Startup tactics
Strategy
Unbounded Artistry
Startup tactics
Strategy
Unbounded Artistry
Is your brand is holding you back?
Is your brand is holding you back?
What people see first doesn't match the quality of what you're building. It might feel generic when you're actually distinct. Confusing when your offer is clear. Or it just doesn't land—so you find you're explaining yourself over and over again.
That gap costs you. The customers you want care about this stuff. They notice when something feels off, but they won't be telling you. They slink away to the other regions of the interwebs.
You know you need to fix it. But agencies pitch you six-month timelines and discovery phases that cost more than your last hire. Freelancers deliver exactly what you asked for—because they never questioned whether you were asking for the right thing. DIY tools? They got you to where you are. They can't get you to where you're going.
The longer you wait, the more it costs.
What people see first doesn't match the quality of what you're building. It might feel generic when you're actually distinct. Confusing when your offer is clear. Or it just doesn't land—so you're explaining yourself on every call instead of closing.
That gap costs you. The customers you want care about this stuff. They notice when something feels off, but they won't be telling you. They move on.
You know you need to fix it. But agencies pitch you six-month timelines and discovery phases that cost more than your last hire. Freelancers deliver exactly what you asked for—because they never questioned whether you were asking for the right thing. DIY tools? They got you to where you are. They can't get you to where you're going.
The longer you wait, the more it costs.
We can change that
We can change that
For 13 years, Laura Zheng has been getting inside tech and e-commerce companies that outgrew their brand and need to move fast.
We don't wait for a brief. We learn your business, see what needs to happen, then orchestrate the transformation—brand strategy, design, and web.
What makes this work? Pattern recognition. After hundreds of projects, we know what lands with your audience, what's been overdone, and what actually drives results. We've also been founders—so we understand the chaos, the constraints, and what "moving fast" actually means.
For 13 years, Laura Zheng has been getting inside tech and e-commerce companies that outgrew their brand and need to move fast.
We don't wait for a brief. We learn your business, see what needs to happen, then orchestrate the transformation—brand strategy, design, and web.
What makes this work? Pattern recognition. After hundreds of projects, we know what lands with your audience, what's been overdone, and what actually drives results. We've also been founders—so we understand the chaos, the constraints, and what "moving fast" actually means.
What we do
What we do
Every engagement is custom, but the transformations tend to fall into a few categories:
Launch without blending in
Brand strategy, naming, identity systems, high-conversion websites that position you correctly from day one.
Evolve without losing your edge
Repositioning, brand architecture, refreshed identity and messaging that scales with where you're going—not where you've been.
Scale without fracturing
Fractional design leadership, design system builds, TAM expansion strategy, landing pages, team evaluation—the infrastructure that lets you grow without your brand falling apart.
We also take equity for the right projects—where there's mutual fit, strategic alignment, and our unique ability to genuinely accelerate your trajectory.
Let's figure out what you actually need.
Every engagement is custom, but the transformations tend to fall into a few categories:
Launch without blending in
Brand strategy, naming, identity systems, high-conversion websites that position you correctly from day one.
Evolve without losing your edge
Repositioning, brand architecture, refreshed identity and messaging that scales with where you're going—not where you've been.
Scale without fracturing
Fractional design leadership, design system builds, TAM expansion strategy, landing pages, team evaluation—the infrastructure that lets you grow without your brand falling apart.
We also take equity for the right projects—where there's mutual fit, strategic alignment, and our unique ability to genuinely accelerate your trajectory.
Let's figure out what you actually need.
Services
For growth-stage
Prototyping
Research and testing
Brand strategy & re-positioning
Naming and linguistics
Brand architecture
High-conversion websites
For enterprise
Brand transformation
Fractional design leadership
Model & brand alignment
Model x brand alignment
TAM expansion
Design, product team evaluations
Landing pages
Testimonials
Branding
❝
She inspired creativity and led the often messy path to finding impactful creative solutions within constraints. Laura's approach was unique in that she tested the creative boundaries and didn't compromise on quality. She elevated design quality, direction and our brand.
