( 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 · Brooklyn & Lisbon · 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
( 02 Selected work )
( Six of forty-eight · 2022 — 2026 )
We find the unique,
easy solution for
each creative project
( 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 · 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 · one team )
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 )
Pl. 07 Positioning platform, Byrd
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 )
Pl. 08 IDENTITY SYSTEM, BYRD
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 )
Pl. 07 Positioning platform, Byrd
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 )
Pl. 08 IDENTITY SYSTEM, BYRD
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 )
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 — 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 · 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
(10 Journal)
Notes from the studio.
Let's make
something
lasting