Design & engineering practice

We build the frame
before the picture.

Formwork is an eleven-person practice in Missoula, Montana. We design interfaces, build the code underneath them, and stick around after launch for clients who'd rather ship something sturdy than something flashy.

01Interface Design 02Engineering 03Identity Systems 04Product Strategy 05Performance & SEO 06Ongoing Care
Halberd Supply Co.Thistle & VineKepler FreightModal Coffee RoastersAuger Design CollectiveNorthline RailCordwood BrewingFen & Fettle Halberd Supply Co.Thistle & VineKepler FreightModal Coffee RoastersAuger Design CollectiveNorthline RailCordwood BrewingFen & Fettle
What we do

The practice

Six disciplines, one team. We scope every project across all six before anyone opens Figma.

01

Interface Design

Screens that get tested with real people before they ship, not after. We wireframe in grayscale until the flow works, then add color.

02

Engineering

Next.js, Astro, or plain HTML — we pick the stack based on your team's maintenance budget, not our portfolio.

03

Identity Systems

Logo, type, color, and the 40-page usage guide nobody reads but every team eventually needs.

04

Product Strategy

We sit in on your support calls before we open a design file. Most of the good ideas are already in the transcripts.

05

Performance & SEO

Median load time under 1.8 seconds, Core Web Vitals green across the board, before we call anything finished.

06

Ongoing Care

A monthly retainer that covers bug fixes, content edits, and the 11pm "the site is down" text.

212
Projects shipped since 2016
91.4%
Clients who come back
14 mo.
Average engagement length
11
People on the team
Who's involved

The studio

Five of the eleven. The rest are heads-down on client work this week.

P

Priya Ostrander

Type & Systems Lead

Sets the grid before anyone touches a hex code. Started Formwork in her garage in 2016 with a single client and a laser printer.

M

Mateo Bellinger

Front-end & Motion

Turns comps into things that respond to your cursor. Will argue about easing curves at length if given the opening.

W

Wren Okafor-Diaz

Client Strategy

Asks the annoying scoping questions early, on purpose. Has never once let a project start without a written brief.

D

Desmond Auyeung

Backend & Infrastructure

Keeps the servers boring, which is the compliment. Nine years in, still gets paged for things that turn out to be DNS.

S

Sana Vartanian

Brand & Identity

Drew the current wordmark on a napkin during a client dinner. We kept the napkin; it's framed in the hallway.

"We hire slowly and fire almost never — which means every one of these five has been here at least four years." — Priya, on the studio's one hiring rule.

Have a project that needs a frame, not just a coat of paint?

Tell us what's broken, what's launching, or what's been sitting in a backlog for two years. We reply within one business day, from Missoula time.

Missoula, Montana · meetings by request, coffee always
Studio hours: Tue–Fri, 10:00–18:00 MT