Hyperfocused
on impact

ABOUT

Our Story

XXIX was never founded, it happened; it grew out of a collaboration that started in 2013 in New York City. We finally admitted we were a real business in 2015 when we had to sign the lease on our own office. It occurred to us that, for all the time designers spend re-thinking other industries, we hadn't really looked at our own as critically. So, like many young people starting out on their own, we set out to do things a little differently. That worked great for a while — our studio grew, our projects got better, our work was fun, and we began to realize that we had to take more responsibility for our work. That meant being more proactive about the well-being of our team, more transparent about how our business was run, more selective about the projects we worked on, and more thoughtful about our contribution to community and environment. We saw our friends at Sanctuary Computer thinking about a lot of the same things. We've always felt that technology and design should work together as a single unit so in 2019 we formalized our long-time collaboration to become 'sister studios'. Today we're putting our experience as a partially remote team to use in becoming fully decentralized, exploring some new avenues for our practice, growing our immediate and extended family, and building a studio that makes us healthy, happy, and busy. xo, XXIX

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  Hugh Francis

  Founder & Technical Director, garden3d | Sanctuary Computer

  New York, NY

  Hugh founded Sanctuary Computer, serves as XXIX technical partner and leads garden3d — a collective of profit-sharing and worker-owned creative companies in New York City that includes Sanctuary Computer, XXIX, and Index. Hugh has more than a decade of experience leading custom Shopify projects like Nike's NOCTA, Cocoon, Smalls for Smalls, Rootine and The Light Phone. With a background in mechanical engineering; patented inventor (Light Phone OS). Hugh focuses on the intersection of human-centric technology and high-level strategy: how organizations adopt emerging tools without losing sight of the people they're meant to serve. He has spoken about this work at Yale School of Art, SXSW, and NYC's SVA.

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  Elie Andersen

  Director of Partnerships, garden3d

  New York, NY

  In her decade-long tenure at garden3d, Elie has led communications and client strategy across the studio's design and technology work, shaping how projects are framed, articulated, and brought to market. In parallel, she is the director of Index, a community and coworking space focused on supporting creative and cultural work through programming, events, and shared infrastructure. Her work centers on building clear narratives, sustainable platforms, and thoughtful experiences that connect creative practice with real audiences.

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  James Musgrave

  Creative Director, XXIX

  Lisbon, PT

  James Musgrave is the Creative Director of XXIX with 18 years of experience. At XXIX he's lead projects for clients including Google, Hinge, Brooklyn Museum and Magic Leap. He's also lead our engagement with Salt & Stone for the last four years working across brand, web and packaging contributing 1000x growth in revenue. Before joining XXIX, he worked in London for clients including Alexander McQueen, Instagram, Louis Vuitton, Sir Paul McCartney, Penguin Books, Phaidon, Warp Records, Universal Music, V&A, Hayward Gallery and the Serpentine Gallery. He is a four-time Grammy nominee, one-time winner, and former judge for the Recording Academy. He's also a D&AD award winner and new blood mentor. He's spoken about design at conferences including Google Span and It's Nice That x Adobe.

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  Sam Taylor

  UX & Strategy Director, garden3d | XXIX

  Richmond, VA

  Sam is a strategist with a focus on human-centered digital experiences and community-driven brand thinking. He brings a grounded, people-first perspective to complex organizations, helping teams translate their values and programs into clear, navigable digital systems. His work spans experiential design at the New Museum and ICA VCU, and brand strategy for companies in finance and technology. He programs and stewards community spaces in Richmond, including Index and Ours. At garden3d, his work focuses on aligning structure, content, and experience around the people a platform is actually built to serve.

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  Andy Brewer

  Sr. Account Lead, Sanctuary Computer | XXIX

  Santa Cruz, CA

  Before joining garden3d, Andy served as startup consultant and operator with 80+ engagements across AI, web, and mobile — helping early-stage companies navigate critical inflection points in growth, product launches, and go-to-market strategy. His client portfolio spans IPOs (Elastic, Okta, Sumo Logic), acquisitions by Google, Amazon, Cisco, and IBM, and venture-backed companies from pre-seed through Series B.

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  Joshie Fishbein

  Salt Lake City, UT

  Joshie is an experienced software developer and technology leader that has previously worked for artificial intelligence providers, medical and health care firms, and large financial institutions. He was previously an open-source contributor to Wordpress's core codebases and a paid contributor to Shopify's frontend platforms. Over the last few years, Joshie has spent his time leading a tech-forward vehicle manufacturing company and helped establish smart factories in the USA.

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  Liza

  Account Lead & Strategist, garden3d | XXIX

  Richmond, VA

  Liza is a strategist specializing in the development of research-driven programs, content, and creative initiatives that support cultural and community-centered work. With a background in arts, education, and nonprofit organizations, she guides projects from early ideation through prototyping and production. She brings an interdisciplinary approach to program development, shaping content and experiences that are responsive, engaging, and grounded in collaboration.

• Jacob Heftmann

  Design Founder, XXIX

  Brooklyn, NY / San Diego, CA

  Jacob is a self-taught graphic designer also experimenting in type design, programming, and photography. He got his first design job at age 27, has won no awards for his work, and after burning out from agency and in-house experience, co-founded XXIX. He is a faculty member at Parsons School of Design and visiting professor at HBKSaar, and gives talks and workshops throughout the year.

CAREERS

Work with us

Are you interested in contracting / freelancing / permalancing with XXIX, Sanctuary Computer, Index or another garden3d project? We pay as generously as our client agreements allow, and we award our longer staying contributors with profit share & (eventually) worker ownership. You can join the network by filling out the form below!