It depends on the project. Alexio leads every one, with the specialists it needs, and you meet them before work starts.

Do you work with businesses outside the UK?

Yes. From one studio in London, we work with businesses in the UK, Europe, the United States, Dubai, Asia and the Cayman Islands. Reviews are planned in your working hours.

AFD | Independent Creative Studio, London

Q: How long does a project take?

It depends on what is being made, and the timing is agreed in the brief before any work starts. If you have a fixed date, such as a launch or an event, tell us at the start.

	AFD	A typical agency	Doing it yourself with AI
Who leads the work	One senior creative director, Alexio Ferrao, from the first conversation to the finished work	The person who wins the work often hands it on to an account team	You do, around everything else
Who you brief	The person who judges the work	An account manager, who passes it on	A prompt box
Judgement	33 years of deciding what works, and saying so when it does not	Depends on who is free that week	Endless options, and nobody to tell you which one is right
Brand, web, film and print	Made together in one studio, to one standard	Often split across departments or partner agencies	Separate tools, joined up by you
The team	Specialists chosen for your project and named before it starts	Whoever is on the roster	Just you
Use of AI	Used openly where it helps; people make every creative decision	Varies, and is rarely stated	All of it, and nobody checks it
Price	Quoted once the brief is agreed, with what is included in writing	Often grows with layers of management	A subscription, plus your time
When it is finished	You keep the files, guidelines and training your team needs	Ask what you will own before you sign	Whatever you remembered to save

We help businesses take on the challenge in front of them, in four ways. Most projects need more than one, and every one is led by the same senior creative director, from the first conversation to the finished work.

Brand. We give your business a brand people recognise and your team can use. More
Digital. We build websites that win work, load fast and are easy to run. More
Campaigns and content. We make the campaigns and content that keep your brand in front of the right people. More
Print and production. We design printed work, packaging and signage that arrive exactly as intended. More

How we help Start a project

In many agencies, the person who wins the work hands it on to others. At AFD, one senior creative director, Alexio Ferrao, leads every project from the first conversation to the finished work.

The person you brief is the person who judges the work. Nothing is lost between the idea and the making.
One studio, one standard. Brand, website, film and print are made together, so they look like the same business.
A team built for your project. Specialists are chosen for the work and named before it starts.
No surprises. We agree the brief and the quote before anything begins.

The studio Start a project

Here is our work by sector. Each project page sets out the brief, what we made and what it solved.

Professional services. Travers Thorp Alberga, DV Law, Exec Assignments. The sector
Food, retail and lifestyle. Sweetland London, Hunter’s Biltong, Prime Bite, Athletic Army, DAD unlimited. The sector
Cayman Islands business. Travers Thorp Alberga, The Agency Real Estate, Refuel Cayman. The sector
Also. Alexio Ferrao, strategy and advisory, Sterling Bullion Partners, gold coins, Litigant, legal guidance, WuvYoo, family app, AFD, creative studio, A1 Alloys, automotive services.

If your industry is not listed, ask below and we will point you to the closest work.

All the work Start a project

You know the business has moved on. The logo, the website and the sales deck each tell a slightly different story, and every new piece of work starts from scratch. We find what should stay, fix what no longer fits, and build a brand system your team and suppliers can apply without guessing.

You get one brand, used the same way everywhere.

Identity and logo. A mark or wordmark with the typography, colour and imagery around it, drawn to work at every size from a browser tab to a building sign.
Brand systems and guidelines. Rules for layout, type, colour, imagery and icons, written down with examples so your team and suppliers apply them the same way.
Naming, tone of voice and copy. Names for companies, products and services, and a written voice with principles and examples your team can follow.
Brand refresh. An update to an existing brand that keeps what customers already recognise and fixes what no longer works.

Work that shows it: Alexio Ferrao, Sweetland London, DV Law.

The full brand page Start a project

Your website is often the first place a client meets you, and it is not doing the business justice. It is slow, hard to update, or it no longer describes what you do. We plan the content first, then design and build the site around what your visitors came to do.

You get a website your team can run, search engines can read and clients can trust.

Websites. Design and build, from a focused company site to a large one with many services, people and locations.
E-commerce. Online shops with product pages, payments and delivery options, set up so your own team can run them.
Search and performance. Fast pages, a clean structure and the technical groundwork that search engines and AI assistants read.
Content management. Editing your team can use to change pages, news and listings without calling a developer.
Integrations. Connections to the systems behind a site, such as the live property listings on The Agency Real Estate's website.

Work that shows it: The Agency Real Estate, Alexio Ferrao, Hunter’s Biltong.

