Best for: Brands in entertainment and media, consumer lifestyle, architecture and real estate, and impact and innovation that need a digital-first creative partner for brand identity, website design, and content strategy — particularly those where the brand lives primarily online and needs to be expressed through a high-craft digital presence rather than a traditional campaign.
Funkhaus is one of the more interesting small agencies operating out of Los Angeles right now. Founded in 2011 with roots in entertainment — Prettybird, Columbia Records, Final Cut, Farm League — it has since broadened into consumer lifestyle, architecture, impact, and venture capital without losing the distinctly cinematic quality that defines the work. The client list is quietly impressive: Columbia Records, Nike, Adidas, Kleiner Perkins, Disney, UCLA, Gersh, Garrett Leight, Elizabeth Taylor Foundation. Twenty Awwwards recognitions and four Webby Awards over fourteen years are a consistent signal of craft. The honest caveat is scale — Funkhaus is a small agency and the portfolio reflects depth over volume. For a brand that needs a large-agency headcount or a global rollout operation, this is not the answer. For a brand that wants genuinely distinctive digital design and the attention that comes with a smaller, focused team, it often is.
Reviewed by Chelsea Greene
The Full Read
Funkhaus was founded in Los Angeles in 2011 by Nick Dies, initially serving the entertainment industry — production companies, music labels, directors, photographers — with the kind of digital design work that the sector's creative professionals actually wanted to look at. That origin shaped the agency's sensibility in a way that persists across everything it does now: precise, media-rich, cinematically composed digital experiences that treat a website as a creative work rather than an information delivery system.
The practice has since expanded into four defined sectors: entertainment and media, consumer, architecture and places, and impact and innovation. The entertainment clients — Columbia Records, Sony Music, Disney, Prettybird, Farm League, Gersh, Final Cut — remain the core. But Kleiner Perkins, Jhpiego, UCLA Digital Library, and CO Architects show an agency that has broadened credibly without losing focus.
The agency's three service pillars are content and strategy, design, and technology — in that order. Brand positioning and messaging precede visual identity; visual identity precedes development. The result is websites and brand systems that feel coherent rather than assembled from parts.
Over fourteen years the agency has accumulated 20 Awwwards recognitions, 4 Webby Awards, 6 Mindsparkle Magazine features, and 42 SiteInspire listings — a consistent pattern of external recognition that reflects genuine craft at the front end.
What Funkhaus Does
Content & Strategy
Brand positioning, content marketing strategy, messaging systems, social media management, copywriting, and email marketing — the narrative and communication layer that precedes and informs the design.
Brand Positioning · Content Strategy · Messaging Systems · Copywriting · Social Media · Email Marketing
Design
Brand identity systems, website design, prototyping and creative development, print and packaging, creative and art direction, and social design — built around purpose and scalable systems.
Brand Identity · Website Design · Art Direction · Prototyping · Print & Packaging · Social Design
Technology
Website development, AI workflow integration, design system engineering, mobile development, discovery and strategy, and technical consulting — scalable platforms built to evolve with a brand's needs.
Website Development · Design System Engineering · AI Workflow Integration · Mobile Development · Technical Consulting
Selected Work
A snapshot of recent named projects. Full case studies on the agency's site.
Columbia Records
Strategy · Digital
Designing digital experiences for culture-defining artists — ongoing digital partnership with one of the world's most storied music labels.
Kleiner Perkins
Digital
Ongoing digital partnership with the Silicon Valley venture capital firm — a long-running relationship that keeps the brand's digital presence current as the firm evolves.
Jhpiego
Strategy · Identity · Content · Digital
Complete digital rebuild for the Johns Hopkins-affiliated global health nonprofit — architecting a digital headquarters that serves a worldwide audience across health, education, and advocacy.
Adidas — Songs from Scratch
Strategy · Digital
Digital home for Adidas Originals' annual artist residency — a diptych music player with a dual-cursor that randomises image combinations, colour-matched through an algorithm, as the listener moves through the album. Webby Award winner.
UCLA Digital Library
Strategy · Design · Digital
A unified design system for UCLA's digital library — frameworking an institutional digital presence at scale.
Prettybird
Strategy · Digital
Immersive digital reinvention for the leading-edge production company — an award-winning website that matches the creative ambition of the studio's work.
Garrett Leight California Optical
Strategy · Digital · Ecommerce
Shopify re-platform for the eyewear brand — a stylish, considered ecommerce experience that embodies the California cool the brand represents.
Elizabeth Taylor
Digital · Content
Telling the story of one of Hollywood's most iconic figures across digital platforms — for the Elizabeth Taylor Foundation.
Strada
Identity · Positioning · Digital
Holistic digital work for a sophisticated real estate developer entering a new phase of expansion — brand positioning, identity, and full digital presence.
Hire Funkhaus If You Need…
- A digital-first agency whose design sensibility comes from entertainment and media rather than corporate brand guidelines
- Website design and digital brand identity treated as a creative brief, not a production task
- A studio that starts with strategy and messaging before touching visual design
- Genuine front-end craft — the Awwwards and Webby record is consistent evidence of quality over fourteen years
- A partner comfortable working across entertainment, consumer lifestyle, architecture, impact, and institutional sectors
Skip Funkhaus If…
- You need a large agency with significant headcount for high-volume, multi-market deliverables
- Your primary need is traditional advertising, campaign production, or paid media
- You need deep CPG, pharmaceutical, or B2B enterprise technology experience — not the agency's established territory
- You want a studio with published client reviews and transparent pricing
Independent Verification
Awwwards: agency profile with multiple recognitions over 14 years
If Funkhaus Isn't the Right Fit
Alchemy Digital
A London-based independent digital design and development studio with a comparable philosophy of research-led, high-craft digital work.
Refokus
A digital design studio known for high-craft, performance-focused websites and brand experiences for technology and consumer companies.
Clay Global
A San Francisco-based design and branding agency with strong credentials in digital-first brand identity and product design for technology and growth-stage companies.
Frequently Asked Questions
In 2011 in Los Angeles by Nick Dies, who serves as Founder and Managing Partner. The agency is based at 500 Molino Street, Suite 215, in the Arts District.
Four defined sectors: entertainment and media (Columbia Records, Sony Music, Disney, Prettybird, Gersh), consumer (Nike, Adidas, Garrett Leight, Reebok, Lime Crime), architecture and places (CO Architects, Commonwealth Pier, Strada, Holland Partners), and impact and innovation (Jhpiego, UCLA, Elizabeth Taylor Foundation, Kleiner Perkins, Google).
Content and strategy, design, and technology — in that order. Brand positioning and messaging must precede visual design, and visual design must precede development. This sequencing is what produces coherent digital experiences rather than technically capable but strategically thin websites.
Fintech, SaaS, and Web3 & Crypto first, then consumer tech and a long tail including food/beverage and real estate. Named clients include Google, Slack, Amazon, Meta, Cisco, and Zenefits.
Ready to see if Funkhaus fits your project?
Visit the agency's site to view their full portfolio, or compare them against the rest of our top picks.