Outside

19/11/2024

Last Friday we hosted Inside Outside: The Creative Process at our studio in Kathmandu. It was a night of many firsts:

The first time we hosted a design-focused open house. The first time our international team, including our creative team from Italy, the US, and the UK, were in the studio. The first time we transformed the ground floor of our studio into an exhibition space, taking attendees through our actual branding process.

Thank you to everyone who came, enjoyed cutting chiya tea, chhoila, and batuk, heard from Creative Director Rich Stangroom, and mingled.

Overall, this was an invigorating experience, and we’re looking forward to connecting with more Nepal-based creatives. If you’re a designer who would like to sign up for a portfolio review session with Rich, please send an email to [email protected] to set up a time. Note that these sessions are limited, and are only for people who have design work to discuss.

31/10/2024

We’re hosting another Inside Outside open house, but this time, we’re getting creative.

RSVP here for Inside Outside: The Creative Process, Nov. 15 at 5 p.m. at our studio in Kathmandu, Nepal:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfz3Oh_MMlWnhnAv3siCxhPNj2_dzXW50AHZSE7xefLaUf-nQ/viewform?usp=sf_link

Join Outside Creative Director Rich Stangroom for an engaging session all about designing for brands and digital platforms. Rich will be demonstrating how he and his team work through a creative project from the initial conceptual phases—thinking about how a brand should feel and what mood it can inspire—through the final deliverables, when they create logos, color palettes, typography, and website designs.

He and Outside Design Lead Margherita Fortuna will also be available to answer questions and will provide details about portfolio review sessions for aspiring and working designers in November.

Rich, based in the UK, has more than 12 years of top agency experience across multiple industries, from digital publishers to sports media companies. He was previously an associate design director at Code & Theory, and a senior designer at Method. Margherita, based in Italy, joined us full-time this year after working as a freelance design director. She’s also on the jury for the Awwwards and FWA.

Rich and Margherita have worked together on award-winning projects at Outside, including branding and website design for Firefly (fireflypartners.com) and Gen E (Generationenvironment.com).

If you’re a designer or are interested in learning more about joining the creative field, meet them in person Nov. 15 at our studio. Snacks, drinks, and good vibes, always provided.

27/08/2024

About four years after we first introduced the Generation Environment website to the world, it was time for a brand refresh. 🌎

Check out the new look on the website here: https://generationenvironment.com/

Download the app here: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/gen-e-earth-philanthropy/id1541999436

Gen E is a micro-philanthropy app that automatically donates a percentage of users’ everyday spending to vetted environmental nonprofits. Its mission is to fuse environmental action with everyday living, creating an opportunity for people to enjoy life on Earth while investing in its future.

We’ve been working with founder Kristen Kammerer for almost as long as Outside has existed, and we appreciate her dedication to vetting the nonprofits the company supports.

“Modern environmentalism” broadens the environmentalist “brand” beyond stereotypes, offering everyone a way into the movement. It’s environmentalism, for everyone.

Our design strategy focuses on easing the climate anxiety that makes people feel powerless to effect change.

If the feeling the brand inspires is: ‘I’m ready to become an environmentalist,’ then the first question the language should be answering is: ‘Where do I start?’

20/06/2024

Today, June 20, is the last day to RSVP for our Inside Outside open house!

Mingle, learn about web accessibility, and find out what Outside is all about.

Meet some of these smiling faces June 21 at 5 p.m. in Kathmandu.

RSVP here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSceA4eRea4BfvWmLZqiyNZJYAfODynHgEwxoj34drlE4vgK3w/viewform

05/06/2024

Registration for the first-ever Outside studio and Ai4Growth hackathon is now open!

In this part-virtual, part-in-person event, participants have one month to create a software or web application that uses AI to address one of four pressing issues in Nepal: Cultural preservation, online threats to privacy & safety, education for people with disabilities, and public transportation accessibility.

We’re looking for Nepal-based coders, developers, and others who know how to build workable open-source software or web applications using AI and want to use those skills to create a positive impact.

Registration opens today, June 5. For more details and to register, visit this link: https://lnkd.in/eBwvyiu7

03/06/2024

If you missed our first Inside Outside open house, or want to learn something new about web accessibility, mark your calendar for June 21 at 5 p.m.

Our Inside Outside events, held at our office in Kathmandu, give people the opportunity to see what the company is all about – how we work, what we do, and what kind of career opportunities are available at our studio. Plus, there will be tea, snacks, and plenty of Outside team members to meet and chat with.

