FAQs

We specialize in building 0-1 and 1-10, so naturally we work with scale-ups (series A and beyond) in industries such as aerospace/hardware, fintech, AI, HR, and more. A lot of our clients are building something complex where the interface has real stakes: a technician assembling a drone, a user irreversibly transferring loyalty points, or a system monitoring access into a building. We also run brand identity sprints for companies going through a repositioning or who need to freshen up.

Teams that need a large group executing many things in parallel, a full engineering build, or the cheapest possible execution. We're a small, senior studio — that's the whole value proposition. We don't have seniors sell you on results and then get juniors to do the work, neither we're a jack of all trades. We do one thing, and do it well – design impactful software and everything around it.

A real product or business decision behind the work, not just "make it look nicer." The ability to make decisions fast and commit to them. Comfort working in short, iterative cycles instead of one big brief and three weeks of silence.

Building 0–1 or 1–10 and solving complex product design challenges. We've built in hard tech industries like aerospace and security. We're the founding design partner that helps you set a strong foundation from day one, and outdesign your competition along the way.

No account manager, no middleman. You work directly with the person doing the design, every day, on your project. We cap ourselves at three clients at a time specifically so we can give each one real attention instead of spreading thin across a roster.

Full-time makes sense if you need the same role every day for years and have the budget for it. Most of our clients use us to move fast while either not needing a full-time hire yet, or while one is still ramping up. Several of our engagements have ended exactly that way — we hand off cleanly once a company brings someone in-house. Others continue partnering with us for months and years because it simply works.

We work in short iteration cycles — usually every 2–3 days we ship something concrete (Figma link and a short video walkthrough) and ask for feedback. That's different from the classic agency model where you send a brief and wait two weeks for a big reveal that might miss the mark. Frequent small check-ins catch misalignment early.

Either a completed task or a progress report toward a larger one. Updates come as a short video demo plus notifications in Slack and Notion, so you always know where things stand without having to ask.

We typically deliver around 2 tasks a week. Exact pace depends on scope, but when tasks are well-defined we move fast. That's how we completed 80+ design tasks over 10 months for Invisibly.

As an example: give us a landing page brief with all the materials ready (copy, requirements, creative direction, brand assets), and we can deliver the first iteration within 48 hours.

These are estimates, which is exactly why the 2-week trial exists — it lets you see our actual pace on your actual project, at a moderate cost, before committing further.

Two weeks, roughly:

• Week 1: a short strategy questionnaire, then a mood board to set the visual direction based on your answers.
• Week 2: logo, color, type, and a couple of applied examples (website header, key app screens) so you can see the identity in context, not just in isolation.

This comes up a lot with early-stage products. We don't pretend to know your business better than you do — we work with your team to understand constraints, and focus on defining what the interface needs to communicate and how it should behave.

When the ambiguity is about what to build at all, we push to define the smallest real MVP before designing anything. The best test is usually asking users: "Would you still pay for this if we cut everything except this piece?"

Both, depending on what's needed. We've done single-feature work inside an existing system, and we've taken products from a rough concept to a full v1. If you need the whole thing to feel cohesive — brand, product, and marketing site all reading as one company — that's where we do our best work.

Our standard rate is $10,317/month for an ongoing retainer, working as your fractional design partner. For a defined brand sprint or similar scoped deliverable, it's typically half that for two weeks (~$5K).

For more information, visit our Pricing page.

The retainer is ongoing — you get fractional design partner time month to month, with work re-prioritized as your needs evolve.

A fixed price is different. You give us a very clear, locked brief (these exact pages, this exact scope), and we quote a flat number for that defined output. Fixed price only works if the brief won't change mid-project.

The 2-week trial is a low-risk way to start working together before committing to either path. Most trials turn into an ongoing monthly retainer once we've proven we're a good fit.

Sometimes, yes. We offered a reduced monthly rate over a longer period for cash-strapped early-stage teams. We'd rather structure something sustainable than price a good client out. Ask, and we'll tell you honestly what's possible.

No lock-in. After the two-week trial, everything runs month-to-month. If it's working, we keep going. If not, we stop. No long contract to unwind. If you feel good about the work we do, we offer discounts for quarterly payments.

Yes, that's what the 2-week sprint is for. During the sprint we can work on anything you need most – a brand refresh, a couple of website pages, or a new feature design are all reasonable starting points.

Either. Some clients are very prescriptive. Others need a thought partner: we get on a call, ask questions, and work out the brief together. Tell us which one fits, and we'll adapt.

Whatever's scoped going in — the sprint isn't limited to any one service. It could be a brand identity (logo, type, color, imagery direction), a set of UI/UX screens, a landing page, or a focused product design task.

Deliverables are shared via Figma or Notion, plus a couple of applied examples so you can see the work in context, not just in isolation. Larger add-ons — a full stationery/collateral suite, a complete brand book, extra pages — aren't automatically included unless we've scoped them in, but they're quick to add once the core direction is locked.

Yes, and some clients do exactly that once the hard thinking (the wireframes, the direction, the system) is done. The expensive part isn't painting pixels, it's figuring out what to paint. Once that's solved, execution is much easier to delegate.

We're based in Bucharest, Romania (EET), but the vast majority of our clients are in the USA. We shift our office hours to overlap 6 hours with the West Coast and 3 hours with the East Coast. Timezone difference has never been an issue.

Figma for all interface design work, with full transparency into what we're doing. For brand identity, print materials, and social assets, we work in the Adobe Creative Cloud apps.

For project management, we set up a dedicated Notion page for your company — product documentation, brand guidelines, and graphic assets live there, along with a kanban board where you list out the tasks you want us to work on.

For everyday chat, we use Slack and Tella for video recordings (we send video walkthroughs for everything we deliver).

A clear sense of the goal, and access to whatever's relevant — existing product/app access, brand files, a Notion/doc space, or just a working session where you talk and we take notes.

You don't need a perfect brief; we can help build one from a conversation. We're here to take things off your plate, not add more.

Yes, always, before reviewing anything private — unreleased products, roadmaps, internal decks, sensitive data.

Yes, definitely.

In the case of scoped projects, once invoices are settled, the final files (Figma, assets, documentation) are yours. If a project uses a paid font, template, or third-party asset with its own license, we'll flag that clearly so there are no surprises later.

For retainers, you will have access to everything from day 1. We'll set up a shared project in your Figma workspace so you'll always have complete ownership of the source files.

Usually within a week, depending on our current client load. We only take 3 retainer clients at a time, so availability depends on what's currently open. Ask and we'll tell you exactly where we stand.

A brand sprint: about two weeks. A landing page: two to four weeks depending on complexity. A product redesign or full app: usually a couple of months, run as an ongoing retainer rather than a single fixed sprint.

Slow feedback, unclear decision-making (too many stakeholders needing to sign off), and scope that keeps shifting mid-sprint. We move fast when the loop back from you is fast too.

Sometimes. Tell us the real deadline and we'll tell you honestly what's achievable in that window versus what should be cut or phased for later.

Working long hours isn't how we normally operate, and we don't make a habit of it, but when a client genuinely needs it (a launch date that can't move, a demo that matters) we've gone above and beyond to make it happen. We want you to feel like you can count on us when it really counts.