We’re OFF+BRAND., a (small by design) design and growth studio born in Glasgow, Scotland.
We began in 2020 as two co-founders with a shared imaginative and prescient: to construct superb experiences like our heroes at companies resembling Resn, Monks, and Lusion. Sadly, neither of us knew what the trail to doing that seemed like: we hadn’t labored at any companies or achieved that form of work, ever.
Six years later, we’re a workforce of 30 unimaginable abilities. We’ve delivered flagship tasks for shoppers like Microsoft, Slack, and Webflow, and we get to work on tasks that genuinely excite us.
Our Journey
OFF+BRAND. started as two folks in a small workplace area in Glasgow. We each needed to construct one thing that allowed us to be inventive. As a result of we have been each workaholics with no private lives to fret about, we have been in a position to do good work. After which our breakthrough occurred with Totem: a construct that price us most likely 4 occasions the funds to ship and was a nightmare to handle. However it was the primary transient the place we knew we had an opportunity to make one thing particular. After we confirmed the consumer the ultimate expertise, all of them ran round, and considered one of them jumped right into a swimming pool as a result of he was so pleased. It was sensible.
The venture took Website of the Day on Awwwards and FWA, and virtually in a single day, we bought larger shoppers who have been prepared handy over extra inventive management. Earlier than Totem, shoppers didn’t belief us to be inventive. After Totem, shoppers got here to us anticipating one thing particular, which meant we may do extra impactful work, which in flip led to extra recognition. We realised nice consumer work begins with the popularity you construct earlier than the consumer ever calls. With out that belief, everybody finally ends up making safer selections (aka unhealthy selections).
Although we’ve delivered numerous consumer work we’re pleased with, we’ve by no means stopped investing in our inside tasks. These are most likely as vital because the consumer work as a result of they massively upskill you and your workforce, and (for us) they’re what led to larger shoppers. They’re additionally quite a lot of enjoyable. Two good examples are Manifesto and Aether. There are many unhealthy examples that don’t see the sunshine of day, however you be taught from them too.
Creativity at Scale, for Enterprise
It’s boring, however as we’ve grown, we’ve discovered lots concerning the (frankly immeasurable) significance of excellent governance and alter administration. They sound terrible, however these two issues are what assist you to ship creativity at scale. Principally, construct and preserve belief with huge shoppers, and they’re going to allow you to do inventive work. Lose their belief, and also you’ll both lose the contract fully or ship one thing vanilla that disappoints everybody, which is way worse.
And also you construct belief by:
- Being visibly accountable for the venture and timelines.
- Serving to the consumer see and imagine that you’re accountable for the venture and timelines.
So, once we take into consideration creativity at scale, the second most vital factor (after consumer urge for food) is governance. However when you perceive this, it turns into straightforward(er). And the inventive half then opens up: you have to give the inventive folks the area and authority to do superb issues. The extra you get of their approach with considerations, the much less particular the expertise will likely be.
Showcase
Home windows & Floor
We’d by no means delivered a venture at this type of scale, with so many various companies and tiers of administration earlier than. The scope was large. OFF+BRAND. needed to create a full design system for Microsoft’s three flagship merchandise (and get sign-off from every division).
A really huge problem:
- Design and construct the brand new Microsoft Home windows web site. One other very huge problem.
- Develop the brand new Microsoft Floor web site expertise, as designed by our buddies at Feels Like Studio. Not straightforward.
Step one was to create the reusable parts and shared design system—the foundations that needed to maintain up on one of the visited expertise web sites on the planet, throughout their total product suite. In apply, this venture overlapped with the Home windows and Floor design work, which made it extra difficult to get sign-off, but additionally ensured we bought a stronger system ultimately. We managed to create a lovely, fashionable design system, which is now being scaled out throughout the total ecosystem.
We then designed the brand new Home windows expertise and developed each, Home windows and Floor. Most notably, the Home windows touchdown web page is a giant step ahead for them. It’s not your typical company homepage expertise. The toughest a part of the journey was the variety of stakeholders and making certain everybody felt heard and understood. There’s no shortcut: you simply must ensure you’re genuinely taking over board the suggestions of everybody concerned, and at the least explaining correctly why you’re not taking all of it on board if you happen to can’t. A lot of trackers, numerous spreadsheets, numerous conferences, however all of us bought there.
