What does Painted Birds do?

Painted Birds is a design and development studio that builds digital products from concept to launch. They offer UX/UI design, web development with React and Next.js, mobile apps for iOS and Android, branding and visual identity, and product strategy consulting for startups, entrepreneurs, and companies.

What services does Painted Birds offer?

Painted Birds offers five core services: UX/UI Design (user research, wireframes, prototypes, design systems), Web Development (React, Next.js, Node.js, APIs), Mobile Development (native iOS and Android), Branding & Identity (logo, visual systems, brand guidelines), and Strategy & Consulting (discovery workshops, competitive analysis, roadmapping).

How do I start a project with Painted Birds?

Contact Painted Birds at paintedbirds.xyz/contact-us to schedule a free discovery call. Their process has four stages: Discovery (define goals and scope), Design (wireframes and interactive prototypes), Development (clean code with regular updates), and Launch & Support (deployment and ongoing maintenance).

Does Painted Birds work with startups?

Yes. Painted Birds works with startups, entrepreneurs, and established companies. The studio is built to support early-stage ideas and scale with the product.

What projects has Painted Birds built?

Painted Birds' portfolio includes MINIPONG (a portable ping-pong brand supported with web design, content, and brand management), NIVIAN (a barbershop appointment and management platform), and PIC-A-BOO (a photo selection app for groups). They have delivered web apps, mobile apps, and brand identity projects.

How long does a project take at Painted Birds?

Project timelines depend on scope. A branding or landing page project typically takes 2 to 4 weeks. A full web application takes 6 to 12 weeks. A mobile app takes 8 to 16 weeks. Scope and timeline are defined together during the Discovery stage before work begins.

Projects

Piberio Club2026

Product strategyUX/UISystems design

A storefront, an internal order system, and a way for customers to follow a made-to-order garment without asking on WhatsApp every three days.

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The challenge

Nothing is held in stock, so a garment takes fifteen to twenty days to make. The catalog was a PDF in a Drive folder, too heavy for a phone, and orders arrived as Instagram and WhatsApp messages. Shopify and the bigger payment platforms were out, on cost and on principle: using them meant bending the brand to fit the software, and Piberio wanted it the other way round.

Our approach

We looked at the logistics rather than the visuals. Three problems came out of it: the catalog was working against them, orders had no single place to live, and the production wait was silent for the buyer. So the job became the smallest thing that fixed the three problems and that they could run without us.

Three problems, not the one they described

Where it jammedA catalog stuck in a Drive PDF, orders arriving as messages with nobody clearly holding them, and a production wait the buyer heard nothing during.

How an order goes nowOne catalog on the web, a checkout that ends in a real order number, and tracking by code that carries the buyer through the wait.

How it soundsIllustrated Uruguay, corner-store nostalgia, Montevideo copy. The tracking stages speak the same way, so even the waiting sounds like the brand.

We thought we were building a better catalog

After the first couple of conversations it was obvious the real problem started after someone decided to buy. So we spent longer than planned on the ordering side, and the scope kept moving while we prototyped.

Getting to know Piberio

First call
The brand and who buys it
Where the mess starts

Deciding what it was

Their problems, their words
Proposal
Scope we both agreed on

Drawing it

Rough shapes
Real screens
Rounds with them

The site first

Visual language
Storefront
Technical decisions

Then the backoffice

Built to fit the site
Self-managed
Support and new features

Picking a garment out of the catalog grid

A product page on a phone: photography, name, price, colour and size

The national crest printed across the garments the store sells

How we approached it

Start from their day, not from a feature listThe inbox, the supplier calls, the spreadsheet, the questions buyers kept asking. The system came out of that, not out of what an online store usually has.

Get the catalog out of DriveThe PDF went first. Garments, prices, photos and colours moved onto the site, edited by the team, so a drop is published in minutes.

Design the storefront first, then fit the tools to itThe buyer judges the brand on the site, so it was settled first, then we worked out what had to be true technically for it to work that way. The backoffice was shaped around the site, not the other way round.

Replace the spreadsheet without taking it awayEvery order lands with a number and a state, and filters pull out the ones stuck on payment. Excel still imports and exports, so nobody gave up the way they already counted.

Make the wait part of the productMade to order means two weeks of public silence. A tracking code and a run of emails turn that gap into something the buyer can watch.

Build for the size they are nowNo subscription, no seat plans, no rules the brand did not ask for. It covers what they need now and is theirs to extend later.

The buyer, and the team behind the order

One order is a purchase on one side and two weeks of work on the other.

Buyer

Role: Found the brand on Instagram and wants a garment that sounds like home.
Motivations: Wants to see everything on sale, with the price and the sizes, without downloading anything.
Behaviour: Buys from a phone, and writes a DM whenever the site does not answer the question.
Pain points: Pays for a made-to-order garment, then hears nothing for two weeks and starts to doubt the order exists.

Piberio team

Role: Runs a clothing brand without an admin structure behind it.
Motivations: Needs to know what was ordered, who paid, what is with the supplier and what goes out this week.
Behaviour: Counts in spreadsheets, coordinates by WhatsApp, works in drops rather than in warehouse stock.
Pain points: Loses an order between an Instagram message, a transfer screenshot and a row somebody forgot to update.

Product thesis

Piberio did not need a bigger platform. It needed its catalog to open on a phone, its orders in one list, and its own voice still talking while a garment is being made. Everything else was left out on purpose.

The backoffice home: revenue, open orders, blocked orders and every stage of the order journey counted in one screen — The backoffice: home, board by stage and the orders table.

Orders on a board, grouped by the stage they are in — The backoffice: home, board by stage and the orders table.

From scattered orders to one workflow

Compared with what came before: a Drive folder, a spreadsheet and a WhatsApp thread per order.

The catalog stopped being a PDF: Garments, prices, colours and photography live on the site, edited by the team. Nobody re-exports a PDF to change a price.
Orders moved into one manageable workflow: A number and a state, visible from payment through production to delivery. The team stopped asking each other who was handling it.
Payment issues became visible: Filters pull out the orders stuck waiting on a transfer, so chasing one is a short list rather than a scroll.
Customers could follow production: A code and a run of emails cover the fifteen to twenty days a garment takes, in the brand's own voice.
Existing spreadsheet work stayed intact: Orders import and export as Excel, so moving in did not mean giving up how the team already counted.
Ownership stayed with the business: No Shopify plan, no seat tiers, no checkout to reshape the brand around. Theirs to run and to extend.

One order, start to finish

Someone sees a drop on Instagram, opens the catalog on their phone, confirms a size. The order lands in the backoffice with a number. Payment is marked, the garment goes into production, and the buyer follows it by code while the emails do the explaining.

The site, page by page

Six surfaces, from landing off an Instagram story to watching a garment being made. Each at full length.

Colour and type

Electric blue0037FB
Sun yellowFFD60A
Ink101014
PaperFFFFFF
Raw cottonE8DCC8

Brand
Sitka Banner
The display family used for large campaign headlines and cultural storytelling.
Interface
Poppins
The body and UI family used across catalog, checkout, tracking, forms and backoffice controls.
Accent
Sitka Display
The italic accent voice used for brand moments.

Outcome

The catalog is live and edited by Piberio: prices, photos and new drops go up without a developer. Orders moved from messages and spreadsheets into one workflow with a number, state and owner. Buyers follow a garment by code and by email through the fifteen to twenty days it takes. The business runs on a tool it owns, not a platform it has to reshape itself around.

See it live

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