We are 10!

Ten years ago, we started with a start-up loan, a lot of determination, and a very real need to find somewhere to work from.

Like most beginnings, it wasn’t especially polished. There were forms, spreadsheets, studio viewings, practical decisions, and a fair amount of figuring things out as we went. Finding the right space took time. Building the right kind of studio took even longer.

But from the beginning, we knew what mattered to us.

We wanted to create a studio that worked with people, not just for them. A studio shaped by collaboration, conversation and care. One that could support organisations doing meaningful work – in arts and culture, heritage, education, research, innovation, charities and the not-for-profit sector.

Over the last decade, we’ve navigated some tricky landscapes. Changes in funding, shifts in the sector, a pandemic, economic uncertainty, and all the usual challenges that come with running a small business.

But mostly, when we look back, what stands out are the people.

The brilliant clients who trusted us. The organisations doing important work in the world. The collaborators, freelancers, partners and friends who helped shape the studio along the way. The conversations that made the work better. The projects that reminded us why we do this.

We have always been intentionally small.

That isn’t by accident, and it isn’t because we lack ambition. It’s because our ambition has never been growth for growth’s sake. We’re not driven by being the biggest studio, or by constantly expanding.

We’re driven by doing the best work we can, with people we respect, on projects that matter.

For us, good design isn’t just about how something looks. It’s about helping people understand, connect, take part, support, visit, donate, learn, act or feel differently. It’s about making complex things clearer, important things more visible, and meaningful work easier to engage with.

That has been the thread running through Altogether for the last ten years.

A belief that design can make a difference. That the way we work matters as much as the work itself. And that collaboration, done properly, leads to better outcomes.

Ten years in, we’re proud of what we’ve built, it still feels true to who we are.

Altogether means including everything, or everyone.

And when we say Altogether, we mean it.

Here’s to ten years of working with brilliant people and organisations, and to whatever comes next.