Please RSVP here to attend: https://lnkd.in/eRueFSmG

20/05/2024

For nearly three years, we supported Rubicon on its mission to end waste.

Rubicon uses technology to drive environmental innovation. Its software helps businesses and governments gain more insight into their waste streams, which in turn helps them make better decisions about how to divert waste and increase recycling.

In addition to developing the site with design partner Ruca in 2021, we have since helped create an interactive landing page for Rubicon’s annual Corporate Citizenship Report, highlighting the company’s impact, and an online home for its ‘Trash or Treasure’ initiative, a program designed to reduce waste associated with seasonal celebrations, such as Halloween decorations or gift-wrapping paper.

Explore the site at Rubicon.com.

08/05/2024

Outside had two reasons to celebrate in April.

Not only does April mark the start of the Nepali new year – welcome to 2081! – it’s also Outside’s five-year anniversary.

Outside’s three founders, Atulya, Vincent, and Sujan, wanted to create a new model for a design and tech studio – one that prioritizes the impact its clients have, the community in which it operates, the people it employs, and the future we’re all working toward.

We’re proud of the progress we’ve made toward those goals in the last five years alongside like-minded engineers, creatives, and agency partners.

It’s fitting that our anniversary aligns with the Nepali new year because Nepal is integral to our mission. Our goal is to invest in Kathmandu, not just economically or as an employer, but by taking the time to learn about and support local initiatives and by creating spaces where people in the local tech scene can share ideas and resources.

We’re excited to still be creating from this part of the world. We want to see other values-driven Nepali companies thrive.

As we look ahead to the next five years, we’re thinking of ways we can continue evolving alongside the city and country so many of us call home.

08/04/2024

We recently launched a new brand and website for the deepfake detection platform Reality Defender.

As generative AI evolves, its potential for misuse becomes more threatening. In the run-up to the 2024 elections, deepfakes of politicians including President Joe Biden have sought to misinform voters and destabilize the political process. It’s not just politics–deepfake scams of all kinds target financial institutions and their customers; vulnerable populations, including the elderly; and news outlets trying to report the truth.

Reality Defender is one of just a few companies offering reliable enterprise-grade deepfake detection software. Its detection models point out possible manipulation in audio, video, images, and text.

In designing the company’s new site and brand, we focused on simplification and clarity. We used people-first visuals and soothing colors that help visitors who may be feeling overwhelmed by complex tech feel grounded in–for lack of a better word–reality.

We wanted to make it clear that although Reality Defender is a tech company, its mission is firmly rooted in serving people and society.

We built the site in Webflow, which allows the Reality Defender team to easily migrate its existing content and add new writing, features, and sections as needed. This is important for a company operating in an industry that changes every day.

We also helped the Reality Defender team break down its service categories based on the institutions that will use its software and the types of media they want to test.

Our full case study on this project is coming soon. You can explore the site and brand elements here: https://www.realitydefender.com/

03/04/2024

Our very first Inside Outside open house was a success!

Thank you to everyone who showed up last week to learn about Outside, hear how we use Shopify, and meet our team.

Stay tuned for the next one.

14/03/2024

Want to meet some of these lovely people? Reminder that we’re hosting an open house March 22 at 5 p.m. at our Kathmandu office!

Come find out what we do at Outside, how we work with Shopify, and potential career opportunities available at our studio. Plus drinks, tea, cookies, and friendly faces.

RSVP for the first-ever Inside Outside here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfX9y2nOVYGZEffCsXkGD_nbKbvyL6K6baMzMv1XoW-kn4nRA/viewform

14/02/2024

We won an Anthem Award!

The new year is off to a strong start for Outside. We won silver at The Anthem Awards–a global social impact recognition–in the Health, Awareness & Media category for the work we did with the s*xual and menstrual wellness platform, Mauj.

Mauj is a platform for Arab women, by Arab women, and was the first site we ever built in Arabic as well as English. This is a worthy recognition for the Outside team members who worked hard on the project. It’s more importantly a boost for Mauj, bringing more attention and support to a platform that’s sharing science-backed information about women’s bodies and normalizing important conversations about s*x and consent.

Celebrate with us by checking out the platform that garnered the recognition at https://www.mauj.me/.

11/01/2024

Just before the holiday break, we were visited by Sahas, Shalin, and Sujina from the Nepal Tea Collective, a public benefit corporation that distributes tea grown organically in Nepal all over the world.

Part of Outside’s approach to impact is engaging with our community and learning more about how the issues our clients are working to solve may specifically resonate in Nepal.

