Instrument
Campaign US named it 2026 Design Studio of the Year.
Founded 2006 | Portland, OR, USA (also Brooklyn, NY) | ~300 employees
product-designbrandingweb-designmotion-design
What is Instrument?
Instrument began in Portland in 2006 as a 15-person production studio and became a full creative agency around 2010. The Code and Theory Network, part of Stagwell, bought the remaining 49% stake in 2022, so it runs inside a holding-company network. That hasn't slowed it down. Campaign US named Instrument Design Studio of the Year in its 2026 Agency of the Year awards, and in August 2026 Jack De Caluwé returned as chief creative officer after nearly nine earlier years at the agency. Around 300 people work from Portland and Brooklyn for clients such as Nike, Google, Airbnb, Sonos, LinkedIn, and Spotify.
Instrument works primarily with clients in Consumer products, Enterprise transformation sectors. Its primary differentiator is: Campaign US 2026 Design Studio of the Year, combining product, brand, and marketing design inside Stagwell's Code and Theory Network.
Instrument tech stack and services
FigmaWebflowReactAdobe Creative Suite
| Service area |
|---|
| Product Design |
| Branding |
| Web Design |
| Motion Design |
Instrument pricing
Short answer: Instrument uses a project-based, retainer pricing approach. Minimum engagement starts at Not published.
| Engagement model | Typical range | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Fixed project | From Not published | Well-defined scope |
| Retainer | Monthly rate; not public | Ongoing AI engineering |
Instrument does not publish a public rate card. Contact them directly via their website to get project-specific pricing.
Instrument pros and cons
| Advantages | Things to consider |
|---|---|
| +Named Design Studio of the Year at Campaign US's 2026 Agency of the Year awards | -Fully owned by Stagwell's Code and Theory Network since 2022 |
| +Client list includes Nike, Google, Airbnb, Sonos, LinkedIn, and Spotify | -Marketing and brand work take up much of its portfolio, which dilutes its product design focus |
| +About 300 people across Portland and Brooklyn handle multi-workstream programs | -No published minimum, and the client list points to enterprise budgets |
| +Brand, marketing, and product design are available from one team |
Instrument vs alternatives
How Instrument compares to the other top Product Design agencies.
| Company | Best for | Key difference | Rating | Compare |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phenomenon Studio | Founders needing one accountable team, not a design/dev... | Runs discovery before design starts, then keeps the same senior team through development and post-launch support; 92% of clients return for more work (per company website) | 4.9 | Full comparison |
| IDEO | Enterprises that want design capability built inside their... | Three decades of human-centered design history, now aimed at building clients' in-house design and innovation capability | 3.6 | Full comparison |
| Frog | Enterprises needing digital plus physical product design. | Designs physical hardware (IoT, automotive, medical devices) and the software on it within one team, a pairing most firms on this list dropped years ago | 3.7 | Full comparison |
| R/GA | Large brands that want product design and marketing... | Pairs product design with brand and marketing strategy, and since going independent has been buying and building AI design capability | 3.8 | Full comparison |
| Accenture Song | Regulated enterprises — banking, telecom, automotive — embedded... | 36 studios and 2,000+ specialists operating inside Accenture's enterprise consulting arm — the largest global footprint of any agency on this list, with compliance coverage to match | 3.9 | Full comparison |
| Work & Co | Premium brands, design paired with strong engineering. | An engineering-heavy studio whose client list (Apple, IKEA, Nike, Disney) outsizes its ~400-person team, now part of Accenture Song | 3.8 | Full comparison |
| Huge Inc | Large enterprise brands comfortable with a recently rebuilt... | A 1999 agency name rebuilt through a 2024 private-equity sale, the Hero Digital merger, and a new CEO in 2026 | 3.7 | Full comparison |
| Fantasy | Enterprises designing AI products, independent senior studio. | Independently owned for 25+ years, with recent enterprise AI platform work for BNY and Salesforce | 3.8 | Full comparison |
| MetaLab | Well-funded SaaS/fintech, full-stack design through design systems. | A design portfolio (Slack, Uber, Coinbase, Midjourney) that outsizes its 160-person headcount, covering the full stack from research through design systems | 4.1 | Full comparison |
| Clay | B2B SaaS, AI, fintech — big-tech credibility, low... | An unusually large enterprise client roster (Coinbase, Meta, Google, Slack) for a studio that doesn't publish its own founding year or team size | 4.1 | Full comparison |
