Design by Twist stand out by doing things differently — building brands that are “anything but ordinary” for the kind of clients who don’t fit the usual mold. With roots in Barcelona and collaborations across the world, the studio is led by Floriane Jambu and Alex Dalmau, who pair clarity with craft, minimalism with conviction, and collaboration with a refreshing lack of ego. We sat down to talk about the studio’s journey, what defines their “twist,” and what it really takes to build brands that break through today.

✜ Before we dive in — how are things on your side today?

→ Good! A bit caffeinated, a bit chaotic, but in a nice way. We’re still riding the wave from the Affinity launch — an incredible amount of positive feedback, a few late nights, and that post-launch mix of excitement and “okay, back to reality.” Overall, we’re good, grateful, and in a pretty energised mood.

✜ Oh great… we’ll touch on that later. Let’s first rewind a little. When did Twist officially start, and what pushed you to create the studio in the first place?

→ Twist officially started in 2020, but the idea had been following us around for years. We’d both spent time in different studios, agencies, in-house teams… and while we learned a lot, we also saw what we wished the experience felt like. More direct, more human, more “let’s sit at the same table and figure this out together.” Eventually, it just felt obvious: the only way to work the way we believed in, was to build the environment ourselves. No grand business plan, just a clear intention: build brands that feel honest, intentional, and a little unconventional, with people who care about what they’re making.

✜ You’ve come a long way since then — including landing Canva as a client. How did that relationship start, and what did it mean for you as a studio?

→ Our relationship with Canva happened pretty naturally. We’ve always believed that if you’re nice to the people you work with — and you do good work — it comes back around. We’d worked with quite a few people from their Creative team in past roles, and when they started exploring a brand refresh last year, our name came up as a potential partner. There was no big pitch moment — just a few conversations, a bit of luck, and very good timing.

For a young, small studio like ours, being trusted by a team of that scale means a lot. It reassures other companies that size really doesn’t determine capability. It’s opened doors, but more importantly, it’s shown us that the way we like to work — closely, collaboratively, without the bloated structure — works even in very big environments.

✜ So now fast-forward to today: How would you describe Twist’s core mission and why it still matters?

→ Twist exists to help people build brands that actually feel like them — not like a template, not like a trend, not like what everyone else in their category is doing. That matters more than ever. We’re surrounded by “good enough” design. Tools are better, AI is everywhere, and it’s incredibly easy for brands to look vaguely acceptable. But clarity, personality, and honesty? Those still take intention. That’s where we come in.

✜ Let's look at your website. It says you build brands “that are anything but ordinary.”  — So what does “ordinary” look like to you — and how do you push beyond it?

→ For us, “ordinary” is when a brand blends into the category so smoothly that you forget it immediately. It’s not wrong — it’s just forgettable. Safe words, familiar colours, ideas that feel like they’ve been softened until they don’t say much of anything. We try to move past that by looking for what feels real and specific. The parts of a brand that might feel a little too honest or too sharp at first — that’s usually where the personality lives. Once we find that centre, we build around it and strip away the rest. When something makes you feel a tiny spark — interest, curiosity, even discomfort — that’s usually the sign we’re in the right place.

Here's our wrap up: We loved talking to Twist. Design by Twist operate with a calm confidence — no theatrics, no unnecessary noise, just thoughtful branding built on clarity, collaboration and a sharp instinct for what actually matters. Their work proves that simplicity isn’t the absence of ideas, but the result of discipline and care. In an industry full of distractions and visual clutter, Twist continue to carve out their own lane: focused, intentional, and always anchored in partnership. Perhaps that’s their real “twist” — the ability to make the extraordinary feel effortless.