A Strategic Working Session
You do not need a full rebrand to begin. Sometimes you need one serious conversation with the right person before the next move becomes obvious. Jon brings a background in design education — including teaching at Pratt Institute — alongside deep experience in AI integration, advanced technical systems, and complex platform design.
Common Space Studio offers focused strategy sessions for people who are shaping a brand, website, creative platform, or public-facing experience and need clarity before moving into design or development.
This is for people who are in motion already... refining a concept, rethinking a site, aligning a practice, or trying to translate a strong internal vision into something others can actually understand and experience.
Jon brings a background in design education — having taught graphic design at Pratt Institute and lectured at institutions internationally — alongside deep experience in AI integration and advanced technical system design.
You have a brand, project, property, studio, or practice that needs sharper direction. You’ve started building something but are not sure what the next move should be. You’re stuck between strategy and execution. You need help translating ideas into a real design system, website direction, or audience experience. You want expert perspective before hiring designers, developers, or collaborators. You know something is off, but you need help identifying what it is.
Naming and brand direction. Website strategy and structure. Homepage and user experience decisions. Hospitality or guest experience positioning. Visual system alignment. Offer clarity and service architecture. Portfolio and artist website positioning. Messaging and credibility gaps. How to sequence a project so you do not overspend or overbuild. AI tool integration and platform strategy. Complex technical system design and scoping. Design education and workshop facilitation for teams and creative practices. AI tool integration and platform strategy. Complex technical system design and scoping. Design education and workshop facilitation for teams and creative practices.
A 75-minute working session: Held on Zoom or, when appropriate, in person. This is not a vague consultation. It is a focused conversation designed to pressure-test your thinking, identify blind spots, and help determine what actually needs to happen next.
You will have a clearer understanding of the real problem. A sharper sense of what needs to be designed, built, or refined. Practical next steps. Budget and scope guidance where relevant. A short written follow-up summary you can refer back to.
$500
"Working with Jon Santos and Common Space has been a consistently positive experience. Jon’s creative direction and previous work set a high benchmark that we continue to reference for new campaigns. I trust Jon’s process and ability to deliver, even under tight timelines and shifting priorities. He’s always in the right realm creatively, and I know I can rely on him to refine concepts and push projects forward. When we need to move quickly, Jon is the person I call to hash out ideas and get things done."
"I owe a great debt of gratitude to Jon Santos. The installation for the biennial simply would not exist in its current form without him. What Jon created is truly wonderful—his vision, craft, and commitment shaped the work in ways I could not have achieved alone. His contribution did not merely support the piece; it fundamentally elevated it."
"I owe a great debt of gratitude to Jon Santos. The installation for the biennial simply would not exist in its current form without him. What Jon created is truly wonderful—his vision, craft, and commitment shaped the work in ways I could not have achieved alone. His contribution did not merely support the piece; it fundamentally elevated it."
“From concept development to execution, they demonstrated professionalism and passion at every step. Their work elevated our brand presence and created a product that our clients and partners continually praise.”
-min.png)
"If you’re considering working with Common Space and Jon Santos, I can’t recommend them enough. Jon is truly a ‘design shrink’.. a psychologist of design. He offers not just creative solutions, but the thoughtful work of sitting with you, reflecting on what you’re doing and why, and exploring different practices and approaches. He doesn’t just recreate the wheel every time; he brings very specific advice and angles that help steer you toward a better, more sustainable practice. What’s special about Jon is that he empowers his clients to do things themselves through his initial guidance, but he’s always there, checking in and evolving the communication as your needs change. That kind of support and insight is really unique, and it’s made a huge difference for us."
Jon Santos is the founder and principal of Common Space, a New York–Honolulu based design studio working at the intersection of visual identity, digital platforms, and contemporary culture. Common Space operates as a flexible studio model. Jon leads every project directly and collaborates with a network of programmers, designers, and technical specialists depending on the scale of the work. This structure keeps projects conceptually focused while allowing them to expand when needed. His work spans brand identity, websites, exhibitions, publications, and long-term digital archives developed for artists, institutions, and cultural organizations. He has particular experience integrating AI tools and complex technical systems into cultural platforms — from intelligent content workflows to database architecture built for long-term use. Alongside his studio practice, Jon has a sustained history as an educator. He was an adjunct professor at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, where he taught in the Visual Communications department, and has served as a visiting artist and lecturer at California College of Arts in San Francisco, Saint-Lukas Academy in Brussels, SAIC in Chicago, and the Center for Creative Studies in Detroit. He has led design workshops in Tijuana and lectured at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and the AIGA. Teaching has always run parallel to the studio — a way of thinking through design in public, with others.