Lando Norris
Lando was all concerning the expertise and telling his story past motorsport. Fortunate for us, he received alongside the discharge of the location, which led to large site visitors and possibly helped the general affect, which was even larger than we anticipated.
By way of design, we didn’t want to fret a couple of wider system; it was about most affect for customers of the location. It’s the form of transient you solely get very not often, so we went all in on making one thing lovely and unique.
The hero expertise has now change into a meme, with each single vibecoder on Twitter recreating their very own (typically terrible) variations. However once we launched the location, it was a recent idea that had the most important affect we’ve ever seen. The toughest a part of the entire thing was conveying the thought—we knew it was a winner from the beginning, however we have been simply terrified the consumer wouldn’t adore it, so we virtually constructed the entire thing earlier than displaying it to them to ensure they might log out.
By way of timelines, this was a correct race: lower than two months for the total design and growth. We then sat on it for about six months, anticipating that it could be a giant launch for them, however not understanding. Our Head of Improvement, Adrian Gubrica, stated from the beginning it could be Website of the 12 months. Nicely achieved, Adrian!
Trevor Noah
We’re large followers of Trevor, and we couldn’t imagine it when he reached out to work with us. He stated he needed to make one thing fascinating and enjoyable, so we spent a very long time exploring concepts earlier than selecting a route. Trevor wasn’t pushing us for time, so we had quite a lot of enjoyable exploring completely different angles to pursue.
Trevor does lots. Stand-up. Podcasts. Writing. Reside reveals. Commentary. Each concept we explored ended up making an attempt to pressure these into neat classes, however that by no means felt like him. What did really feel like him was the fixed curiosity, the sense that he’s at all times noticing issues, making connections, and accumulating concepts, and that grew to become the idea.
The homepage grew to become a residing collage of ideas, tales, and moments, virtually like looking inside Trevor’s head. For essentially the most half, we saved issues as flat 2D parts with a curated method to WebGL. It was vital that the expertise by no means grew to become the purpose; we needed folks to recollect Trevor, not us (perhaps us somewhat bit).
The opposite problem was making all of the completely different elements of his profession really feel equally vital. We didn’t need stand-up, books, stay reveals, and every thing else to really feel like packing containers on a grid. All of them wanted their very own character whereas nonetheless feeling like they belonged to the identical particular person and belonged collectively in the identical expertise.
Steven
Steven and his workforce got here to us with a genuinely troublesome transient. They describe themselves because the working system for the creator economic system, which is a totally new class, and we would have liked to construct an internet site that helped folks perceive that nearly instantly. The issue was that our makes an attempt at explaining it weren’t significantly visible. So we stripped it right down to solely the important elements. Steven is constructed round 4 pillars: Creator Media, Group, Merchandise, and Expertise. We may have given each its personal web page, but it surely felt just like the fallacious method. The entire level of the platform is that every thing connects, so we needed the web site to really feel like one thing you may discover somewhat than learn. This fashion, the person may discover the thread of interconnection between the ecosystem’s 4 pillars as an alternative of leaping to separate chunks of knowledge.
That led to the interactive canvas on the centre of the expertise. As a substitute of appearing as navigation, it grew to become the navigation. Additionally, through the design course of, our consumer (shout out to Georgia Gibson) preferred the navigation Armillary sphere a lot she got here to considered one of our calls with an precise picket mannequin made by her carpenter good friend.
Each a part of the ecosystem had its personal area and character, pulling you additional into the story earlier than you’d actually observed you have been shifting by the location. It got here from one thing we’d been experimenting with on our personal Manifesto venture, the place we realised navigation doesn’t at all times have to sit down exterior the expertise: it may be the expertise. Steven gave us the chance to take that concept a lot additional and show it may work on a big industrial venture.