Since we worked on a project with the Ethical Tea Partnership last year, we wanted to dive more deeply into the history of tea farming and the struggles farmers in Nepal are facing to grow and distribute tea organically and sustainably.

Tea is a major export for the country, though small and organic farmers are often disconnected from the supply chain that connects them to consumers and vice versa. This makes it difficult to trace Nepali tea back to its origins or determine its freshness, quality, or sustainability once it’s been put to market.

Tea farmers in Nepal are also threatened by climate change and limited governmental support when it comes to global trade. The Collective’s mission is to create a more equitable, transparent supply chain that’s beneficial for tea producers and consumers.

In addition to learning about the industry, we also got to taste various teas and learn the difference between CTC–or crush, tear, curl–and orthodox tea preparation.

Thanks to the team from Nepal Tea Collective for sharing their knowledge and passion!

03/01/2024

Sharing some snapshots of Outside UX designer and front-end developer Sohail D. in action, presenting at Designer’s Day 2023 on Dec. 17.

For the annual one-day creative conference in Kathmandu, Sohail gave a talk called “Bridging the gap between design & development,” exploring ways to make the two processes more cohesive. Thanks to Namaste Kathmandu for inviting us, and congratulations to Sohail on a successful seminar!

14/12/2023

Our client Mauj has been selected as a finalist for the The Anthem Awards!

The Anthem Awards are social impact recognitions that celebrate purpose and mission-driven work on a global scale. We submitted for this year’s awards in the Health – Awareness & Media category for the work we did with Mauj, the s*xual and menstrual wellness platform by and for Arab women. Its founders aim to normalize conversations about s*x and consent and provide science-backed information about women’s bodies in regions where such education is often inaccessible.

We were proud to support that mission earlier this year, designing and developing a stand-alone content and e-commerce platform for the organization that centered accessibility, privacy options, and self-directed learning. And we’re honored now to have that work recognized among other organizations raising awareness for public health campaigns across the world.

Learn more about the Anthem Awards at https://www.anthemawards.com/about-us/.

29/11/2023

For more than 25 years, Death with Dignity has led the fight for legislation that will give people with terminal illnesses in the U.S. more control over how they die.

We teamed up with the design cooperative Ruca to develop a website for the nonprofit where advocates, political officials, researchers, and families and patients could learn more about end-of-life advocacy and policy reform.

Site visitors can see customized information about Death with Dignity reform in their state, including pending bills, relevant real-life stories of people affected by terminal illnesses, and a timeline of end-of-life policy action. To create that interactive module, our team integrated a “whip count feature" using the OpenStates API to access state-specific legislator and representative information, combined with Google API to provide necessary longitude and latitude data from user addresses.

Explore the site, which launched last year, and learn more about the cause, at https://deathwithdignity.org/.

30/10/2023

We launched a new website!

After almost five years of working with an array of impactful clients to create their brands and digital experiences, it was once again time to refresh our own. The newest version of the Outside site lays out all of our services, our approach to projects, examples of our work, details about us (including the astounding number of momos our Nepal-based team members eat weekly), and our mission, vision, and values.

We took the same approach to building our site as we do our clients’ projects–considering, as we went, how best to tell our story, showcase our visual identity, and capture the ethos of our global team. In the process, we relished the opportunity to reflect on the work we’ve done so far.

Please take a look around. If you see something you like–or have a suggestion–let us know. And stay tuned: In the coming weeks, we’ll be updating the site with more case studies from former client projects.

Strategy, design, and technology solutions for meaningful companies & organizations building a more equitable world. Born in Nepal, creating globally.

24/10/2023

Today is the tenth day of Dashain, बडादसैँ, a 15-day Hindu celebration and the longest, most-anticipated festival in Nepal.

The first nine days of the festival represent the battle between the nine manifestations of the goddess Durga and the demon Mahishasura. On the tenth day–called Vijayadashami or विजयदशमी–Durga claims victory and we celebrate the triumph of good over evil.

Outside team members and many of our clients in Nepal are celebrating with family, friends, and coworkers, playing games, shopping, flying kites (and cutting nearby kite strings in friendly competition), eating mutton and sweets, and visiting temples. We’ll also visit relatives to receive their blessings with gifts of jamara, a barley sprout, and tika–a mix of rice, yogurt, and vermillion–which is dabbed on the forehead. In a more traditional Dashain activity, some of us will take a turn on the Linge Ping, a giant swing made of bamboo and jute rope.

This is a festive time, and an opportunity to take stock of people who support us and whom we admire. To that end, we’re wishing you Happy Dashain / Bijaya Dashami ko Shubakamana!