What Hackers/Artists Studio does

Hackers/Artists Studio (H/A Studio) is a privately held design and development agency founded in 2017, operating a dual presence with headquarters in Beijing, China and a regional office in San Francisco, USA. The firm delivers an integrated suite of creative services spanning branding and visual identity, animation production, web and mobile application development, UX/UI design, and consultation/training. Its stated client base includes enterprise names such as Airbnb, Netease, Alibaba, Youku, Mercedes-Benz, P&G, Citi Bank, and Huanxi Media, with project work spanning media, entertainment, healthcare, real estate, beverage/sports, and architecture industries. The studio positions itself as a strategic design partner rather than a vendor, emphasizing a 'six-senses experience design' framework that integrates aesthetic and technical dimensions.

The firm's technical approach emphasizes pixel-perfect web and application development using modern web technologies, with the 'Hackers/Artists' framing combining technical ('hackers') and artistic ('artists') capabilities as its central differentiator. Founder and CEO Livia Zhang — a Cornell University summa cum laude graduate and ex-Facebooker who led Facebook's 2013 Typhoon Haiyan relief software project, raising $3 million for the Red Cross within three days — leads a team sourced from Facebook, Alibaba, and Ogilvy. The studio operates a project-based, quote-driven professional services model with no publicly disclosed pricing tiers, multi-year contract cadences, and direct enterprise sales via website contact form, email, phone, and WeChat.

H/A Studio is bootstrapped with no external funding rounds recorded, and detailed financial metrics including revenue are not publicly disclosed. Recognitions cited by the company include awards from Apple, Tencent, CES, Xinhua News, 360, CSS Design Awards, Alading, the Apple App Store, Tencent's Top Ten Mini Program Design Award (won for the WeHome mini program), and Interface's Female Entrepreneurship Award (awarded to CEO Livia Zhang), though specific award years and detailed criteria are not provided in source materials.

Name

Hackers/Artists Studio

Legal name

Hackers/Artists Studio

Website

https://hastud.io

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Hackers/Artists Studio is a privately held design and development agency offering branding, animation, web/app development, UX/UI design, and consulting services to global enterprise clients from offices in Beijing and San Francisco.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Design Services

NAICS

Graphic Design Services (541430), Graphic Design Services (54143)

SIC

Services-Mailing, Reproduction, Commercial Art & Photography (7330), Services-Computer Programming Services (7371)

akta.pro primary industry

Digital Creative & Experience Design Agencies (Web/App/UX) (MPAAAAAD)

Keywords

• Design agency services
• Web development services
• Brand identity design
• UX UI design
• Animation production

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Branding & Visual Design Services: Creating branding design that tells a story and excites the audience through substantial study and research on business and industry
2. Animation Production: Expressing brand tone or demonstrating product logic in creative ways through animation
3. Web & App Development: Building pixel-perfect and explosive web and application experiences using latest technology with obsession for details
4. UX & UI Design: Deep focus on business goals, conversions, scalability, and making things easy and surprisingly attractive to users
5. Consultation & Training: Sharing experience and thoughts to help clients with redesign, hiring designers, design process improvement, and adopting scrum for dev teams

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

Hackers/Artists Studio is a design and development agency that delivers integrated creative services to enterprise clients, including Branding & Visual Design, Animation Production, Web & App Development, UX & UI Design, and Consultation & Training. Engagements are custom and project-based, combining aesthetic design with technical implementation to produce pixel-perfect websites, applications, brand identities, and animations. The studio also offers strategic consulting on redesign, hiring designers, design process improvement, and agile/scrum adoption.

Product overview

Hackers/Artists (H/A) Studio is a design and development agency that offers a integrated suite of creative services. The core offerings include Branding & Visual Design for brand identity creation, Animation Production for creative visual storytelling, Web & APP Development for digital product building, UX & UI Design for user-centered product design, and Consultation & Training for strategic guidance. These services work together as a unified creative partnership model, where the studio integrates aesthetic design with technological innovation to deliver end-to-end product experiences for clients.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Branding & Visual Design Brand identity design services for enterprise clients, including story-driven branding, visual identity systems, logo design, and brand strategy development grounded in substantial study and research on the client's business and industry.
• Animation Production Creative animation services that express brand tone, demonstrate product logic, and create engaging visual storytelling experiences for enterprise clients.
• Web & App Development Full-stack web and mobile application development using the latest technologies, focused on pixel-perfect execution and rapid development for enterprise clients.
• UX & UI Design User experience and interface design focused on business goals, conversions, scalability, and creating attractive, user-friendly digital products for enterprise clients.
• Consultation & Training Strategic consulting services covering redesign planning, designer hiring, design process optimization, and agile/scrum adoption for development teams.

