STRATA
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001 — ManifestoLisbon / Brooklyn

A designstudio,working inlayers.

STRATA is an independent design studio that treats every brand as a series of deliberate, visible layers — strategy, identity, product, and motion — built one over the other until they read as one thing.

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002 — Manifesto

We don't chase trends. We chase depth — the kind that still reads in ten years.

  1. 01Tenet

    Start below the waterline.

    Strategy first, surface last. The logo comes after we know what the company actually believes.

  2. 02Tenet

    One idea, carried through.

    A good brand is a single idea pressure-tested across a hundred surfaces. We find the idea, then we hold it.

  3. 03Tenet

    Make it legible at 10 years.

    We design as if the work will outlast its first launch. Because the good work usually does.

  4. 04Tenet

    Stay small on purpose.

    Four people, four projects at a time. That is the math. It keeps the work close to our hands.

003 — Disciplines

Three disciplines, stacked — never sold separately.

i.The warm layer

Brand

Naming, identity, voice, print. The part of the brand that people feel before they read.

  • Brand strategy
  • Verbal identity & naming
  • Visual identity systems
  • Type & custom lettering
  • Editorial & print
  • Packaging
ii.The structural layer

Digital

Websites, product interfaces, design systems. The part that carries the weight of the whole thing.

  • Marketing sites
  • Product UI / UX
  • Design systems
  • Front-end engineering
  • CMS architecture
  • Prototyping
iii.The moving layer

Motion

Film, animation, sonic identity. The part that gives a brand a pulse, a tempo, a body language.

  • Brand film
  • Launch campaigns
  • Motion identity
  • Logo animation
  • Sonic identity
  • Art direction for photo & video
004 — Selected work

Recent layers we've pressed.

View the full archive
01 / Fieldnote2026

A field guide for modern farming

IdentityDigitalEditorial
Agriculture · Software
02 / Merit & Co.2025

A bank that finally behaves like one

BrandProduct
Fintech
03 / Ostral2025

Marine logistics, redrawn from the hull up

IdentityMotion
Shipping
04 / Harbour Co.2024

A coffee roaster with nothing to hide

BrandPackaging
Food & Beverage
05 / Volta Institute2024

A climate research lab writes a second charter

BrandEditorialDigital
Non-profit · Research
005 — Process

How a project is laid down.

  1. 01
    Wk 01 – 03
    Ground

    Discovery & excavation

    Interviews, audits, a competitive sweep, and a long look at what the company believes when no one is watching. We produce a ground document that everything else is built on.

      Deliverables
    • Ground document
    • Stakeholder interviews
    • Landscape audit
  2. 02
    Wk 03 – 05
    Strata

    Strategy & positioning

    One promise. One belief. One way of speaking. We compress the ground document into a positioning platform a six-year-old could repeat.

      Deliverables
    • Positioning platform
    • Naming (if needed)
    • Verbal identity
  3. 03
    Wk 05 – 11
    Surface

    Identity & build

    Where most studios start. We build the identity, the product, the site, and the film. Every artifact is pressure-tested against the strategy before it ships.

      Deliverables
    • Identity system
    • Design system
    • Site & product
    • Launch film
  4. 04
    Wk 11 → on
    Weather

    Launch & stewardship

    We ship, then we stick around. A brand's first year in the world is when it either gets chipped away or develops a patina. We watch the weather.

      Deliverables
    • Rollout kit
    • Guideline site
    • Quarterly review
006 — Recognition

Kind words, loud rooms, a few trophies.

  1. 2026Under Consideration

    Brand of the Year

    Brand New Awards

    for Fieldnote
  2. 2026Awwwards

    Site of the Month

    Awwwards

    for Merit & Co.
  3. 2025D&AD

    Graphite Pencil

    Brand identity

    for Ostral
  4. 2025ED-Awards

    Gold — Visual Identity

    European Design Awards

    for Harbour Co.
  5. 2024TDC

    Editorial Project of the Year

    Print & Editorial

    for Volta Charter
  6. 2024Cannes

    Shortlist — Design for Good

    Cannes Lions

    for Volta Institute
As quoted in Eye Magazine, №108
“STRATA doesn't decorate brands — they reorganize them. The work has the rare quality of seeming inevitable the moment it appears.”
Simon Esterson, Eye Magazine
007 — Studio

A studio of four, deliberately.

We've been offered the chance to scale. We keep declining. Four principals, one associate, one studio manager, one dog. That is the shape of the thing, and it is the reason the work looks the way it does.

Founded2016
Projects / yr≤ 12
StudiosLisbon · BK
DogCaldo, 7
Partner

Inês Saraiva

Partner · Strategy

Writes the ground documents. Formerly at Pentagram, Wolff Olins.

ines@strata.studio
Partner

Marcus Okafor

Partner · Identity

Draws the first marks. Formerly at Pentagram, Collins.

marcus@strata.studio
Partner

Yuki Tanabe

Partner · Digital

Ships the sites and systems. Formerly at Instrument, Work & Co.

yuki@strata.studio
Director

Ana Duarte

Director · Motion

Moves everything. Formerly at Buck, ManvsMachine.

ana@strata.studio
From the journal

We write things down, sometimes.

Essays, case studies, half-finished thoughts. Nothing scheduled, nothing sponsored.

  • №01
    Mar 2026

    Against the hero section

  • №02
    Jan 2026

    On keeping the studio small

  • №03
    Nov 2025

    The ground document, explained

  • №04
    Sep 2025

    What Ostral taught us about typefaces at sea

008 — Start a project

Let's buildsomething withdepth.

We take on three to four engagements at a time. A short note telling us who you are and what you're building is the best way in. We reply to everything within a week.

hello@strata.studio

Lisbon

HQ
Rua da Boavista, 84
1200-070 Lisboa
Portugal
Mon – Fri · 09:00 – 18:00 WET+351 21 555 0184

Brooklyn

HQ
212 Berry Street, 3F
Brooklyn, NY 11249
United States
Mon – Fri · 09:00 – 18:00 EST+1 (718) 555 0184

The Quarterly

Four times a year

A short letter at the end of every quarter. New work, essays, a record of what we listened to while making it.