Design studio recipe | Spacefast
The dish
What it makes.
Studio view fast
Northbound Studio — A brand & web design studio in Portland
We build brands people remember.
Northbound is a small, strategy-led studio. We make identities, websites, and motion for founders and teams who are tired of looking like everyone else.
2017 Founded
40+ Brands shipped
5 People, no fluff
Brand identity✳Web design & build✳Art direction✳Motion & film✳Brand identity✳Web design & build✳Art direction✳Motion & film✳
A few things we're proud of.
- Branding · WebAster & OakA botanical skincare brand, from naming to shelf.](https://studio.view.fast/#contact)
- WebHarbor CollectiveA booking site for a coastal hospitality group.](https://studio.view.fast/#contact)
- Motion · BrandingCadenceA living logo system for a music-discovery app.](https://studio.view.fast/#contact)
- BrandingNorthstar RoastersPackaging and identity for a third-wave roaster.](https://studio.view.fast/#contact)
- Web · MotionVeridianA climate-tech site that makes carbon legible.](https://studio.view.fast/#contact)
- BrandingJuniper PressAn art-directed identity for an indie publisher.](https://studio.view.fast/#contact)
Case study · Aster & Oak
From a shy idea to a brand that sells itself.
Aster & Oak came to us with a great formula and a name nobody could remember. We led a two-week strategy sprint, rebuilt the identity around a hand-drawn botanical mark, and shipped a fast, story-first storefront.
- +38% Add-to-cart rate
- 2× Avg. session time
- 11 days Strategy to launch
"Northbound didn't just make us look good — they made us make sense.
Sales doubled in the quarter after launch."
— Priya Anand, Founder, Aster & Oak
What we do
Four things, done properly.
Every engagement starts with strategy. We're generalists with depth — we'd rather do four things well than fourteen badly.
01
Brand identity
Naming, logo systems, type, color, voice, and the guidelines that keep it all honest as you grow.
Strategy · Logo · Guidelines
02
Web design & build
Marketing sites and storefronts designed and shipped by the same people — fast, responsive, and easy to edit.
Design · Front-end · CMS
03
Art direction
Photography, packaging, and campaign systems so your brand looks deliberate everywhere it shows up.
Photo · Packaging · Campaigns
04
Motion & film
Animated logos, product films, and social-ready motion that give a static identity a pulse.
Animation · Product film · Social
The studio
Small on purpose.
We started Northbound in 2017 because the best work we'd ever made came from tiny teams and short distances between idea and decision. We've kept it that way. When you hire us, you work with the people doing the work — no account layer, no hand-offs to a junior, no surprises.
We believe a brand is a promise you can see. Our job is to make that promise clear, distinctive, and durable — then build the website that delivers it.
- Strategy before pixels
- Make it, don't just deck it
- Distinct beats trendy
Team
Mara Lindqvist — Founder & Creative Director
Devon Pryce — Design Director
Ana Sofía Reyes — Brand Strategist
Kai Tanaka — Motion Lead
Trusted by founders, makers, and the occasional Fortune 500
- Aster & Oak
- Harbor Collective
- Cadence
- Northstar
- Veridian
- Juniper Press
- Meridian Labs
- Foldwell
Start a project
Tell us what you're building.
We take on a handful of projects a quarter. Send us a few details and you'll hear back from a real person — usually within two business days.
- Email hello@northbound.studio
- Studio 218 NW Couch St, Portland, Oregon
- Hours Mon–Fri, 9–5 PT
Your name
What do you need? Choose one…
- Brand identity
- Website design & build
- Brand + website
- Art direction
- Motion & film
- Not sure yet
A little about the project
Your agent will ask.
Answer these once.
- What's the studio name and your one-line positioning?
- What disciplines do you offer (branding, web, motion, packaging)?
- Name 3-4 projects and their clients to feature as work.
- What's the contact email and where are you based?
The method
The whole prompt.
Paste this into Claude, ChatGPT, Codex, Cursor, or another coding agent. It builds the site and publishes it to Spacefast.