Comic Books · Since 1985

Design that carries the whole idea.

Heroes has been setting the standard for Bay Area Comic Shops since 1985! Jammed full of comic books old and new, a huge trade paperback selection, MTG and Pokémon packs and single cards, action figures, plus cool antiques and collectibles of all shapes and sizes! If you can't find it here, it probably never existed! Often imitated, but never equaled... our hours are 10AM to 6PM every day!

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  • Trusted by
  • Northwind
  • Kaya Goods
  • Peppermint
  • Fielded
The Solo studio: a bright workspace with designers reviewing printed layouts at a long shared desk.
12 years shipping
work we're proud of

About the studio

A small team with a wide range and a fixed standard.

We started Solo to prove that a lean group of specialists can out-ship a big agency. No account layers, no hand-offs that lose the plot — the people who scope your project are the people who make it. That keeps the work sharp and the timeline honest.

  • One team, end to end. Strategy, design and code sit in the same room, so nothing gets lost in translation.
  • Fixed scope, fixed price. You get a clear quote and a firm date before we start — no creeping invoices.
  • Built to hand over. Clean files, documented components and a walkthrough so your team can run it solo.
  • Ship in weeks, not quarters. Tight sprints and weekly demos keep momentum from kickoff to launch.

What we do

Six ways we make things move.

Pick one or hand us the whole journey. Every engagement is scoped to your stage — a first brand, a rebuild, or the growth work after launch.

Brand Strategy

Positioning, naming and messaging that give the rest of the work a spine. We find the one true thing your audience should remember.

Web Design

Responsive marketing sites and landing pages with a clear story, honest copy and a layout that reads premium on any screen.

Development

Fast, accessible front-ends built on clean, framework-friendly code. Bootstrap 5, no jQuery, and a build your team can maintain.

Product & UX

App and dashboard design grounded in real flows. We prototype, test and refine so the interface earns its keep.

Motion & Video

Product explainers, launch films and micro-animations that make an interface feel alive without slowing it down.

Growth & SEO

The work after launch: technical SEO, content structure and analytics wired in so the site keeps compounding.

Selected work

A few things we've shipped.

Filter by discipline. Every project below launched to a paying audience — these aren't concepts.

Kaya Goods brand identity: logo, warm packaging and a colour system laid out on a table. Branding Kaya Goods — Identity
Fielded mobile app screens showing a job scheduler and map view on a phone. Product Fielded — Service App
Peppermint e-commerce homepage design shown in a browser on a laptop. Web Peppermint — Storefront
A frame from the Northwind launch film with bold kinetic typography over a dark background. Motion Northwind — Launch Film
Rún Coffee packaging: a row of matte bags with a minimal wordmark and earthy colours. Branding Rún Coffee — Packaging
Meridian analytics dashboard web app with charts and a clean data table. Web Meridian — Dashboard
248+

Projects shipped

12

Years in business

96%

Client retention

40

Awards & mentions

The people

Small enough to know your name.

Four core people, plus a trusted bench of specialists we bring in when a project calls for it.

Nadia Alvarez, Founder and Creative Director at Solo, smiling in a studio.

Nadia Alvarez

Founder & Creative Director

Marcus Bailey, Lead Developer at Solo, at his desk.

Marcus Bailey

Lead Developer

Priya Nair, Product Designer at Solo, sketching on a tablet.

Priya Nair

Product Designer

Tomás Rivera, Motion Designer at Solo, reviewing footage on a monitor.

Tomás Rivera

Motion Designer

Engagements

Simple monthly plans, no surprises.

Retainer pricing for ongoing work. Pause or cancel with 30 days' notice. One-off projects are quoted separately.

Essential

A steady stream of design for early teams finding their feet.

$1,200/mo
  • One active request at a time
  • Brand & web design
  • 48-hour turnarounds
  • Shared Slack channel
  • Monthly strategy call
Choose Essential
Most popular

Growth

Design plus development for teams shipping real product.

$2,800/mo
  • Two active requests
  • Design and front-end build
  • 24-hour turnarounds
  • Dedicated designer + developer
  • Weekly demos & roadmap
Choose Growth

Partner

An embedded team for scale-ups with a full roadmap.

$5,500/mo
  • Unlimited request queue
  • Strategy, design, build & motion
  • Same-day turnarounds
  • Named team of three
  • Quarterly on-site workshop
Choose Partner

Kind words

Clients who'd hire us again.

  • “Solo rebuilt our storefront in five weeks and conversion jumped 38% the first month. They pushed back on our brief in the right places — that's rare and it's worth every penny.”

    Elena Fischer Elena FischerOps Lead, Northwind

  • “We came for a logo and left with a whole brand system our team actually uses. Everything is documented, so onboarding a new designer takes an afternoon instead of a week.”

    David Osei David OseiFounder, Kaya Goods

  • “The most honest agency we've worked with. Fixed price, fixed date, and they hit both. When the launch film landed, our demo requests doubled the same week.”

    Sofia Lombardi Sofia LombardiCMO, Peppermint

From the journal

Notes on the craft.

Working essays on brand, product and the business of running a small studio.

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