An independent studio, built to ship.
Archie is a small, independent design and web studio in Toronto. We build brand-led websites for service professionals across the Greater Toronto Area, with brand identity and a design system bundled into every project. No account managers, no handoffs to a junior, no scope you did not agree to.
We have shipped one client so far and we are not going to pretend otherwise. What we can show you is the work, the process, and exactly how we think.
Start a project→Studio / founder portrait of Gini Zhang, replace with a real photograph. Suggested 4:5 portrait, natural light, working environment.
Headshot of Gini Zhang, replace with a real photograph. 1:1, shoulders up, neutral background.
Gini Zhang
Founder & Designer · Toronto
Archie is led by Gini Zhang. The studio exists because of one stubborn belief: most service businesses do not have a marketing problem, they have a credibility problem. The work is good. The website does not say so. A better site is not vanity, it is the difference between a searcher booking you and booking the next result.
Gini works hands-on across the whole project: the brand, the design system, the build, and the words. That is the deliberate shape of a one-person-led studio. You talk to the person making the decisions, every time.
Why we bundle brand, system, site.
Most studios sell these three as separate line items, then hope they line up. They rarely do. You end up with a logo that does not survive contact with a real page, or a fast site wrapped around a brand that says nothing.
It decides everything else
Type, colour, voice, and the one idea the business is built on. Every later decision points back here. We start with brand because skipping it is why redesigns happen twice.
It makes the brand survive
Tokens, components, and rules sized to the project. A brand only holds up if it is built as a system that can be extended without us. The system is what keeps month two looking like launch day.
It is where it all has to work
A custom, mobile-first Next.js build that is fast, accessible, and findable. The site is not the deliverable on its own. It is the place the brand and system finally have to earn their keep.
A three-act process, no surprises.
Discover, Design, Deliver. Each phase ends with a tangible deliverable, an approval moment, and a clear handoff. Pricing is locked before anything is signed, and we monitor the site for 30 days after launch before it is fully yours.
See the full processOne client. Documented in full.
HyperTherapy is a mobile registered massage therapist in Toronto. We built the brand, the website, an automated content pipeline, and a local SEO foundation, and shipped it in 14 days. It is our entire credibility story so far, so we wrote down every decision.
Read the HyperTherapy case study→Values, not slogans.
These are operating rules, not a poster. Every one of them shows up in how a project is priced, built, and handed off.
- 01
One bundled product
Brand, design system, and website ship together because they fail apart. A logo without a system is decoration. A site without a brand is a template. We sell the whole thing or none of it.
- 02
Fixed price, written scope
The number is agreed before anyone signs. If scope changes, we quote it in writing first. No invoice arrives that you did not approve. Surprises are a process failure, not a billing strategy.
- 03
You own everything
Clean Next.js code, your Figma file, exported brand assets, all yours on delivery. No platform lock-in, no licensing tail, no reason you ever have to come back to us except that you want to.
- 04
Honest before the call
Pricing is on the site. The retainer page tells you to skip it if it is not worth it. We would rather lose a bad-fit project early than manage a mismatch for six weeks.
Want to work with the studio?
A 30-minute discovery call, no pitch deck. We will tell you whether Archie is the right studio for your brief, and if it is not, point you toward someone who is.