Laura is the reason we have our brand today, which appeals much more broadly to our new TAM of non-event verticals, gender inclusive, and more up-market/high end.
—Daniel B. Head of Product Innovation
❝
Laura has clear vision and a refined creative approach that allow her to bring abstract ideas to life in district and beautiful ways. She’s also wicked funny and has a pulse on the popular zeitgeist which allows her work to break through the noise and ring true.
—Natalie W. Head of Content
More
Branding
❝
She inspired creativity and led the often messy path to finding impactful creative solutions within constraints. Laura's approach was unique in that she tested the creative boundaries and didn't compromise on quality. She elevated design quality, direction and our brand.
Laura is the reason we have our brand today, which appeals much more broadly to our new TAM of non-event verticals, gender inclusive, and more up-market/high end.
—Daniel B. Head of Product Innovation
❝
Laura has clear vision and a refined creative approach that allow her to bring abstract ideas to life in district and beautiful ways. She’s also wicked funny and has a pulse on the popular zeitgeist which allows her work to break through the noise and ring true.
—Natalie W. Head of Content
More
Services
For growth-stage companies
Prototyping
Naming and linguistics testing
Research and testing
Brand strategy and positioning
Brand architecture
High-conversion websites
For established businesses
Brand transformation
Fractional design leadership
Model x brand alignment
TAM expansion
Design, product team evaluations
Landing pages
FAQ
FAQ
How it works
What makes us different?
We're not a traditional agency. Years leading design in startups beat an entrepreneurial approach into us—we move fast, think strategically, and ask better questions of you and your audience.
Where many studios chase sensationalism, we're obsessed with resonance. We research. We get into the trenches so the work doesn't just look good—it lands, and performs.
Yes, we make beautiful things. But in 2025 that's table stakes. What sets us apart is how we ground creative work in insight, instinct, and cultural appeal that's human-made, not algorithm-generated.
What's your pricing?
We charge based on complexity and scope. Most projects launch within weeks. After launch, we proactively monitor and manage your sites for a lowered monthly fee—insights, visual tracking, helpful intel. Complete peace of mind.
We work with clients from seed round to approaching exit:
Starting out: $9,500/mo
Growth: $16,000/mo
Scale up: $28,000+/mo
Get in touch with us and we'll walk through your unique needs.
Do you take equity?
For projects of larger scope, we have taken a mix of payment and equity. We evaluate based on mutual fit, alignment on longer term strategies, and most importantly, we interrogate our unique ability to supercharge the trajectory of the company.
What makes us different?
We're not a traditional agency. Years leading design in startups beat an entrepreneurial approach into us—we move fast, think strategically, and ask better questions of you and your audience.
Where many studios chase sensationalism, we're obsessed with resonance. We research. We get into the trenches so the work doesn't just look good—it lands, and performs.
Yes, we make beautiful things. But in 2025 that's table stakes. What sets us apart is how we ground creative work in insight, instinct, and cultural appeal that's human-made, not algorithm-generated.
What's your pricing?
We charge based on complexity and scope. Most projects launch within weeks. After launch, we proactively monitor and manage your sites for a lowered monthly fee—insights, visual tracking, helpful intel. Complete peace of mind.
We work with clients from seed round to approaching exit:
Starting out: $9,500/mo
Growth: $16,000/mo
Scale up: $28,000+/mo
Get in touch with us and we'll walk through your unique needs.
Do you take equity?
For projects of larger scope, we have taken a mix of payment and equity. We evaluate based on mutual fit, alignment on longer term strategies, and most importantly, we interrogate our unique ability to supercharge the trajectory of the company.
What makes us different?
We're not a traditional agency. Years leading design in startups beat an entrepreneurial approach into us—we move fast, think strategically, and ask better questions of you and your audience.
Where many studios chase sensationalism, we're obsessed with resonance. We research. We get into the trenches so the work doesn't just look good—it lands, and performs.
Yes, we make beautiful things. But in 2025 that's table stakes. What sets us apart is how we ground creative work in insight, instinct, and cultural appeal that's human-made, not algorithm-generated.
