the fixed price. You own the document either way.
Weeks 2–3
Design in the browser on a staging URL. Real data, real states, reviewed on your own devices rather than in a presentation.
Weeks 4–n
Build, with a demo every Friday on staging. Scope changes are priced when they come up, not discovered at the end.
Launch
Phased where it matters, with a rollback plan. Communications drafted alongside the release notes, because we learned that one the hard way.
After
Thirty days of fixes included. Then a retainer, or nothing at all, and the documentation to carry on without us.
9Years runningSame studio, same desk, since 2016
64Projects shippedWebsites, apps, systems and internal tools
6wkMedian buildDiscovery excluded; it is always one week
100%Source handed overEvery project, without being asked
03Tools
What we work in
Tools are chosen per project, not per studio preference. Most work lands in a small set we know deeply enough to be fast in — and we will tell you plainly when a job wants something we are not the right people for.
- Web — TypeScript, React, Next.js, Astro for content sites
- Mobile — Swift and Kotlin natively, React Native where it earns its place
- Back end — Node, Postgres, and boring infrastructure on your own cloud account
- Design — Figma for thinking, the browser for deciding
Not a fit for
- Staff augmentation
- We work on outcomes with a written scope, not as bodies inside someone else’s sprint.
- Unpaid pitches
- We will not produce speculative design. The discovery week is paid and you own the output.
- Rescues without a reset
- We take on troubled projects, but only after a discovery week. Continuing someone else’s plan unexamined helps nobody.
Two build slots openNext start: March