New Apology Projects has a fuzzy birthday. The first time I sent an invoice under that name was in the summer of 2021. I would work at two other studios and in-house for a time before turning New Apology on full-time. In September of 2023 I registered the LLC and began taking clients. In March 2024 (just over a year ago at the time of writing this) we took on our first full-time team members: Bryce in Utah and Stasia in L’viv, Ukraine. For perhaps the first time, it felt like New Apology was becoming a proper studio. From the beginning, I knew the studio had to be bigger than me, it had to be a crew. Bringing on team members gave the dream legs.

Soon Bryce and I rented a small room we called an office for a few hundred dollars a month. While only big enough for three small desks and a mini fridge, it had large windows and was quiet. We would take frequent walks through the adjacent neighborhood and called Stasia almost everyday as we started figuring out how this project could become a studio. We would talk about how we wanted the studio to feel, what kinds of clients we want to work with, and how to let people know we exist.

Somehow companies found us, through word of mouth, friends, and referrals. As our clients’ needs grew, so did our team. We put up a job posting for an intern. After sorting through scores of applicants we couldn’t pick one and ended up hiring two. Yifan was in New York and Jonathan in San Diego, expanding our US presence to both coasts.

Later in 2024, we said goodbye to our office in Orem and went in on a lease with our friends over at Delirium. The slightly bigger room was in Provo, next to the train station. We’ve been here since October and despite the limited windows, we love having a place that feels more like a home. From the two summer interns, we offered one full-time employment. Jonathan moved up to join Bryce and me in Utah from paradiscial San Diego and has fit in well.

Last fall, we brought on our first non-design hire to help keep us organized. EJ has smoothed our operations making even more space for what we do best: generate and execute ideas.

With the increased capacity, we grew in confidence and ambition. In our first full calendar year in business we branded nine companies, named two of them, and made 14 websites. We improved our web development processes and standardized much of our technology stack resulting in less variability in client results. As generally non-technical people, we’ve had to approach the development process from first principles and formalize a process that feels right to us. We’ve become obsessively committed to making world-class web experiences.

Just a few weeks ago, we brought on another talented designer, Dalma, based in Hungary. She hit the ground running helping us document many of the case studies on this site. We are now a team of six working across four time zones, with a healthy overlap during our US mornings. While we plan on growing the team at some point, six feels right for where we are at.

Looking back at the growth of this past year, it’s apparent that while the intention behind the studio remains unchanged, the studio looks and operates differently than it did when it began. Our capabilities and focus have been honed, our offerings clarified, and our team expanded. It felt like the right time for an online presence that reflects that.

Some of our favorite studios don’t have websites. Their reputations seem to have transcended need for a portfolio. From the outside, their inbox seems so full that they are actively discouraging people from inquiring about projects.

Regardless of whether or not we need a website, it’s clear to us that we want one. We want to share not only our portfolio work, but what it’s like to work with us. What it’s like to join our team. What we care about and what we are trying to build.

I fell into design largely on an earlier internet. I made friends and landed commissions with people I had not met in person. That internet felt reachable, tangible, small. We miss that internet.

Our hope with our new online home is that it can be a place that feels more like 2009 than 2049. A place “for friends” and for blogging; a window into what we are building. Of course we will show work and case studies, but we plan to share a more candid look into what it feels like working with us as a client or collaborator.

With clients, we approach web design with a sense of permanence—we consider websites to be a kind of virtual architecture. Intentional web design plans for future growth and emergent needs and can accommodate both. Yes, code can be changed, but not all of our clients are equipped with the time or capital required to constantly update and iterate their site.

By default, we lead our clients through a number of future-proofing exercises to anticipate their growing needs. But with our own site, the finality of a redesign felt (a) inappropriate (b) daunting. So we made a deal with ourselves that this website will be an evolution. We reserve the right for this site to take different shapes and tell different stories. Don’t be surprised if it looks unrecognizable from one month to the next.

The next twelve months will look a lot like the last twelve. Heads down making the work we want to see in the world and then sharing that work. We’ve learned to be patient as the studio finds our people. We know we aren’t for everyone and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

We will continue to develop strategy, craft identities, and design websites for obsessive founders that value highly opinionated design. We’ll continue to find our stride and share the process. We plan on more IRL meetups with our team, friends, and collaborators. More mixes, more emojis, more joy.

In the meantime, drop us a line. We’d love to be friends. office@newapology.com