Work & Co
Since 2013, Work & Co has defined a new standard for digital product design by pairing strategy, design, and technology in tightly integrated teams.
To mark its 12-year anniversary, the company partnered with Order to create a book that reflects the spirit behind its name. Work & Co was founded on a simple belief — that exceptional work is born from exceptional company. The phrase “the work we do and the company we keep” continues to define both what we make and how we make it.
More than a retrospective, the book captures the ethos behind the work: close collaboration, iterative making, and leveraging digital craft to drive meaningful change.
Collaborators
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Project team
Jesse Reed, Partner & Designer
Emily Klaebe, Designer
Megan Nardini, Operations
Brooklyn Office
The legacy
The company was built on the idea that the best digital products come from small, senior teams working side-by-side. Hierarchy was replaced with collaboration—design and technology advancing together from the outset.
The result is a hands-on approach defined by iteration, transparency, and shared accountability. Teams prototype early, test often, and refine continuously — focusing on solving one problem at a time. Each engagement is led by the same practitioners who design and build, ensuring momentum from concept through launch.
Trusted by leaders at Fortune 500 brands and fast-growing startups alike, Work & Co helps shape the digital products that define modern business.
The first Work & Co office was opened in Dumbo, Brooklyn, and remains its headquarters to this day.
Over time, the company has grown into a global team across the U.S., Europe, and Latin America—united by a shared belief in shipping products and experiences people love using every day.
Every Work & Co environment — from its studios to its digital platforms — is designed for clarity and collaboration. The spaces embody the same values as the products: thoughtful, functional, and built to bring people together.
A mix of perspectives and skills drive Work & Co's ability to create digital products that are culturally relevant and globally resonant.
The company's most important measure is its ability to launch experiences out into the world, and whenever possible to create iconic work that helps raise the bar for what's possible. Accolades include: Cannes Lions, TIME Best Inventions, Fast Company Most Innovative, Ad Age A-List, CES Innovation, Red Dot, iF Design, the Webbys, and Inc. Best in Business.
Order identified a connection between Work & Co’s logo and the agency’s approach of blending design and technology to create unmatched digital tools for their clients.
This process of simultaneously addressing exploratory processes became a core structure for the book’s layout. Design and technology share equal hierarchy in the book’s layout.
The typographic system at the core of the book is derived from Work & Co’s brand styles for written hierarchy.
Helvetica Neue is set at large scales for headlines, and supported by IBM Plex Mono for captions and smaller credits.
The book blends key signifiers of the Work & Co brand language with a neutral typographic lense.
The book
Work & Co’s name is abbreviated to the first initial as the book cover.
The singular letter signifies the agency’s legacy of Work, with the signature brand red encapsulating the projects.
Photographs by Casey Steffens→.
A mailer box was created to ensure safe shipment of the near 800-page book.
The mailer is a replica of the design on the book’s cover, acting as a teaser for the materials it holds.
The book’s contents are divided into four sections: Foreword, Work, Spaces, and Company.
Work & Co’s visual identifiers, like the double-star symbol, are used as endmarks for the Foreword.
Graphic scale typography is used to emphasize statements and combines the primary colorways of the book’s exterior/endpapers.
Each project page begins with an overview of the context and solution.
Dramatic logo crops signal the client partnership, before revealing the final designed materials of the project.
The outcome pages balance the results of the work with the process behind both the design and technological approaches.
This structure reflects Work & Co’s practice of strategizing, designing, developing, and testing simultaneously.
Showcasing designs intended for digital interaction in a printed medium inherently limits the ability to fully experience the final project.
Hidden within select page footers are URLs linking to archived web pages of the project’s delivery.
The simplicity of the spread system allows for consistent use across different project types and industries.
The book features a diverse range of project types, spanning multiple years of origin, and showcases various outcomes within the scope of work.
This breadth highlights the evolution of the company’s approach and its adaptability across different challenges.
The Spaces section is dedicated to the global reach of Work & Co’s approach and ideology, reflected through the intentional decisions surrounding architecture and workspaces.
Additional credits
Thank you to Felipe Memoria, Rupal Parekh, Katelyn Loyer, Emily Giddings, Nicholas Bethlem, Kripa Venkatesh, Mohan Ramaswamy, and the entire Work & Co team for their support, trust, and collaboration.