The full digital page Start a project

You need a steady flow of good material: films, photographs, posts and campaigns. What you have is a stock library, a busy team and a feed that goes quiet for weeks. We plan content from one idea, and shoot it so one day can supply the website, the social channels and the sales material.

You get content that looks like your brand, and a plan to keep it coming.

Campaign platforms. A central idea with the look, words and formats to carry it across every channel for the length of a campaign.
Film and motion. Brand films, interviews, product films and animation, from planning and shooting to the final edit.
Photography. Product, people and location photography, art directed to match the brand.
Social content. Posts, short films and graphics planned and produced for your channels, with the channels managed for you if you want.

Work that shows it: The Agency Real Estate, Alexio Ferrao, Hunter’s Biltong.

The full campaigns and content page Start a project

The design looked right on screen. Then the print came back in the wrong colour, the sign was the wrong size, or the packaging missed the launch. We design with the material and finish in mind, then manage the suppliers, the proofs and the delivery ourselves.

You get printed work that matches the brand, delivered where you need it.

Print and stationery. Business cards, letterheads, brochures, reports and presentation material.
Packaging. Boxes, labels and bags, designed with the material and the finish in mind.
Signage. Shop and office signage, window graphics and large format print.
Menus. Menus and point of sale material for restaurants, cafés and food brands.
Merchandise. Apparel and branded goods, designed to the same standard as the brand.
Exhibitions and events. Stands, banners and printed material for events.

Work that shows it: Hunter’s Biltong, Sweetland London, DV Law.

The full print and production page Start a project

Every project runs through the same four stages, and Alexio Ferrao leads from the first meeting to launch.

Brief. We start with a conversation about what you need, who it is for and when it has to be ready. We then write a brief and agree it with you. The quote follows once we both understand the work, and nothing starts until you have agreed both.
Team. We bring in the specialists the project needs, such as designers, developers, film makers, writers and printers, and introduce them before work starts. Alexio Ferrao leads every project from the first meeting to launch.
Make. You see the work early and in its real form: web pages in a browser, film cuts, printed proofs. Reviews happen at agreed points, so your feedback arrives while it can still shape the work.
Launch. We deliver and launch, then hand over the files, guidelines, logins and training your team needs to carry on without us.

How we work, in full Start a project

It depends on the brief, so we quote once we understand it. After a first conversation we agree a written brief, then send the quote. No work starts until you have agreed both.

If your budget is fixed, that is fine. Tell us the figure and we will tell you honestly what it can achieve.

Start a project How we work

It depends on what is being made. The first conversation covers when you need it, and the timing is agreed in the brief before any work starts.

If you have a fixed date, such as a launch or an event, tell us at the start.

How we work Start a project

No. Some clients arrive with a detailed brief. Others have a new venture, a changing market or the feeling that their brand no longer fits. We can start at either point, and the first stage is writing the brief together.

How we work Start a project

Yes. We can lead the whole project or take one part of it, such as the campaign, the website or the brand guidelines your team works from.

How we work Start a project

Yes. You contract with AFD Multimedia Limited, registered in England and Wales, company number 05055697, trading since 2004.

How we work Start a project

Yes. Tell us the figure and we will tell you honestly what it can achieve.

How we work Start a project

AFD uses AI tools openly, where they make the work better or let a small senior team do more: research, early drafts and variations, code, and some voice, image and film work. People make every creative and strategic decision. Alexio judges the work before a client sees it. Where AI is used on a project, and where it is not, is agreed with the client at the start. A client who wants none on their project can say so.

How we work Start a project

We deliver and launch, then hand over the files, guidelines, logins and training your team needs to carry on without us.

How we work Start a project

Yes, through the work that wins it: a website that lets the right people see quickly that you suit them and makes it easy to get in touch, pages that answer what buyers search for and ask AI assistants, and content and film for the channels your buyers use, LinkedIn included, planned and produced, and managed for you if you want.

How we work Start a project

Yes. Most of our clients sell beyond their own doorstep: an offshore law firm in the Cayman Islands and the BVI, an estate agency with buyers overseas, a talent advisory working worldwide. The website, the words and the content can be built for the audience you want to reach, with pages that answer what those buyers search for.

How we work Start a project

Partly. The listed questions are answered by the studio, in words we wrote. Typed questions are answered by an AI model (Claude, made by Anthropic) using only what is on afd.net, and it will not help with anything else. If you would rather talk to a person, send the conversation to Alexio or start a brief: Alexio reads every one.

How we work Start a project

These are the challenges clients bring us most, in their words. Each has a page on how we meet it.

