01 Studio · Oakland · Est. 2018

We design brands, products, and the quiet objects that carry them.

An independent studio of eight, working from a converted warehouse in Oakland. For seven years we've partnered with founders, operators, and cultural institutions on the work that matters most to them , brand systems, products, editorial, motion.

We believe good design is inseparable from good thinking, and we charge accordingly.

See selected work Start a project
Ochre & Salt studio interior , afternoon light across drafting tables and pinned proofs
The studio, Folger Avenue. Afternoon, late summer.
  • Aura
  • Lumen Capital
  • Halcyon Press
  • Fieldnotes
  • The Whitney
  • Soft Light
  • Mast Books
  • Folio & Co.

02 Selected work

Four engagements, recently
shipped from the floor.

All work
  1. 001 Aura Brand system for a D2C wellness company entering retail. BrandPackaging 2024
  2. 002 Lumen Capital iOS app design for a private investment platform , research through launch. ProductiOS 2024
  3. 003 Halcyon Cover, interior, and art direction for a small-press novel. EditorialPrint 2023
  4. 004 Fieldnotes Title sequence and motion system for a six-part documentary series. MotionBrand 2023

03 Ethos

We hold to the slow, exacting work , and to the belief that thinking is the deliverable.

A brand is the longest sentence a company will ever write. Each engagement begins as a conversation , about the company, its founders, the audience it hopes to reach, the small inconvenient truths that make the work specific.

We don't separate strategy from craft. The wordmark and the positioning are made by the same hands. The product and the manifesto are written in the same room. This is why our engagements run weeks, not days.

Read about the studio

04 Practice

Four disciplines.
One studio.

  • i

    Brand identity

    Naming, marks, systems, and the long argument behind them. From founding-stage to established institutions.

  • ii

    Product design

    Research, interface design, and design-engineering partnership for software with consequence.

  • iii

    Editorial & print

    Books, periodicals, catalogues, identity-in-print. The page is still the highest test of typography.

  • iv

    Motion & moving image

    Title sequences, brand films, motion systems. Direction in-house, production with longtime collaborators.

All four practices

05 Journal

Recently, from
the writing desk.

Read the journal

06 What clients say

A small number of voices,
over seven years.

  • Ochre & Salt didn't make us a brand , they made us articulate. Six months later, our investor deck and our first hire both came out of the work we did with them.

    Marisol Tan Founder & CEO, Aura

  • The most considered design partner we've had , and we've had several. Lena pushes on the questions everyone else assumes are settled.

    Devon Whitaker Chief Product Officer, Lumen Capital

  • They treated our novel like the object it deserved to be. The cover sold the book before anyone read a sentence of the inside.

    Sasha Reuel Editorial Director, Halcyon Press

Begin a conversation.

We take on roughly twelve engagements a year. We're currently scheduling work for Q2 2025 onward.

Tell us about the project new@ochreandsalt.com