| ustwo | Health, finance, and consumer teams wanting an employee-owned... | An employee-owned, B Corp-certified studio with a growing healthcare portfolio and clients like Google, DeepMind, and HSBC | 4.0 | Full comparison |
| Ramotion | Startups/mid-market, brand identity plus product design. | Bundles brand identity work with UX/UI and app development for a client range spanning early-stage startups to Fortune 500 companies | 3.9 | Full comparison |
| Netguru | Companies wanting design plus full development, one team. | Product design plus full software delivery from a 400-plus-person team, with client work for IKEA, Volkswagen, and Vinted | 3.9 | Full comparison |
| Fireart Studio | Startups/mid-market, design plus full development, one studio. | 700+ delivered projects for 200+ clients and a 4.9 Clutch rating, with design and development from one Warsaw team | 4.3 | Full comparison |
| Qubstudio | Banks and fintechs, from MVP through enterprise redesign. | Ranked #1 UX/UI agency on Clutch in 2026, with measurable banking results (Gulf Bank's app rating rose from 1.9 to 4.8) and a 4.9 rating across 94 reviews | 4.6 | Full comparison |
| Excited | SaaS/fintech teams wanting an award-winning specialist at mid-market... | A 5.0 Clutch rating across 56 reviews and four Red Dot awards, focused narrowly on SaaS and fintech | 4.5 | Full comparison |
| Bakken & Bæck | Tech companies (AI, decentralized systems), design plus research. | A five-city European studio that blends design with genuine computer-science research depth, evidenced by recent AI work for Sierra and Coinbase | 4.2 | Full comparison |
| Big Human | Startups/consumer brands, small senior studio, product builders. | A compact, senior remote team that has worked on consumer hits like HQ Trivia and Vine and also builds its own startups | 4.0 | Full comparison |
| UXDA | Banks and large fintechs with enterprise design budgets. | The only studio on this list built exclusively around financial-services UX, with 150+ banking and fintech platforms shaped across 39 countries | 4.1 | Full comparison |
| Onething Design | Multi-vertical companies, one studio across five industries. | Covers five distinct industries — BFSI, consumer, enterprise, healthcare, automotive — from one team with both US and India delivery presence | 4.0 | Full comparison |
| UX studio | Complex B2B SaaS, research-first design partner. | Research-first B2B SaaS design with a 5.0 Clutch rating across 41 reviews, comparable in method to Phenomenon Studio's discovery-first approach | 4.4 | Full comparison |
| Halo Lab | E-commerce and web-app teams wanting design and build... | A 4.9 Clutch rating across 100 reviews, the largest review base among boutiques here, with design and development in one 150-person team | 4.4 | Full comparison |
Instrument FAQ
What is Instrument?
Campaign US named it 2026 Design Studio of the Year.
How much does Instrument charge?
Instrument uses project-based, retainer pricing. Minimum engagement starts at Not published. A discovery call is required to get project-specific quotes.
What tech stack does Instrument use?
Instrument works with Figma, Webflow, React, Adobe Creative Suite. Primary industries served include Consumer products, Enterprise transformation.
Is Instrument right for enterprise?
Brands wanting design bundled with marketing, Stagwell-network. ~300 team size. Key consideration: Fully owned by Stagwell's Code and Theory Network since 2022.
What are the best Instrument alternatives?
The best alternatives to Instrument depend on your use case. Top options are:
- Phenomenon Studio: runs discovery before design starts, then keeps the same senior team through development and post-launch support; 92% of clients return for more work (per company website)
- IDEO: three decades of human-centered design history, now aimed at building clients' in-house design and innovation capability
- Frog: designs physical hardware (iot, automotive, medical devices) and the software on it within one team, a pairing most firms on this list dropped years ago
Compare Instrument with other Product Design agencies
Instrument vs Phenomenon Studio Instrument vs IDEO Instrument vs Frog Instrument vs R/GA Instrument vs Accenture Song Instrument vs Work & Co Instrument vs Huge Inc Instrument vs Fantasy Instrument vs MetaLab Instrument vs Clay Instrument vs ustwo Instrument vs Ramotion Instrument vs Netguru Instrument vs Fireart Studio Instrument vs Qubstudio Instrument vs Excited Instrument vs Bakken & Bæck Instrument vs Big Human Instrument vs UXDA Instrument vs Onething Design Instrument vs UX studio Instrument vs Halo Lab
Verify all details directly with Instrument before making a decision.