One orbit, on purpose.
Tropical Year is a founder-led creative studio for digital products and brands. We blend story, design, and code to help small, mission-driven teams and founders move through their seasons of change without losing the thread.
Who we are
We’re a small studio with a big soft spot for complex, slightly-messy problems. The kind where there are too many opinions, too much history, and not enough time to untangle it all.
We’ve been the in-house team, the founding team, and the "can you help us fix this" call. That’s why we built Tropical Year: to be the kind of partner we always wanted—curious, clear-eyed, and unafraid to ask the “stupid” questions that unlock better work.
We’re based in Chicago and collaborate with clients across different time zones, but the throughline is the same: mission-driven teams, thoughtful founders, and organizations that care how their work shows up in the world.
THE SHORT VERSION
We don't polish symptoms. We find the real "it"—a core user friction, a business truth that should steer decisions, or the operating pattern (design, content, or code) everything else should follow—then build the smallest durable system around it.
How we work
Plain language, honest questions. We’ll share our thinking as we go, surface tradeoffs, and push back when something doesn’t align with the bigger picture.
Structure + soul. We love a tidy system, but we’re not here to sand off all the personality. Your product or site should feel like you—just clearer and more confident.
Co-creation, not black boxes. We keep you close through check-ins, shared docs, and open files. You see the messy middle, not just the glossy end.
Built to hand off. We document, organize, and leave patterns you can actually use, whether you’re growing an internal team or working with other partners later.
