Who we are

Where we came from, and where we're going.

We're a radically different kind of creative agency in many ways–and always for the benefit of our wonderful clients and collaborators.

For starters, we're a small, boutique outfit, and we plan to stay that way. We've made the decision that growth isn't in our mindset–at least when it comes to ourselves–and there's a reason for that. It lets us to focus on our clients and their challenges completely.

We've worked in and with traditional creative agencies and we know how they work–their structures and hierarchies. It's exactly this experience that lead us to walk a totally different path.

We've engineered our processes, not in the name of maximizing growth for ourselves, but in the name of providing the absolute best quality work we can for our clients.

We're a small team of highly capable artists across disciplines, with a large network of amazing specialists ready to go at the drop of a hat. When you work with us, you get our best and brightest, not our interns or junior artists.

Our team

Our core team is transcontinental, having offices in the East Bay, California and Coimbra, Portugal. When necessary, like when producing a photo or video shoot, we gladly travel where needed.

Our team was a team before Axes existed.

Our founder

Axes was started in 2018 by Mackenzie Mathis as a way to gain access to creative projects earlier in the process. Up to that point, he had freelanced at many large companies as a video editor, cinematographer, photographer, and motion graphics artist. It was a desire to be more involved in the creative process that drove the founding of Axes–a desire whose fruits have since been borne out. He now oversees all production at Axes and is the final sign-off for everything that leaves our agency.

Our design guru

Kate Chuang, a highly accomplished illustrator and visual designer, takes the reins on all of our design-based work, including brand identity, graphic design, and web design, and extends her expertise to pre-production, storyboarding, world-building, and creative concepting. She's the master of aesthetics here and is largely responsible for the impeccable visuals our work reflects.

Our web guru

Cameron Mathis has designed and developed web based experiences with the best in the business. In a previous life, he worked at a San Diego-based web agency and absorbed all the best practices he encountered while taking note of the worst. At Axes, he's a problem-solver extraordinaire when it comes to anything having to do with the web, including building sites, email flows, implementing UX/UI concepts, and overall keeping us on the cutting edge of web tech.

Our team is small, yet mighty, and highly capable. Take a look at our work and we're sure you'll be convinced.

When you're ready

Reach out to schedule a call. We'd love to hear about your project, and we can shed light on anything else you might want to ask about ourselves, our philosophy, or our work.

Let's collaborate

Whether you have a kernel of an idea or a fully fleshed out plan, we want to work together to express your vision and help your brand project its true self. Reach out and let’s schedule a virtual meetup.

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