What's your pricing?
We charge based on complexity and scope. Most projects launch within weeks. After launch, we proactively monitor and manage your sites for a lowered monthly fee—insights, visual tracking, helpful intel. Complete peace of mind.
We work with clients from seed round to approaching exit:
Starting out: $9,500/mo
Growth: $16,000/mo
Scale up: $28,000+/mo
Get in touch with us and we'll walk through your unique needs.
Do you take equity?
For projects of larger scope, we have taken a mix of payment and equity. We evaluate based on mutual fit, alignment on longer term strategies, and most importantly, we interrogate our unique ability to supercharge the trajectory of the company.
About Laura, our Chief Creative Officer
What are your qualifications?
13 years of leveling up businesses from the inside. Having worked up from a UI designer to design leadership, and having been on the other side of the hiring table making decisions based on ROI, I have a unique perspective on how to provide the most value possible.
I have a background in fine art, traditional animation, social gaming, early advent social media. Every app I've ever worked on has been featured in the App Store. As a founder myself, I understand the chaos and speed of that building real businesses require. The understanding of reality is a differentiator.
Being a self taught designer, I honed all my skills on the job by dropping myself in the deep ends, with support from the best mentors.
For more background checks, and learn about my network, see linkedin.com/in/laurazheng
What are your qualifications?
13 years of leveling up businesses from the inside. Having worked up from a UI designer to design leadership, and having been on the other side of the hiring table making decisions based on ROI, I have a unique perspective on how to provide the most value possible.
I have a background in fine art, traditional animation, social gaming, early advent social media. Every app I've ever worked on has been featured in the App Store. As a founder myself, I understand the chaos and speed of that building real businesses require. The understanding of reality is a differentiator.
Being a self taught designer, I honed all my skills on the job by dropping myself in the deep ends, with support from the best mentors.
For more background checks, and learn about my network, see linkedin.com/in/laurazheng
What are your qualifications?
13 years of leveling up businesses from the inside. Having worked up from a UI designer to design leadership, and having been on the other side of the hiring table making decisions based on ROI, I have a unique perspective on how to provide the most value possible.
I have a background in fine art, traditional animation, social gaming, early advent social media. Every app I've ever worked on has been featured in the App Store. As a founder myself, I understand the chaos and speed of that building real businesses require. The understanding of reality is a differentiator.
Being a self taught designer, I honed all my skills on the job by dropping myself in the deep ends, with support from the best mentors.
For more background checks, and learn about my network, see linkedin.com/in/laurazheng
What's it like to work with you?
You get a partner who's both ambitious and empathetic. We tackle big problems fast.
To quote one of my favorite artists:
"Difficult takes a day, impossible takes a week." —Jay-Z
What's it like to work with you?
You get a partner who's both ambitious and empathetic. We tackle big problems fast.
To quote one of my favorite artists:
"Difficult takes a day, impossible takes a week." —Jay-Z
What's it like to work with you?
You get a partner who's both ambitious and empathetic. We tackle big problems fast.
To quote one of my favorite artists:
"Difficult takes a day, impossible takes a week." —Jay-Z
Secret nerd manifesto
Laura: You could say I'm a bit of an interaction design purist. I don't like busy artsy design work that gets in the way of accessibility. There's a reason for that.
My foray into UX/UI began in the early 2000s (I’m very old), when I was working as a game concept artist—painting monsters, muscle-y dudes, and weapons, when the Apple App Store was just coming alive. That era drilled into me a deep respect for behavioral psychology and the foundations of human-centered design. Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines weren’t just aesthetic — they were strategy disguised as standardization. Accessible, intuitive, and frictionless by design.
Web design, by contrast, still feels like the Wild Wild West—lawless, bloated, and driven more by ego than utility. I love expressive, experimental sites as much as the next Cool Person™, but when you’re designing for real people—with real decisions to make and limited time to make them—prioritizing aesthetic stunts over usability isn’t clever. It’s disrespectful. If you’re not showing up for your users, you’re just showing off.