The remainder of the problem was ensuring all that interplay nonetheless felt easy. The viewers for Steven spends quite a lot of their lives on-line, so if the location felt sluggish or over-engineered, we’d misplaced them earlier than we’d began. Every thing needed to load shortly, reply immediately, and nonetheless go away room for a little bit of shock.
OFF+BRAND. Manifesto
Our Manifesto wasn’t made for a consumer. It was made for ourselves, so it took about 2 years, and virtually each single inventive on the company weighed in at one level.
It’s principally a web based puzzle, with lovely artwork route and eccentric copywriting (if we do say so ourselves). It gave us a spot to say and present what OFF+BRAND. stands for whereas experimenting with interplay fashions, narrative buildings, and visible concepts that may by no means come out of a industrial transient. We had quite a lot of enjoyable making the navigation the centre of the expertise, a thread that carried into a number of of our different tasks.
It additionally gave us one thing actually beneficial when talking to shoppers about what is feasible on the internet. Exhibiting a consumer that we had created this mad world for the sake of it helped construct belief that we’d ship for them. And it additionally illustrates what we will do in a approach you could’t with a pitch deck.
Aether1
Aether1 was an opportunity to go all in on movement. The entire product is about “boundless sound,” so the location wanted to really feel cinematic from the very first body, one steady arc from hero to footer, with each little bit of motion timed to the scroll.
The half we’re proudest of is the AI chat constructed immediately into the scene. Quite than bolting a chatbot into the nook, we made it a part of the world itself, so you’ll be able to ask concerning the product and get solutions with out ever leaving the expertise. Round it sit holographic product demos and little touches like having the ability to management the location’s audio by messing with the controls on the facet of the headphone. Actually, Easter eggs like which might be as a lot for our supply workforce as for anybody else. We’ve no concept how few folks ever discover them, and we put them in anyway. That’s type of the purpose.
Beneath all of it is a mixture of baked 3D choreography and real-time generative results, and the true trick was maintaining that easy throughout each system, as a result of a cinematic website that stutters isn’t cinematic, it’s simply sluggish. Constructed fully in Webflow, which (once more) shocked folks given how a lot is occurring.
It received the 2025 Webby for Greatest Use of Animation or Movement Graphics, and other people caught round for a median of three minutes, a very long time for a product website, and about one of the best proof we may ask for that the movement was pulling its weight, not simply displaying off.
This website led us to land extra work than every other.
Small by Design
The longer we’ve been in enterprise, the much less we’ve change into in rising larger. We each left careers to do one thing enjoyable, so we ensure we keep near the work somewhat than let our inventive wee studio flip into an operations job. Working carefully with our creatives (and at OFF+BRAND. everyone seems to be a inventive, together with our producers) is one of the best a part of the job.
Shoppers and colleagues come to us for a similar motive: we launch bangers. Every thing about our tradition exists to guard that. It’s a tradition of excellence in supply somewhat than course of. We’re making an attempt to not give attention to administration layers or methodology; we decide nice folks and make them accountable for issues. We don’t want a inflexible course of, as a result of everybody at OFF+BRAND. is outstanding at what they do, and each consumer we work with is one we selected.
We defend either side of that equation by rejecting round 60% of the work that comes our approach. Staying small and staying selective are the identical determination: no one right here is overstretched, and no one is carrying a venture we took on simply to feed headcount. We have now achieved it up to now, clearly, but it surely’s horrible and no one enjoys it.
Small by design is the best way!
We additionally defend curiosity. A few of our favorite work has by no means had a consumer hooked up. Manifesto and Aether exist as a result of we needed to check an concept, and most of the concepts that find yourself on enterprise platforms start life in these experiments.
And 2026 introduced our first annual offsite, as many as may attend, all beneath one roof to have enjoyable, alternate concepts, and preserve feeding that curiosity, which we suspect is about to change into a practice.
We have now spent big quantities of consumer funds that we may have saved as revenue simply to attempt to ship one of the best concepts, somewhat than those that will likely be signed off. Principally, our tradition is that this: if we ship one thing that’s not proper, however will get us paid, we failed.
