3 Lessons We Learned Returning to the Studio
by Leslie Alexander, Co-Founder / CEO
1. Presence Needs a Purpose
The office is not automatically collaborative, just as home is not automatically focused. Asking people to be in the same place only makes sense when the work benefits from high-bandwidth conversation, shared context, or making something side by side.
We started designing studio days around the moments that are genuinely better together: project kick-offs, working critiques, difficult decisions, and unstructured time across disciplines. Everything else remains flexible.
Top tip
Put the reason for gathering in the invitation. “Work through the prototype together” creates a much better day than “everyone in on Tuesday.”
2. Protect Deep Work
Conversation is one of the studio’s strengths, but it can easily become background noise that fragments attention. We introduced quieter zones, visible focus signals, and meeting-free stretches long enough for meaningful work.
The larger change was cultural: being available is not the same as being interruptible. Questions are captured asynchronously by default, then resolved together when a quick conversation will genuinely move the work forward.
That balance gives us both the creative energy of a shared room and the concentration required to turn ideas into considered work.
3. Design for Belonging, Not Attendance
A studio is most valuable when it helps people feel part of something larger than their current task. That comes from rituals and relationships, not desk counts.
Shared lunches, open project reviews, and an honest end-of-week reflection have done more for connection than any office perk. Remote teammates join the same rituals with equal presence, and no important context is allowed to live only in the room.
The lesson is simple: a workplace should support how people do their best work. The moment it becomes a proxy for trust, everyone loses.
