a somewhat utopian design + tech cooperative
Greetings, we are Village One!
What we do: Purposeful digital products and infrastructure, created with joy and integrity
It takes a village: We are a multidisciplinary team of designers, developers and strategists, combining our skills to create excellent digital products and infrastructure. We marry delight with function, for ourselves and for hire! Let’s team up!
Building better online spaces: We amplify humanity through design and technology, adhering to ethical design and calm tech principles. At the same time we’re no solutionists—human problems can rarely be solved by technology alone.
Hell yeah or nope: We value people and planet over profit, so we only accept projects and clients we believe in—genuine enthusiasm leads to the best work after all (consequently we also maintain a blocklist of industries we consider harmful and exploitative).
Actions speak louder than words! Some of our projects:
PUBLIX
Digital infrastructure to support independent thinking
PUBLIX is a new home for all those who practice journalism, shape the public debate and thereby strengthen democracy. We are developing the visual presentation and digital infrastructure of the space.
My Country Talks
Help societies connect over the issues that divide them
The software platform My Country Talks connects people all over the world to discuss the issues that divide and unite them. The scientifically proven methodology can reduce polarization and builds empathy through the power of dialogue.
HvD Fonts + TypeMates
Empowering independent type foundries
We’re working with type foundries HvD Fonts and TypeMates on their custom web shops and websites—to present their typefaces in the best possible light, but also to establish a stable revenue channel they have full control over. We recently wrote a newsletter about the all-new TypeMates.com website, check it out in the garden!
Need help with a website, webapp or digital infrastructure? Drop us an email, and we’ll take it from there!
How we do it: Upgrading work for the knowledge age
We are thinkers and tinkerers: We question established practices and put new ideas to the test. We are a fully distributed team, embracing asynchronous communication and running on a 4-day work week. We are continuously adapting our practices towards a more equitable work environment.
An island of sanity: Creative work needs focus and time to blossom, not fake urgency or hustle culture—therefore we enable deep work through calm workflows, combined with flexibility regarding work times and location, real autonomy and self-organization.
Keeping it non-professional: Exploratory attitude with a beginner’s mindset, humble yet daring, surprising, curious and joyful. We show up with our whole selves, forming one team across organisational boundaries.
Digital Garden: Our wiki, manual and organizational brain
Meet Julia, our new designer!
Kinda unreal, but in July, we welcomed our sixth (!) team member—please meet and welcome Julia Shkatova, who is joining us as an experienced interface and product designer. We’re very excited to finally extend our design team and tackle new projects together.
The next democratic paradigm
We teamed up with DemocracyNext, a non-profit research and action institute, to relaunch their website.
Say hello to the all-new TypeMates.com!
After six months of work we are incredibly happy to see the new TypeMates website + shop out in the wild!
Clients wishlist / blocklist
In the past we’ve worked on projects and with clients of all shapes and sizes—big and small, German and international, for-profit and non-profit. Whatever it is: These are the projects where you grow and deliver your best work. With Village One we want to do more of those projects, as well as being very up-front about our red lines.
Why is Village One a cooperative?
When we got serious about founding Village One we didn’t yet know that it would become a cooperative. Rather we conceptualized what our ideal company would look like, based on the tensions we had felt in previous employments and what inspired us in other organizations.
We use our digital garden to document processes, values, organizational knowledge, newsletters and everything in between. You can delve into the ever-growing patch right here:
Want to talk to the owner? Sure, which one?
Software engineer?
Copywriter?
Type designer?
Psychologist?
Product owner?
Newcomer trying to break into tech?
Over time we’re aiming to build a team of roughly 12 people, allowing us to tackle multiple projects while preserving the personal connection between members. We’re not actively hiring for all these positions right now, but it’s always good to meet new people.
Why we’re here: Transcending capitalism by democratizing work
Cooperatively owned, democratically governed: Village One is an open-ended experiment on how to run a sustainable business for the common good—we aim to explore new economic paradigms and to empower our members, partners and network.
Everything we do is community-driven: Recognizing that we stand on the shoulders of giants, we value cooperation over competition. We practice radical transparency so that others can learn from our experiences, regardless of success or mishap. We’re stronger together!
Many villages instead of a big city: We are a deliberately small and nimble organization, operating with minimal overhead and maximum character. Instead of perpetual growth our vision is to scale by replication, forming a network of aligned co-ops over time.
We just got started: Follow our journey
The Villager’s Dispatch
Subscribe to our newsletter
Good old email
Got a project to team up on? Want to join us? Simply have a thought? Whatever it is…
We’re on Mastodon
Find us on Mastodon for inspiration and quick updates!