What is Gridwork?

It’s a tiny web design studio in Seattle. Gridwork was founded in 2005 by Seamus Holman after working in-house for a variety of publishers & nonprofits.

Our name is made up, but apparently it's also a DJ, horse riding maneuver, and a spiritual connection to the eternal cosmos. Solid company.

Our design process is interdisciplinary and agile. That means getting involved with content creation, visual design, and front-end code on every project.

Each year we launch 6-12 projects and then support and nurture many of them for years, as they ebb and flow along with the organization.

2005

Founded company in a little house on an island.

notable projects In These Times, Global Explorers

2006

Moved to Tacoma, WA. Started making jam.

notable projects In These Times, Shelterforce, Center for Social Media

2007

Opened coworking space in Tacoma, first SXSW.

notable projects In These Times, Chicago Public Schools, mStoner

2008

Obama! Hope! Change! Started making pickles.

notable projects Global Explorers, 1000 Kites, Small Screen Network

2009

Second SXSW, began building early mobile sites.

notable projects Ecology Project International, Good Job DC, Quilts for Kids

2010

Moved to Seattle. Refocused on design, personal development. Discovered trampoline gyms.

notable projects Appalshop, Genesis Financial

2011

No more print. Exclusive focus on web & mobile design.

notable projects Cognitive Edge, American School of Classical Studies

2012

Developed deeper ecommerce expertise. Last SXSW. Moved accounting online. More Obama!

notable projects Market Leader, Clarasmom, ShopSeptember, Nation Inside, Peas + Popcorn

2013

Added project manager. Focus on agency partnerships & local clients. More content strategy.

notable projects Ten Gun, if/then, Tenants Union

2014

Added SASS/workflow automation, version control.

notable projects Windermere, Cedar Grove

2015

Changed from waterfall to agile process. Switched default CMS to Craft. Built a standing desk.

notable projects Kellogg Insight, Small Screen Network, States of Matter, Julian

2016

Back to coworking. Started Craft meetup. More focus on site speed, rapid iterations, marketing.

notable projects Windermere, Wyoming Medical Center, Kellogg Insight, Cedar Grove

2017

Moved to private office. Built content builders. Embraced Git. Return to hosting.

notable projects Churchome, Gourmondo, Tiedemann

2018

All in on Craft 3. Utility-first CSS. More design strategy & brand sprints.

notable projects Ivinson Memorial Hospital, Kellogg Insight, Windermere

Work with us.

If you want a better website tomorrow, contact us today. Schedule an initial call right now, or send a quick note and we’ll talk soon.

Thank you for writing. We will be in touch soon.