Studio
An independent creative and development agency. Since 2017.
Tangled Design builds custom websites, platforms, and web applications for clients who need more than a template. Our work spans healthcare, fintech, public sector, ecommerce, EU-funded programmes, and SaaS products. We pick the stack after we understand the problem, and we never quote from a package menu.
01 · The beginning
How it started.
Tangled Design was founded in 2017, but the work started earlier. In 2014, what is now an independent creative and development agency began as one designer's serious interest in what makes digital products actually work — not just look good in a launch screenshot, but hold up under real use, years after launch.
That early period was part hobby, part apprenticeship, part trial-and-error. By the time the company was registered in 2017, the principles that would define the studio were already in place: custom work over templates, research before proposals, quality over volume.
2014
Creative roots
2017
Company registered
Today
Nine years in
02 · The principles
How we think.
Nine years in, the principles haven't changed. These are the five that decide every proposal.
01
Research before proposal
We study the problem before writing the solution. Every project starts with understanding what already exists — the content, the users, the constraints, the goals. We don't quote blind. We can't propose a serious solution without understanding the problem first.
02
Custom over template
We don't use page builders unless there's a clear reason to. We don't start from pre-made themes unless the project genuinely benefits from one. The default is custom — but the real principle is picking the right approach for the problem, not insisting on building from scratch when it doesn't serve the client.
03
The right stack for the problem
WordPress, Next.js, React, vanilla JS, WooCommerce, custom backends — all in the toolbox, none of them the default. We pick the technology after we understand the project. We've never forced a stack on a problem it didn't fit.
04
Built for the team that runs it
A product that looks beautiful at launch but becomes a nightmare for the internal team is a failure, no matter how nice the first screenshot looked. We structure every project so the client's team can operate it confidently from day one.
05
Long-term thinking
The product you launch is the product you live with. We build things that stay fast, stay maintainable, stay accessible, and stay recognisably yours — not just at launch, but in the third year of operation.
03 · The work
What we've built — and what we build with.
A private multidisciplinary clinic with 34 specialties and integration into hospital back-office systems. A fintech loan brokerage with OCR-powered ID capture, trade registry integration, and multi-bank loan matching. A vertical job platform serving over 300,000 members. A government department's public platform with an interactive map of 40 educational units.
An EU-funded multilingual prevention programme. A WooCommerce manufacturer's catalog with 129 products and four personalisation services. A full Next.js SaaS product for an elite sports coach with authentication, payments, video delivery, and member dashboards. Plus a few own products — because we don't just build for clients, we build for ourselves too.
04 · The team
Small by design.
Tangled Design is a small, independent agency. For focused projects we work directly with the client — no account managers, no communication tax, no meetings about meetings. For larger engagements we expand the team with trusted specialists we've worked with for years: additional developers, photographers, copywriters, illustrators. The client sees consistent quality and a single point of accountability. The rest is our problem to solve.
This isn't a 50-person agency pretending to be nimble. It also isn't a freelancer pretending to be an agency. It's an independent creative and development practice that takes on serious projects, delivers them properly, and scales the team when scope requires it — without ever diluting the craft.
05 · What we care about
The long game.
We care about digital products that still feel good two years after launch. About admin interfaces that internal teams can use without asking us. About performance scores that stay green. About accessibility that isn't bolted on at the end. About pricing every project honestly, based on what it actually needs.
If any of that resonates, we'd like to hear about your project.