( Independent creative studio — est. 2014 )

We build brands
that refuse
to sit  still

Strategy, identity and digital product for companies that would rather be early than safe.

Pl. 01  Studio, Brooklyn

Offices

Brooklyn, New York
Príncipe Real, Lisbon

Practice

Strategy, identity, product
and the build that follows

Engagements

Six to fourteen weeks
Retainers from three months

Currently

Two slots open for Q4
Enquiries answered in 48h

( 01 From the studio floor )

( Four frames  Â·  Brooklyn & Lisbon  Â·  2026 )

Pl. 02  Wythe Ave, before fit-out

Pl. 03  Art direction, Verdant

Pl. 04  Guidelines, second edition

Pl. 05  Review room, Lisbon

Trusted by

2019 — 2026

( 03 What we do )

Design that earns
its keep.

( We design against )

01

Qualified enquiries

02

Retention

03

Average order value

04

Time to first value

We are a small senior team. The people who pitch the work are the people who make it, and there is no layer in between to dilute it.

Projects run in weeks rather than quarters. That pace is not a shortcut — it comes from working in short, decisive loops with a client who can say yes in the room. Fewer meetings, fewer decks, more finished work.

Every engagement starts by naming the number the client actually cares about, and we report on it afterwards, whether or ot it flatters us.

Pl. 06  Wednesday review, Brooklyn

Sprint

Two weeks, one question answered. Fixed fee, no discovery phase.

Project

Six to fourteen weeks, scoped end to end and priced before we start.

Retainer

A standing day or two a week for teamsbuilding continuously.

Advisory

Monthly sessions with founders and in-housedesign leads.

Senior people, no account layer.

( Twenty-six people  Â·  two studios )

Elena Marsh

Founder, strategy

Brooklyn

Idris Cole

Partner, design director

Brooklyn

Rui Almeida

Head of engineering

Lisbon

Nora Vance

Art director, motion

Lisbon

(05 Capabilities )

( Five disciplines  Â·  one team )

Brand Strategy

We find the position a company can actually defend, then write it down in language its own people will repeat without being asked. Research is proportionate: enough to be right, never enough to stall.

4–6 weeks       Led by a partner       From $32k

( Deliverables )

Positioning platform
Audience map
Messaging framework
Naming and tone of voice
Competitive audit

Pl. 07  Positioning platform, Byrd

Visual Identity

A system, not a logo. We build the smallest set of parts — type, colour, grid, image rules — that stays recognisable when it leaves our hands and lands in a junior designer's deck.

6–8 WEEKS      Led by a partner       From $45k

( Deliverables )

Logo and marque system
Typography and colour system
Layout grids and motion rules
Photography and illustration direction
Brand guidelines

Pl. 08  IDENTITY SYSTEM, BYRD

Digital Product

We find the position a company can actually defend, then write it down in language its own people will repeat without being asked. Research is proportionate: enough to be right, never enough to stall.

4–6 weeks       Led by a partner       From $32k

( Deliverables )

Positioning platform
Audience map
Messaging framework
Naming and tone of voice
Competitive audit

Pl. 07  Positioning platform, Byrd

Web Development

A system, not a logo. We build the smallest set of parts — type, colour, grid, image rules — that stays recognisable when it leaves our hands and lands in a junior designer's deck.

6–8 WEEKS      Led by a partner       From $45k

( Deliverables )

Logo and marque system
Typography and colour system
Layout grids and motion rules
Photography and illustration direction
Brand guidelines

Pl. 08  IDENTITY SYSTEM, BYRD

Motion & Content

We find the position a company can actually defend, then write it down in language its own people will repeat without being asked. Research is proportionate: enough to be right, never enough to stall.

4–6 weeks       Led by a partner       From $32k

( Deliverables )

Positioning platform
Audience map
Messaging framework
Naming and tone of voice
Competitive audit

Pl. 07  Positioning platform, Byrd

Every engagement is fixed-fee and scoped in writing before it starts. If the brief changes, we re-scope openly rather than billing the difference quietly.

(06 How we work)

Four moves, no theatre.

01

Listen

A week with your team, your numbers and your customers. We ask the awkward questions first.

02

Frame

One page that states the problem, the position and the measure of success. Everything later answers to it.

03

Make

Short loops, real material, no theoretical concepts. You see the work weekly, not at a reveal.

04

Prove

We instrument what we ship and review it ninety days on, then fix what the data says to fix.

Pl.12   Audience study, week one

Pl.13   Out of home, live test

The ninety-day review is included in every project fee. It is the part most studios leave out, and the part clients remember.

( 07  By the numbers )

( As of Q2 2026 )

48

Projects delivered since 2014 â€” every one scoped, priced and reviewed by the people who made it.

26

Team members

14

Awards

98%

Client retention

9

Industries served

Retention counts clients who commissioned a second engagement within eighteen months.

( Selected, not exhaustive )

Fourteen, judged

Juried awards only. We do not enter categories that charge for placement.

(08  Recognition )

( Fourteen awards  Â·  2018 — 2026 )

2026

Northbeam — Identity

D&AD Wood Pencil

2025

Halcyon — Digital Product

Webby Honoree

2025

Ateliér Kuro — Art Direction

Type Directors Club

2024

Museo Lima — Web Platform

Awwwards Site of the Day

2023

Byrd Systems — Brand System

Brand Impact Awards

(09  What clients say )

They were the only studio that asked what the work had to achieve before showing us anything. Six weeks later the enquiries had doubled and nobody was arguing about the logo.

Marta Reyes
Managing Director, Northbeam

Let's make
something

last​ing