Notes from the studio
Process notes, build logs and the odd opinion on motion design — written by the people doing the work.
We write when we have something specific to say, which is not often and is deliberate. Everything here is by someone on the team who did the work — the byline links to their profile, and there is no ghost in the machine.
Two of these are for people deciding whether to hire a studio: what a build actually costs and how to brief one. The other two are about how we work — why the handoff between design and engineering is where projects usually fail, and the test every animation has to pass before it ships.
If something here is useful and you want the version specific to your project, just ask.
- 01
How to brief a design studio
Most briefs describe a solution somebody already decided on. The good ones describe a problem and leave room for the answer. Here are the six things a brief has to say, and a structure you can copy.
Irtiza Khan Labib
- 02
What a web app actually costs to build
Two studios quote the same project and the numbers differ by five times. Neither is lying. Here is what actually drives the price of a custom web application, and how to read a quote so you can compare them.
Taher Ahmed
- 03
Motion that earns its place
Every animation on a site is a small tax on the person using it. Here is the test we run before any of ours ships — and the three questions that kill most of them.
Irtiza Khan Labib
- 04
The seam between design and engineering
Most projects do not fail in the design phase or the build phase. They fail in the handoff between them. Here is how we removed the handoff instead of trying to improve it.
Taher Ahmed