We're an independent strategy, design, and inspiration studio helping companies find a new vision and purpose for their brands, digital experiences, creativity, and existence.
CRZY was created by global thought leader, designer and strategist Stephen Gates to bring his unique style and years of experience leading some of the world's biggest brands and working alongside the world's most innovative companies to a different kind of design studio and consulting model. We are fully remote and happy to travel to work with you in a hybrid model as we build teams from all over the world while based in Pittsburgh, PA.
What makes us different?
It's funny how so many agencies will try to convince you that they are different by all sounding and acting the same. CRZY was born out of being part of that world, knowing what works and doesn't. CRZY was designed to be different in our approach, how we build teams, work with you, and the honesty and partnership we bring to all our work.
01
Our holistic approach drives your long-term vision and near-term business impact by combining strategy, design, and people development.
Great ideas only happen when you have a strategy that drives business results, a design that creates value for your customers, a team that can develop the work, and a shared mindset to build the trust and collaboration needed for a great culture. We don't just work on one part of the problem and partner with you to work on your strategy, design, and team holistically.
LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR SERVICES.
02
We bring real experience and hands-on skills from working for the world's biggest brands and with the most innovative companies.
We bring real experience, insights, and processes that we have learned from working for some of the world's biggest brands and working alongside companies like Apple. Google, Amazon, Verizon, Frog Design, Disney, Nike, NASA, and many more. But we don't use that experience to make you into one of those companies. Instead, we use it to look internally and improve your company through your values, products, and people.
03
We custom build teams, processes, and engagements for your needs.
We only have one full-time employee and two dogs on staff for a reason. We build our teams from the world's best talent on a project or fractional basis, led by Stephen Gates, so you get the best talent at the best price. We then partner with you and integrate with your teams to understand your challenges, products, and culture so we can adapt our style and processes to get the best results. This means we can work for a fraction of our time among a few clients, work deeply for months on a strategy and product problem for a single client, or spend an hour giving your team a world-class keynote.
04
Our approach means we will ask tough questions, and confront uncomfortable truths.
It is disappointing to list honesty as a differentiator, but we know too many consultants tell you what you want to hear or leave problems in place to protect their retainers. As a result, you pay them a lot of money only to discover nothing has changed or improved. Many people think our superpower is that we can use our insights and experience to get to the heart of what is happening in your strategy, product, and/or culture. We will always have honest, fact-based, constructive, and sometimes difficult or even provocative conversations to address the heart and thinking behind the problem.
05
We give back to the design community through our podcast, female and minority founder mentoring, and free weekly mentoring.
We use our voice to help empower the community and stand up for what matters.
Our speaking engagements and podcast gave us a platform where we can use our voice and influence to take on long-standing industry issues like lack of global mentorship, making space and being an ally for Black, Brown, Indigenous, and/or LGBTQ+ voices, and more.
LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR COMMUNITY WORK.
I like what I am hearing so tell me more about what do you do.
In the works
We work with only a few clients at a time, allowing us to focus all our energy on our clients and think deeply about their problems while caring for our creativity and mental health.
We are currently working with these clients on a highly diverse set of challenges, from creating business, product, and organizational strategies, connecting multiple advertising campaigns, and redesigning consumer packaging, as well as working with several clients on leadership coaching and keynotes for internal events.
