How we work.
Spine is our methodology. It is also our internal design system. Both names point at the same thing: a fixed structure that makes the surfaces possible. The work below sits downstream of the principles.
Decisions before deliverables.
A pixel-perfect mock that hides three undecided questions is a more expensive deliverable than a sketch. We surface the questions, get answers, then build. The artifacts you see are downstream of an answered list.
More · Private register →One spine. Many surfaces.
The same set of design tokens, components, and decisions ships to web, mobile, desktop, cloud, SaaS, and AI without translation drift. If a surface needs a different token, that is a different decision, and it gets one.
Read · Spine v0.1 →Ship in weeks, not months.
Engagements run in 2 to 14 week windows with a defined ship at the end of each. We don't run open-ended retainers. A finite window forces decisions, which is the work.
See it · Engagements →No discovery theater.
We don't run a six-week "discovery" before writing a line of code. Week one is a working prototype on a real machine, even if it's wrong. Wrongness narrows fast; abstractions don't.
Read · How to hire a studio →Telemetry is part of the deliverable.
If we can't measure whether the work moved a number, we didn't ship the work. Every engagement defines a metric in week one and reports against it on the day we hand off.
Read · What it costs →We say no in writing.
Not every intent fits us. We reply within 48 hours with a yes, a no, or a maybe, plus a sentence on why. A no in writing is a gift. A maybe in writing is a calendar entry.
See it · Submit intent →Intent
A 90-minute working session. The brief becomes a numbered list of unresolved questions.
Decide
The questions get answers. Each answer is a decision; each decision is recorded.
Shape
Decisions become a working prototype on a real machine. Wrongness gets specific.
Ship
Production builds across the chosen surfaces. Spine tokens in audit. Telemetry on.
Impact
Hand-off includes the metric and a 90-day support window. Then we leave.