I started saving design studios and designers’ personal websites to Raindrop in 2020. The rule has always been quality over quantity: I only keep the ones worth stopping for and taking in slowly, with fresh ideas in the work, case studies that show the thinking and not just the polish, and websites made with the same care as the work itself. Six years later that collection holds about a thousand studios, and a second one holds more than two hundred independent designers. Today it becomes Longlist, a public index of 1,250 studios and designers across 64 countries.
There is more design in the world than ever, and more and more of it is generated by AI, smoothed over and averaged into the same look. It’s getting harder to see the people behind the work, the ones who still fuss over a typeface, argue about a grid, and write their own case studies. Longlist is about turning attention back to them. Every entry is picked by hand, the selection is opinionated, and the bar is high on purpose. If someone is on the list, it’s because their work was worth a closer look.
I built the whole thing overnight with Claude, which might sound at odds with everything above. But that’s the split I believe in: let AI handle the busywork, and keep the taste human. I still collect in Raindrop, AI organizes each new entry from its website, and I check every one by hand.
If you think a studio or designer belongs here, feel free to submit it. You can also follow new additions through the RSS feed.
Visit Longlist