Quantifiable outcome

• Facebook project raised 3 million USD for Red Cross within three days
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers12 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Twelve partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• TouchcastcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnered with Touchcast to transform an old-fashioned website into an interactive storytelling experience. Services included UI design, website development, and animation.
• THEODOZcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborated with THEODOZ from design to development to bring to life the logo, VI, website, and animation.
• Huanxi MediacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOverhauled the HUANXI App which boosted its performance and aesthetic as one of the trendiest movie apps in the Chinese market. Services included branding, UI design, app and website development.
• Bossa NovacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnered with Bossa Nova to fully redesign and modernize their main website. Services included UI design and website development.
• VIBEcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDesigned the first version of UI/UX for Vibe's website, creating a foundation that Vibe's inner design team could easily build upon.
• MR.XcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCreated logo, bold VI design, and fluid interactive animation capturing the dynamic energy of sports.
• Maestro QAminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerDesign work captures the essence of Maestro QA's ability to pinpoint problems and orchestrate solutions. Services included UI design, illustration, and branding.
• SegmentminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAnimation work features gorgeous animations that deliver a clear and powerful message.
• RhizomeminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerBlended vintage and modern aesthetics to effortlessly capture Rhizome's brand. Services included UI design and website development.
• EKOminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCreated warm and inviting design that helps EKO stand out from the sterile websites of competitors.
• WeHomecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerUI design and development for WeChat mini program that won Tencent's top ten mini program design award.
• 3ANDWICHDESIGN (He Wei)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerProvided website facelift to match He Wei's growing influence worldwide as a prestigious architecture firm.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• IDEO: Pioneering global design consultancy offering integrated design, branding, and digital product services to enterprise clients. Closely comparable to H/A Studio in service breadth (branding, UX/UI, digital products) and enterprise client orientation, though materially larger in scale.
• Ueno: Design and technology studio delivering brand, web, and product work for tech-forward companies. Comparable to H/A Studio in boutique scale, integrated design + development offering, and enterprise/tech client mix.
• Huge: Digital experience agency delivering brand strategy, UX/UI design, and product engineering to enterprise clients. Comparable to H/A Studio's combined design + development service model targeting enterprise digital transformations.
• Work & Co: Digital product studio focused on designing and building digital products for leading brands. Closely comparable to H/A Studio's integrated UX/UI + web/app development offering for enterprise clients.
• Pentagram: Partner-led design firm specializing in brand identity, graphic design, and digital experiences for major global brands. Comparable to H/A Studio's branding, visual identity, and website redesign work for enterprise clients.
• Instrument: Independent digital creative agency offering branding, design, and product development for enterprise brands. Comparable to H/A Studio's integrated service stack and enterprise client base.
• frog (Capgemini Engineering): Global design and innovation firm delivering brand, product, and digital experience services. Directly comparable to H/A Studio's integrated hacker + artist approach across UX, visual design, and digital product development for enterprise clients.
• R/GA: Global digital design and advertising agency offering brand, experience design, and product development. Comparable to H/A Studio's full-stack creative model (branding, UX/UI, web/app development, animation) at enterprise scale.
• Fantasy (Interactive): Boutique digital design and engineering studio building interactive experiences and web platforms. Comparable to H/A Studio in boutique scale, design-engineering integration, and emphasis on 'explosive' pixel-perfect interactive work.
• Character (design agency): Boutique design agency providing brand, digital, and product design services to enterprise and tech clients. Comparable to H/A Studio in boutique positioning, full-service creative offering, and premium enterprise clientele.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat2 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/h-a-studio

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Hackers/Artists Studio