Hello. We are Studio Umeki. Established in San Francisco in 2023 by Kazu Umeki, Thanh Le, and Jonathan Nye, Studio Umeki is a design office and hub of artistic innovation. Specializing in brand identity, graphic design, UX, and web design, we merge beauty and functionality to transform your ideas into captivating realities.

In an era increasingly-dominated by algorithms and AI, Studio Umeki offers genuine, human creativity and inventive design approaches. We relish challenges, break norms, and fashion fresh perspectives.

Welcome to a space where innovation and creativity know few bounds. At Studio Umeki, collaboration and creativity are at the heart of what we do. Join us on a creative odyssey where your ideas meet our expertise.

  • Kazu Umeki

    Kazu Umeki

    Design Director

    Kazu brings a wealth of design expertise and innovative ideas to our creative projects using the principles he cultivated as an undergraduate and graduate student at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). Originally from Tokyo, Kazu brings to his work a unique blend of cultural influences and artistic perspectives. Beyond the design world, Kazu is an avid runner, and a passionate traveler, exploring the world to gather inspiration that enriches his creative pursuits. His multifaceted approach and global perspective define the essence of Studio Umeki's innovative design philosophy.

  • Thanh Le

    Thanh Le

    Lead Developer

    Born and raised in the bustling atmosphere of Hanoi, Vietnam, Thanh honed an ability to find harmony and order amidst chaos. This knack for making sense of disarray set the stage for his future pursuits in the areas of computer science and data analysis. Under the support of NIH and NSF fellowships, Thanh built complex bioinformatics systems at the University of Minnesota and later at Penn State. Thanh is also a recipient of a Y Combinator grant, which further nudged him in the direction of innovation. Thanh’s engineering background provides the tech backbone for the creative work of the studio.

  • Jonathan Nye

    Jonathan Nye

    Resident Editor

    Raised by militant grammarians, Jonathan Nye could parse a sentence and correctly insert an Oxford comma before he learned to stand. He left his family farm in Ohio to study the humanities at Yale, then obtained a medical degree and spent the bulk of his career as a professor of psychiatry at UCSF. Jonathan brings to Studio Umeki a unique perspective on the design process borne of long study of the workings of the human mind. Recently, he has turned his attention to the study of visual perception in design. He loves tucking into a well-designed book, and has found that he enjoys editing other people’s work a bit more than making his own.