THE ONE STUDIO FORTHE OUTDOORS.

A STUDIO FOR ONE INDUSTRY.THE OUTDOORS.

Northbound is a Portland design studio working with outdoor companies. We started in 2019 with a narrow idea — design for one industry, and only that industry — and seven years in, the thesis has held.

We started inside the industry we now serve.

We started inside the industry we now serve.

Northbound was founded by Maren Hollis in 2019, after a decade designing gear and apparel for outdoor brands. The studio’s first office was a corner of a screen-printing shop in Northeast Portland. The second was a converted woodworking space three blocks east. The current studio is in the same neighborhood. We haven’t moved far.

The thesis hasn’t changed either. Northbound works with outdoor companies — gear makers, apparel labels, guide services, retailers, and the occasional nonprofit — because depth beats breadth when you actually know a category. Our clients don’t have to explain what a softshell is, or why the seam placement on a pack matters, or what makes one trail brand feel honest and another feel like a costume. We already know.

The work is brand-first — strategy, identity, and digital. It always starts from the product, because that’s where the founder started.

Maren Hollis.

— THE FOUNDER

Maren Hollis.Maren Hollis.

Maren spent the first years of her career at Foothill Supply Co., a small Portland outdoor brand where she did everything — designed packs and softgoods, wrote the catalog, shot the lookbook. From there she moved to Heyburn, where she led product design across technical apparel and hardgoods for nearly a decade.

She opened Northbound in 2019 with a single thesis: design for the outdoor industry, and only the outdoor industry. The studio’s editorial sensibility — the typography, the restraint, the way the work reads — comes directly from those years inside the catalog and the gear room.

She still sketches every brand by hand before it goes digital.

— WHAT WE BELIEVE

A few things we hold to.

A few things we hold to.

  1. 01

    DEPTH BEATS BREADTH.

    01 — DEPTH BEATS BREADTH.

    We work with one industry because knowing it well changes the work. There’s no version of "we also do outdoor" that produces the same result.

  2. 02

    THE BRAND STARTS AT THE PRODUCT.

    02 — THE BRAND STARTS AT THE PRODUCT.

    Every good outdoor brand starts with something physical — a pack, a parka, a route, a place. We build out from there.

  3. 03

    RESTRAINT IS A FEATURE.

    03 — RESTRAINT IS A FEATURE.

    The industry is loud enough already. Our work tends toward quiet because clarity is harder than ornament.

  4. 04

    WE DON’T DO COSTUME.

    04 — WE DON’T DO COSTUME.

    There’s a way of writing about the outdoors that sounds like it’s auditioning for a magazine cover. We don’t do that. The brands we admire don’t either.

  5. 05

    SCOPE IS A KINDNESS.

    05 — SCOPE IS A KINDNESS.

    Tight scopes make better work and better relationships. Most engagements are eight to sixteen weeks. We say no often.

STUDIO INFORMATION.

TEAM
Maren Hollis, Founder & Creative Director
Plus a rotating cast of trusted collaborators — designers, photographers, and writers who’ve been part of the studio’s work over the years.
LOCATION
Northbound Studio
Northeast Portland, Oregon
By appointment
RECOGNITION
Communication Arts
Brand New
Type Directors Club
AIGA 50 Books / 50 Covers
Print Magazine
The Webby Awards

— Let’s work

We would love to hear from you. Let’s work — together.

We would love to hear from you. Let’s work — together.

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