Here’s the contradiction that allows my work to stand apart: I’m obsessive about visual polish and interaction nuance—but only in service of clarity, trust, and real business results. I see the forest and the trees. I know the value of surprise and delight, which details are worth sweating, and which ones are for vanity.
I love when my work sits right in the delta between precision and performance. Good design tells the right story, plants the right seeds, earns trust—and gets the hell out of the way when people show up in droves.
Secret nerd manifesto
Laura: You could say I'm a bit of an interaction design purist. I don't like busy artsy design work that gets in the way of accessibility. There's a reason for that.
My foray into UX/UI began in the early 2000s (I’m very old), when I was working as a game concept artist—painting monsters, muscle-y dudes, and weapons, when the Apple App Store was just coming alive. That era drilled into me a deep respect for behavioral psychology and the foundations of human-centered design. Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines weren’t just aesthetic — they were strategy disguised as standardization. Accessible, intuitive, and frictionless by design.
Web design, by contrast, still feels like the Wild Wild West—lawless, bloated, and driven more by ego than utility. I love expressive, experimental sites as much as the next Cool Person™, but when you’re designing for real people—with real decisions to make and limited time to make them—prioritizing aesthetic stunts over usability isn’t clever. It’s disrespectful. If you’re not showing up for your users, you’re just showing off.
Here’s the contradiction that allows my work to stand apart: I’m obsessive about visual polish and interaction nuance—but only in service of clarity, trust, and real business results. I see the forest and the trees. I know the value of surprise and delight, which details are worth sweating, and which ones are for vanity.
I love when my work sits right in the delta between precision and performance. Good design tells the right story, plants the right seeds, earns trust—and gets the hell out of the way when people show up in droves.
Secret nerd manifesto
Laura: You could say I'm a bit of an interaction design purist. I don't like busy artsy design work that gets in the way of accessibility. There's a reason for that.
My foray into UX/UI began in the early 2000s (I’m very old), when I was working as a game concept artist—painting monsters, muscle-y dudes, and weapons, when the App Store was just coming alive. That era drilled into me a deep respect for behavioral psychology and the foundations of human-centered design. Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines weren’t just aesthetic — they were strategy disguised as standardization. Accessible, intuitive, and frictionless by design.
Web design, by contrast, still feels like the Wild Wild West—lawless, bloated, and driven more by ego than utility. I love expressive, experimental sites as much as the next Cool Person™, but when you’re designing for real people—with real decisions to make and limited time to make them—prioritizing aesthetic stunts over usability isn’t clever. It’s disrespectful. If you’re not showing up for your users, you’re just showing off.
Here’s the contradiction that allows my work to stand apart: I’m obsessive about visual polish and interaction nuance—but only in service of clarity, trust, and real business results. I see the forest and the trees. I know the value of surprise and delight, which details are worth sweating, and which ones are for vanity.
I love when my work sits right in the delta between precision and performance. Good design tells the right story, plants the right seeds, earns trust—and gets the hell out of the way when people show up in droves.
Let us help
Our Chief Creative Officer, Laura offers complimentary calls to help shape your project or vision. Many clients find this process useful in itself. Just bring your raw questions, opportunities, ideas, and a sense of timing. In just a few conversations, we'll translate it all into a smart path forward and tailored engagement options.
Let us help
Our Chief Creative Officer, Laura offers complimentary calls to help shape your project or vision. Many clients find this process useful in itself. Just bring your raw questions, opportunities, ideas, and a sense of timing. In just a few conversations, we'll translate it all into a smart path forward and tailored engagement options.
Let us help
Our Chief Creative Officer, Laura offers complimentary calls to help shape your project or vision. Just bring your questions, opportunities, ideas, and a sense of timing. In just a few conversations, we'll translate it all into a clear path forward and tailored engagement options.
© 2025 Made in NYC, serving globally.
Site Version 1.0
© 2025 Made in NYC, serving globally.
Site Version 1.0
© 2025 Made in NYC, serving globally.
Site Version 1.0
© 2025 Made in NYC, serving globally.
Site Version 0.5
© 2025 Made in NYC, serving globally.