“We are launching something new and need a name, an identity and a voice before we can sell it.” We build the brand from the idea outwards, so it is ready to sell from the first day.
“We have grown up, but our brand still looks like the company we were ten years ago.” We refresh the brand so it matches the business you are now, and keep what people already recognise.
“Every supplier uses our logo differently. Nothing looks as if it comes from the same business.” We give the brand a system and make the work in one studio, so everything looks like it comes from you.
“Our website is years old. We send people to it and hope they do not look too closely.” We rebuild it around what visitors need to find, and make it fast and easy for your team to run.
“We rank for our own name and nothing else.” We build the pages and the groundwork that search engines and AI assistants need to find you for what you do.
“People ask AI about our sector and it never mentions us.” We make your site readable to AI assistants, so they can understand what you do and say it accurately.
“Our listings live in another system. The website needs to show them as they change.” We connect the website to the system behind it, so what people see is always current.
“We need a film that explains what we do in under two minutes.” We research, write, shoot and edit a short film that says it clearly and makes people want to watch.
“Our packaging has to compete on the shelf with brands ten times our size.” We design packaging that earns its place on the shelf and arrives exactly as intended.
“Side by side with our competitors, we look the same.” We find what you are best at and make the brand and website say it, so clients can tell you apart.

If yours is not listed, describe it below.

All the challenges Start a project

Alexio Ferrao leads every project, from the first meeting to launch. For each one we bring in the specialists the work needs: designers, developers, film makers, writers and producers. You meet them before anything starts, and you deal with the same people until the work is finished.

The person you brief is the person who judges the work.

The studio Start a project

Yes. AFD is a London studio for businesses that work across borders. Our clients include an offshore law firm in the Cayman Islands and the BVI, an estate agency selling to buyers overseas, a talent advisory working worldwide and a global fatherhood community.

From one studio in London, we work with businesses in these markets:

United Kingdom. The studio is in London.
Europe. One or two hours ahead of London, so the working day is almost entirely shared.
Dubai and the Gulf. Three or four hours ahead. Your afternoon is our morning.
Asia. Between four and nine hours ahead. A brief sent at the end of your day can be in hand the same London day.
United States. Five to eight hours behind. Our afternoon is your morning.
Cayman Islands. Five or six hours behind, with work already delivered for law, property and energy clients.

Where we work Start a project

We work with businesses in the Cayman Islands from London. Our clients there include an offshore law firm, a luxury estate agency and a fuel supplier.

Across time zones. London is five or six hours ahead of the Cayman Islands, depending on the time of year, so a brief sent at the end of a Cayman day can be in hand before the next Cayman morning.
Reviews on your time. Most of the work runs on video calls, with reviews planned for your working day.
Contracting with a UK company. You contract with AFD Multimedia Limited, registered in England and Wales, as our other Cayman clients do.

Work in Cayman: Travers Thorp Alberga, The Agency Real Estate, Refuel Cayman.

Working with Cayman businesses Start a project

AFD · Independent creative studio in London · Brand, websites, campaigns, film and print

Some of the businesses we have worked with.

You have something to make. It usually starts like this.

What we made, and what it solved.

AFD

Travers Thorp Alberga

Refuel Cayman

Prime Bite

A1 Alloys

Athletic Army

Four ways we help, from one studio.

Brand

Digital

Campaigns and content

Print and production

One senior creative director, from start to finish.

Creative direction

Brand and design

Digital build

Film and motion

Copy and content

Production and print

How AFD compares.

A London studio for businesses that work across borders.

We agree the brief and the quote before any work starts.

Brief

Team

Make

Launch

What we are making, filming and thinking about.

Litigant

WuvYoo

Ask AFD

Before you get in touch.

Bring us the challenge.

Bring the challenge.

AFD · Independent creative studio in London · Brand, websites, campaigns, film and print

Some of the businesses we have worked with.

You have something to make. It usually starts like this.

What we made, and what it solved.

AFD

Travers Thorp Alberga

Refuel Cayman

Prime Bite

A1 Alloys

Athletic Army

Four ways we help, from one studio.

Brand

Digital

Campaigns and content

Print and production

One senior creative director, from start to finish.

Creative direction

Brand and design

Digital build

Film and motion

Copy and content

Production and print

How AFD compares.

A London studio for businesses that work across borders.

We agree the brief and the quote before any work starts.

Brief

Team

Make

Launch

What we are making, filming and thinking about.

Litigant

Play the film: Litigant

WuvYoo

Ask AFD

Before you get in touch.

Bring us the challenge.

Bring the challenge.