Studio
An independent strategy, design and web development studio. Since 2017.
We build websites, platforms and web applications for organisations that need a solution shaped around their goals, their content and the way they work. Our projects span healthcare, financial services, the public sector, ecommerce, EU-funded programmes and SaaS products. We choose the technology once we understand the requirements, and we scope and price each project individually rather than from a standard package.
- Founded
- 2017
- Work began
- 2014
- Longest relationship
- 12+years
- Portfolio projects
- 15+
01 · The beginning
How it started.
We founded Tangled Design in 2017, but the work had started earlier. From 2014 we were building projects around a single question: what makes a digital product actually work? Not just look good on launch day, but hold up in everyday use, years later.
Those early years meant projects, practical learning and the shaping of a way of working. By the time the company was registered, several principles were already settled: understand the problem before proposing the solution, choose the technology according to the project, and put quality ahead of volume. One of the client relationships that began before the studio was founded is still running today.
2014
Work began
2017
Tangled Design founded
Today
Projects delivered and maintained
02 · The principles
How we think.
These five principles guide how we assess projects, choose the technology and work with each client.
01
Review before proposal
Before we put together a proposal, we carry out an initial review of the goals, the content, the users and the constraints. Once the proposal is accepted, the first stage of the project develops that into fuller discovery and strategy. It means the solution and the price relate to the actual project rather than to an assumption.
02
The right approach for the project
On most projects we design and build the interfaces and components around the requirements we agree together. We use a visual page builder or a ready-made theme only where the project gains something concrete from that choice. Equally, we do not rebuild a mature feature from scratch just to be able to call it our own.
03
The right technology for the project
We work with WordPress, WooCommerce, Next.js, React, JavaScript and Express. The choice depends on the content, the functionality, the integrations, the skills of the team that will run the product and the plans for developing it further. We do not impose the same technology on every project.
04
Built for the team that runs it
A digital product is not used only by its visitors. It is also run by people who publish, update, check and respond. So we design the administration interfaces and internal workflows so that the client's team can manage the agreed content and operations safely and confidently.
05
Long-term thinking
Early decisions affect how easily a product can be maintained and developed later. We build a technical foundation aimed at performance, accessibility and maintainability, and we explain the dependencies that need to stay in place. You receive the code, the access and the documentation set out in the contract, and you can continue with us, in-house or with another team.
03 · The work
What we've built — and what we build with.
A multidisciplinary clinic covering 34 specialties, with booking and access to the relevant clinical systems built into the digital experience. A platform for a credit broker, with OCR document capture, trade registry checks and comparison across the offers of several banks. A recruitment platform for professional drivers, connected to a community of more than 300,000 members across the associated groups. A government department's public platform with an interactive map of 40 educational units.
An EU-funded multilingual prevention programme. A WooCommerce manufacturer's catalogue with 82 core products, 5,473 active variations and four personalisation services. A bilingual website and a Next.js training platform — with accounts, payments and video delivery — for a tennis strength and conditioning coach with more than 30 years of experience and results achieved alongside performance athletes. We build our own products too: Invuna is in production, and our internal platforms are in daily use.
04 · The team
A small team, directly involved.
We are a small, independent studio, founded by Laurențiu Ionici. He stays involved from the first conversation through to handover, so you know from the outset who is leading the project and who is answerable for strategy, design, development and coordination. You speak directly with the people doing the work.
Where a project calls for additional expertise, we work with specialists we have collaborated with for years: developers, photographers, writers and illustrators. The make-up of the team is shaped around the project and shared with you from the start. Coordination, the decisions we take and the quality of the delivery remain ours to answer for.
05 · What we care about
The years after launch.
We care about digital products that stay clear, fast and straightforward to use two years after launch. About administration interfaces suited to the people using them day to day. About performance measured on the pages and under the conditions agreed for the project. About accessibility considered from the structure and design stages. About code and documentation another team can pick up. And about proposals built on agreed requirements, deliverables and clearly explained conditions.
If any of that resonates, we'd like to hear about your project.