Work directly with the studio
Halaska is a senior-led studio. Chris sets the direction and quality bar, supported by experienced designers and engineers as each project requires. No account managers, no hand-offs, no junior team learning on your product.
Why it works this way
Founders choose Halaska for direct access to the senior team behind the work. Most products are shaped by hundreds of decisions, and the quality depends on who makes them. The studio keeps a small number of clients at a time and stays hands-on throughout every engagement.
Two ways to work together
A project. A product, brand, website or launch with a start and an end. Halaska owns it from first idea to live, you make the calls that matter, and you get a finished thing you can point to.
Ongoing. Halaska acts as your design lead across months, alongside your founders and engineers. Halaska sets the direction and the quality bar, brings the product to a solid state, and leaves your team with Halaska OS, the system that keeps it there.
Plenty of clients start with a project and move to ongoing. Some do the reverse.
How it's structured
Halaska works in sprints. The first one sets the foundation: what’s worth building, and the start of your Halaska OS. Each sprint after that takes on one thing, like the brand, the website or a part of the product. Once Halaska has handed over, you can run it yourselves, or retain the studio to look after the system or to make things with it.
How a project runs
1. Discover.
Halaska starts with the questions that decide what’s worth building: your product, your users, your market and what’s already been tried. Where it helps, Halaska audits what you have first, so you know what to fix before anything gets designed. This is also where Halaska sets up Halaska OS, so every decision from here on is recorded as it’s made.
2. Design.
Halaska uses AI to explore wide and fast, then judgement to narrow it to something original. Everything gets prototyped in code early, so you’re reacting to something real rather than a picture of it.
3. Deliver.
Real code, live sites, a working design system, and the brand and launch assets around them. Your team can ship it directly, or the studio builds it with you.
4. Step back, stay close.
A clean handover: Halaska OS, with your design system, components in code and documentation inside it, tested on real work. Then Halaska stays close for whatever comes next.
What to expect day to day
Senior leadership, throughout
The senior team on the first call stays involved throughout the work.In your tools
Your Slack, your Figma, your codebase.Async by default
Clear written updates and recorded walkthroughs, with a call when a decision needs one. It works across time zones.Honest from the start
If the studio thinks you’re building the wrong thing, the team will say so. That’s part of what you’re paying for.
What you're left with
A product, brand or launch that feels considered, not generated
A design system in Figma and code your team can build on
Halaska OS: one source of truth that keeps new work at the same standard, in the tools your team already uses
Someone who knows your product and stays close
1
Who will I actually be working with?
Chris Halaska, directly. Halaska is Chris's independent studio, and he leads every engagement himself. Senior designers and engineers he's worked with for years join when a project needs them, always with Chris directing the work.
2
Is Halaska an agency?
No. Halaska is a founder-led design studio. There's no account management layer and no hand-off: Chris sets the direction, does the work and makes the calls, with senior support when the scope calls for it.
3
How many clients does Halaska work with at once?
A small number, so Chris can stay hands-on with each one. That's why the work holds up, and it's why availability is worth checking early.
4
How much does it cost?
Every engagement is scoped in sprints around what the product needs, so you know the total before we start. Book a call and you'll have a number quickly.
5
Does Halaska work remotely?
Yes. Halaska works remotely with founders worldwide, async by default, with calls when a decision needs one.
6
What happens when the engagement ends?
You keep everything, including Halaska OS: your design system, components in code, documentation and the setup your team and AI tools need to keep building at the same standard. Chris stays close if you need him again.