Vela is a small design studio for brands that intend to go somewhere specific. We make the wordmark, we draw the chart, and we sail the first leg with you.
We work in pairs, on long arcs. Below is a record of the hands at the bench, the voyages on the wall, and the hardware we sail with.
A 9-year-old database company that needed a second wind. Wordmark, voice, marketing site, and a 14-page founder dossier. New routing closed in 11 days.
We chart brands the way a navigator charts a passage: with bearings, sail trim, and a willingness to tack. Long voyages, plotted plainly.
Custom front-ends with the discipline of a well-rigged sloop. Edge-deployed, instrumented, kind to the keyboard.
Long-form publications for foundations and houses with archives. Saddle-stitched to clothbound, set in metal type.
We’re not against bigger studios. We’re against losing the heading. Below, the bench in plain English.
“Vela rebuilt our entire brand from a single nautical chart we'd had on the wall for forty years. The work feels like the chart looks: definite, and old.”
“They sent the design system as a clothbound logbook. We've used it on every product since. Clients ask where we got the books made.”
“Most studios talk about brand. Vela talks about heading. After our project I knew where we were going. We arrived eight months early.”
Pricing is plain. Most engagements run twelve weeks. Stewardship retainers continue until you tell us we’re docked.
Answered plainly. If yours isn’t here, hail us — we always reply within two days.
A lofted boatshed in Newport, RI. We work above the rigging shop, which keeps the perspective honest.
Two berths remain in the summer calendar. We read every brief, even the ones we politely return.