— Jessie & David, Co-Founders, Werk
When you don't have a Design Operating System, you:
Start every feature from scratch
Let decisions depend on whoever has the strongest opinioin.
Collect feedback that never shapes the roadmap
Watch design and engineering drift out of sync
Ship a product that feels less consistent with every release
Spend more time discussing work than shipping it
It's not a design problem.
If you're an early-stage founder, you're wearing more hats than you ever expected.
You're talking to customers, shipping features, raising capital, supporting users, hiring teammates—and somewhere in the middle, you're expected to make hundreds of product decisions every week.
So it's no surprise when design starts to feel reactive.
Not because your team isn't talented.
Not because your product isn't promising.
But because no one has had the time to build a system for making consistent product decisions.
As your company grows, every new feature, hire, and customer adds more complexity. Without a shared way of working, even the best teams eventually slow down.
That's where halo studio comes in.
Not to simply design better screens, but to help you build a better way of building products.
Every halo studio partnership is powered by the Design Operating System — my framework for helping startups improve both what they build and how they build it.
Clarify
Discover
Design
Codify
Evolve
Better decisions. Better systems. Better products.
What to expect…
Embedded
Working as part of your team
Strategic
Focused on the right problems
Iterative
Continuous progress every sprint
Systemic
Building a Design OS that lasts
Every engagement is designed to help your team build better products today while creating the systems you'll rely on tomorrow.
When you have the right systems in place, better products become the natural outcome, not a struggle.
Make Better Product Decisions
Stop relying on opinions and start making decisions backed by user insights, clear priorities, and shared goals.
Ship With Confidence
Reduce rework, improve collaboration, and move from idea to implementation with greater clarity.
Create a Product That Scales
Build consistent experiences through reusable systems, patterns, and documentation that grow with your product.
Align Your Team
Give founders, product managers, designers, and engineers a shared way of working, so everyone moves in the same direction.
Great products aren't built by working harder. They're built by working within the right system.
Why halo studio exists?
I started halo studio because I believe the best products aren't built by moving faster—they're built by building better systems.
Over the past five years, I've worked across startups at different stages—sometimes as part of a design team, sometimes as the sole designer, and often partnering directly with founders. No matter the company, I kept seeing the same pattern.
Teams weren't struggling because they lacked talent.
They were struggling because they lacked a repeatable way to make product decisions, collaborate, and scale their design process.
As AI has made it easier than ever to design and ship, I've become even more convinced that speed isn't the competitive advantage anymore.
The startups making the biggest progress aren't simply moving faster—they're building on systems that help them make better decisions, stay aligned, and improve continuously.
That's why I created the Design Operating System.
It's the framework behind every halo studio partnership, helping founders build better products through better decisions, better collaboration, and better systems.
If you're looking for more than another designer—if you're looking for a long-term product design partner who helps your team build with clarity, consistency, and confidence—I'd love to work together.
Joneil
5+ years in startup product design
Founder, Halo Studio
Alongside the team at Werk.dance
Jessie Ma & David Osorno
Co-founders, Werk
Working with Joneil frees up your cognitive load. You stop second-guessing design decisions and trust they'll be the right ones. She has a spot-on instinct for how people move through a product, while making it look and feel great. She's also incredibly collaborative, easy to work with, and always moving things forward. If you get the chance to work with her, take it.
Hector Ligsay
Founding Software Engineer, Werk
Joneil communicated design intent clearly and made handoffs incredibly efficient, so it was always clear what we were building and why. She was collaborative, thoughtful about engineering tradeoffs, and consistently pushed for reusable patterns over one-off solutions. Her attention to detail made the product feel polished and intentional.
You bring the vision. Halo Studio brings the system. Together, we build better products.
Great fit!
✔ Early-stage founders actively building and growing their product.
✔ Teams looking for a long-term product design partner—not just another freelancer.
✔ Founders who value thoughtful collaboration and healthy product discussions.
✔ Companies ready to invest in better systems, not just better screens.
✔ Teams that believe great products come from better decisions—not just faster execution.
✔ Founders who want design, product strategy, and systems working together.
Probably not.
✘ You're looking for a one-off design project or quick redesign.
✘ You simply need someone to execute design tickets.
✘ You're looking for the lowest-cost option.
✘ You expect AI alone to replace product thinking and collaboration.
✘ You want someone to own your product vision or make business decisions for you.
✘ You're not looking for an embedded, collaborative partnership.
If we're not the right fit together, I'll point you to the right direction.