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After Hours Studio

hello. we are

AFTER HOURS

a creative direction office in new york city

hello. we are

AFTER HOURS

a creative direction office
in new york city.

Small team, big ideas, questionable name. We make brands worth knowing, things worth having and ideas worth talking about.

We’re drawn to businesses playing in the worlds of culture, community and consumer. Usually that lands in fashion, beauty, wellness and lifestyle. We tend to get the call at three key moments: when someone’s building something from the ground up, when something familiar needs to feel new again, or when there’s a moment worth talking about. A product, a pop-up or a production. Digital or physical, big or small.

From early-stage founders to household names, we like close teams, good ideas and people who care about making good things, and making them well. Sound like you? We’d love to hear from you.

After Hours is open for business worldwide. Will travel (first class only). Please note we do observe office hours. The name was an oversight.

(led by)

(we do)

Brand

Finding the point of view, then building the creative direction around it. Strategy, naming, identity, packaging, websites etc.

  • (strategy + positioning)What your brand believes, who it’s for and where it fits in culture. Workshops, research and the brand story that guides every decision after.
  • (brand identity)Naming, tone of voice and visual identity. How the brand looks, sounds and shows up everywhere.
  • (packaging)Packaging people recognise, pick up, keep and post. Structure, graphics and the unboxing moment.
  • (website)Brand sites and e-commerce that look as good as the product, and are easy to shop.

Campaign

Giving the point of view something to say. Concepts, art direction, shoots, ads, social, launches etc.

  • (art direction)The big idea, plus the creative and art direction behind it. For ads, launches, seasons and brand moments.
  • (campaign identity)The campaign’s own look and feel. Key visuals, graphics and a toolkit to roll it out everywhere.
  • (social + content)Ads, film and social. Creative direction and production, start to finish.

Experience

Taking the world off screen. Activations, pop-ups, retail, events, mailers, collabs, merch etc.

  • (concept + direction)The idea behind the moment: a launch, a pop-up, a retail space, an activation or a collab.
  • (experience identity)Its name, its graphics, its whole visual world.
  • (print + collateral)Mailers, seeding kits, invites, signage and merch. The bits that make a brand real.

(who for)

  • Fashion
  • Beauty
  • Wellness
  • Lifestyle

(based in)

  • New York City
White t-shirt printed with SMART & HOT (TM)
(fig. 1) The SMART & HOT tee, 2026

We’re built on the belief that ? smart and hot ? aren’t opposing instincts or a trade-off. They’re two halves of the same job. Strategy that doesn’t work beyond the deck is just as useless as good-looking content that never says anything.

Smart is the brains.Knowing who you’re talking to, what you stand for and why anyone should care. The positioning, the story and the commercial sense to make it actually sell.

Hot is the beauty.Taste, timing and the feeling people get before they’ve read a word. The identity, the imagery and the cultural instinct that make people want in.

Work that has something to say, and looks good saying it. Most brands lean one way. Our job is to close the gap.

AFTER HOURS, THE TL;DR

We make hot brands smarter and smart brands hotter. Until they’re both.

(about the) STUDIO

(who we are)

After Hours is a creative direction office in New York, working with fashion, beauty, wellness and lifestyle brands, from start-ups to household names. After Hours Studio is led by Shy Trutwein and Jasmine Gallagher.

We work across brand, campaign and experience. Building brands from scratch, reinventing them for a new chapter, and making the moments that get people talking. Strategy, identity, campaigns, content and the things people turn up to, all under one roof.

We’re drawn to businesses playing in the worlds of culture, community and consumer. Usually that’s fashion, beauty, wellness and lifestyle. Sometimes it’s a perfume. Sometimes it’s an app. Sometimes it’s something we haven’t thought of yet. The category matters less than the want. We like close teams, good ideas and people who give a shit about making the work good. And we’re here for a good time and a long time.

(smart and hot)

We are built on the belief that smart and hot aren’t opposing instincts or a trade-off. They’re two halves of the same job. Strategy that doesn’t work beyond the deck is just as useless as good-looking content that never says anything. The work only counts when it does both.

Smart is the brains. Knowing who you’re talking to, what you stand for and why anyone should care. It’s the positioning, the story and the point of view that holds everything together, and the commercial sense to make it actually sell.

Hot is the beauty. Taste, timing and the feeling people get before they’ve read a word. It’s the identity, the imagery and the cultural instinct that makes something desirable, the kind of thing people want to be part of.

Most brands lean one way. Our job is to close the gap.

(select clients)

Merit Beauty / Montblanc / Netflix / Breville / RCA Records / Universal Music Group / Accor Hotels / Casio / Bonds / Maison Balzac / Charlton / Phytoca / Lelit / Etoile / Porter James Sports / Paramount House Hotel

(inside the) STUDIO

(at the helm)

Jasmine Gallagher, self portrait

Jasmine Gallagher

(director, strategy)

Trained in journalism, cut her teeth in marketing and PR, then found her way into design. Co-founded After Hours with Shy in 2020. Now leads the strategy and story, from positioning and naming to the ideas behind a campaign.

Shy Trutwein, self portrait

Shy Trutwein

(director, design)

An Australian-Burmese designer and illustrator who dropped out of art school to DJ full-time before finding their way back to design. Now an ADC Young Gun, Shy leads the visual side of After Hours, from identity and packaging to everything in between.

(features & awards)

Features

Awards

(the after hours special)

Want to hear more from us?

We have a Substack. It’s where we read the industry, say what it means and share what we’re into, after hours.

READ THE AH SPECIAL

(get in touch)

White t-shirt printed with For all your After Hours needs, call +1800-AFTERHOURS
(fig. 2) For all your After Hours needs...

Got a project in mind? Tell us about it by filling out this form here.

Want to work with us? Apply to be part of our freelancer and collaborator roster here.

Everything else? Say hello

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Based in NYC, operating worldwide.