Set Studio: respecting the fabric of the internet

Set Studio is a new UK-based digital design and development studio. Led by designer/developer Andy Bell, Set Studio champions doing things the right way: using just enough of the right technologies to build lean, accessible, performant, no-nonsense websites that look great and work properly on any device.

I wanted the design to hint at the fabric and structure of a web page in an abstract, colourful way. I gathered tons of reference materials including sci-fi movie UIs, motion graphics, and some beautiful glitch artwork, and dusted off my old graphic design skills. I collaged layers of texture and colour to create a vibrant visual language that contrasts with crisp, clean typography.

I knew the portfolio pieces would be live code embedded in resizable iframes rather than static images, but I was blown away by how well it works in practice. The site looks amazing in the browser and is very very quick, especially considering everything it's doing. Kudos to Andy and developer Leanne Renard for making this design work so well.

The site hero at min and max sizes — The home page hero in min and max sizes.

A collage of photos of Set Studio type treatments and logos — Graphic type experiments.

Grunge textures made of code and pixel dither patterns — Experimenting with texture and pattern.

Screenshots of the fluid type and space palettes underpinning the website design — Fluid type and space palettes underpin everything.

A dotted line looping 4 times from left to right, getting smaller and neater with each loop — A visualisation of the iterative design process.