Every few months someone asks why a studio of twelve only runs three projects at once. The honest answer: because that’s how many we can do properly.
Three projects means every client gets a team of four who know the work inside out. Nobody gets handed to a junior after the pitch. The people you meet on the first call are the people who make the work.
One project at each stage
We plan the year so the three projects in the room are rarely at the same point. One is in Gather, listening and reading. One is in Shape, where the work gets made. One is in Lift, getting ready to launch.
That spread matters more than the number. A studio with three projects all in their busiest week is a studio that cuts corners. Ours has one loud table, one quiet one and one covered in printouts waiting to be checked.
What it costs us
We turn down good projects most months. We keep a short waiting list and we’re open about start dates, which is why the site tells you when we’re booking from.
It also means we can’t grow by saying yes. When we want more work, we have to do better work, which is the only kind of growth we were interested in anyway.
Nobody on your project is also finishing someone else’s.
What it gives you
Speed, mostly. A small team that isn’t juggling makes decisions in a day, not a fortnight. That’s where the lift comes from.
It gives you the same faces from the first call to launch day, too. If you ask a question in week nine, the person answering it was there in week one.
