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Welcome to
Lived In Design

A product and branding design studio based in SF

Book an intro call
Axiado work
Insights work
Hauler work

Notable companies we've worked with

Knoetic
Raised $54M
Moz
Raised $29M
HoverAir
Raised $25M
XBuild
Raised $19M
Catio
Raised $7M
Briefly
Raised $3.37M
TopQuadrant
Raised $1.7M

We're a team of senior designers with over 20 years of experience. Plug us into your team, or let us lead the charge. We use tools like Figma and Claude Code to move quickly.

Some teams use us as a bridge before hiring in-house. Others realize we're more than enough.

Hauler project
Hauler work
Hauler work
Hauler work
Insights project
Insights work
Insights work
Insights work
Bull project
Bull work
Bull work
Bull work
Axiado project
Axiado work
Axiado work
Axiado work
Briefly project
Briefly work
Briefly work
Briefly work
Retainer (most founders choose this)

Ongoing design for teams that ship fast. Pause or cancel anytime.

$5,449 per month
  • 2 updates per week
  • Senior designer
  • Private Slack channel
  • No contracts
  • Team lead
  • Product design (Web & Mobile)
  • Marketing websites & Landing pages
Book an intro call

"Lived In works with us as if they are our internal team. We love the collaboration, sense of ownership on the projects assigned, attentiveness and attention to detail and deadlines."

Inge B
Inge B.
One-off Project

A fixed-scope engagement for launches, redesigns, or MVPs.

starting at $10,000
  • Defined scope & timeline
  • Senior designer
  • Brand identity & guidelines
  • Marketing website or landing page
  • Figma source files included
  • 2 rounds of revisions
  • 3–6 week delivery
Book an intro call

"Lived In was the best thing that happened to us! Although we had an amazing tech idea, we didn't know the exact steps needed to be taken in order to bring it to life."

Steve B
Steve B.

We work smart. We work fast.

Tristan

We're in Figma every day all day. This is where a lot of the work takes shape.

Tristan, founder

How we compare

Full-time hire vs. Lived In

$200K/yr
$65K/yr

Full-time hire

salary + benefits + overhead

Lived In

$5,449/mo · pause anytime
3–6 months
1 week

Full-time hire

recruiting + onboarding + ramp

Lived In

onboarded in days
Variable
2x/week

Full-time hire

depends on individual

Lived In

guaranteed updates
Joseph Q

"The best design agency I've ever worked with."

Joseph Q.
Hauler work
Insights work
Vish M

"Lived In helped bring the ideas to life. You're not going to beat Lived In in terms of dedication and execution. They are craftsmen."

Vish M.
Arthur C

"Lived In was a massive help for us in launching our product. The team brought critical design expertise to the project and was a joy to work with."

Arthur C.
Bull work
Axiado work
Connor S

"Lived In was very easy to work with and accommodated to our team's many needs and a tight timeline."

Connor S.
Gavin Y

"Working with Lived In is a real pleasure. Professional, thoughtful and high-quality work delivered quickly. Highly recommend!"

Gavin Y.
Briefly work

Essential information and
answers to common questions

A senior product designer costs $150K+ in salary alone. Add benefits, equipment, management overhead, and recruiting fees and you're looking at $200K+. With us you get senior-level design for a fraction of that, with zero ramp-up time, no recruiting risk, and the ability to pause anytime. Most of our clients tried hiring first.
You can pause your retainer at any time and resume when you're ready. No penalties, no guilt. Startups move in bursts and we built our model around that reality. Most clients find that once they have a design team on tap, they always have a backlog of things they've been putting off.
We onboard fast. We join your Slack, attend standups if helpful, and deeply study your product, competitors, and users before we touch a single pixel. We've worked with dozens of tech and AI products — that cross-pollination is actually an advantage. We bring patterns from across the industry that an in-house designer wouldn't see.
Everything is custom. We don't use templates, we don't farm out your work, and you work with the same senior designer throughout. Our work is our reputation — you can see it in our portfolio. We're not an "unlimited design" subscription. We're a small studio that does focused, high-quality work for a handful of clients.
We intentionally keep our client roster small. Every retainer client gets dedicated time on our calendar every week, no exceptions. We'd rather do great work for fewer clients than spread ourselves thin. If we're at capacity, we'll tell you and put you on our waitlist rather than compromise quality.
It's all we do. Our retainer clients get 2 updates per week and direct access to their designer via Slack. No project managers, no ticket queues, no "we'll get back to you in 3 business days." Most projects take 3–6 weeks from kickoff to delivery. We move fast because our clients move fast.
You own everything. All designs, source files, assets, and IP are transferred to you — no exceptions. We sign NDAs upfront and never share your work publicly without written permission. Your unreleased product concepts stay completely confidential.
Ask any of our clients. Better design directly impacts conversion rates, user retention, fundraising success, and brand perception. One client's redesigned landing page doubled their demo-to-signup rate. Another credits their rebrand with helping close their Series B. Design isn't a cost center — it's leverage.
Yes. Product design, brand identity, marketing websites, landing pages, pitch decks, social assets — we cover the full range of what a fast-growing startup actually needs. Our designers are generalists by nature and specialists by practice. If something falls outside our core skill set, we'll tell you upfront.
No contracts, no lock-in. Retainers are month-to-month and you can cancel anytime. You keep all your files, assets, and design systems. We want you to stay because the work is great, not because you signed a 12-month contract. Most clients stay for 6+ months because it works.

Book an intro call