1oh1Designs launches as UK art outsourcing collective built by AAA veterans
Summary
Supermassive Games veteran Russ Tyler has launched 1oh1Designs, a fully remote UK-based art outsourcing and co-dev collective of ~12 freelance artists
The collective includes Ade Cottrell, a 16-year industry veteran with credits on Forza Horizon, NFS Unbound, Predecessor, and Fall Guys
Core specialization is UI/UX art with Unreal Engine in-engine implementation — a niche that most larger outsourcers do not feature prominently
The studio operates as a freelance collective model — low overhead, flexible capacity, but limited scale — with only 2 official LinkedIn employees and 81 followers
The launch is representative of a broader post-2023 UK layoff cycle pattern where displaced AAA talent reorganizes into boutique collectives rather than seeking re-employment
"I wanted to start 1oh1Designs so I can continue to work with the most amazing people to support each other, support the needs of clients and their projects"
01
What 1oh1Designs is — founding team and service scope
1oh1Designs is a fully remote, independent outsourcing studio serving games, film, TV, and advertising clients
Founded in December 2025 by Russ Tyler after 5+ years as Lead UI Artist at Supermassive Games (The Dark Pictures Anthology, The Casting of Frank Stone)
Tyler freelanced under the "1oh1design" brand for 11 months before formalizing the collective — a gradual client-building approach before public launch
The collective comprises ~12 freelance artists, not full-time employees — a lean model with no disclosed office or production infrastructure
Key team member Ade Cottrell brings 16 years of credits including Forza Horizon (Playground Games), NFS Unbound (Criterion/EA), Predecessor (Omeda Studios), and Fall Guys (via The Multiplayer Group)
Cottrell also runs his own parallel freelance brand, GIGAPHANTOM, with UK indie clients — signaling the collective's members maintain independent revenue streams
02
Service portfolio — where UI/UX implementation is the real differentiator
Services span three tiers: Create (2D assets, concepts, marketing art — up to 2 weeks), Contribute (world building, 3D, UI creation & implementation — 3-6 months), and Collaborate (pitch-to-publish co-dev partnership — 8-12 weeks)
The core differentiator is UI/UX art with Unreal Engine widget implementation — both Tyler and Cottrell have confirmed in-engine implementation experience, not just design mockups
Cottrell's recent work includes monetization UI for Predecessor's Loot Cores and Opal Store — a high-demand capability for F2P publishers
Accessibility is a listed top skill for Cottrell — aligning with growing regulatory and platform requirements
No evidence of backend engineering, QA, trailer, or full production management capabilities — this is an embedded art team, not a full-cycle co-dev partner
03
Market signal — what the "collective model" tells us about UK outsourcing
Tyler's trajectory — AAA Lead → two cancelled projects (Supermassive + Sharkmob MMO) → freelance → studio founder — is representative of the post-2023 UK layoff cycle
The "collective" model (freelancers united under a brand, not employees) is an emerging competitive pattern in UK game services: low overhead, flexible capacity, but limited scale and reliability guarantees
With only 2 LinkedIn employees and 81 company followers, this is a micro-scale entity — suitable for small-to-medium briefs, not volume production
One collective member (Reeve Schuetzenhofer, Concept Artist) is flagged as "Open to Work" on LinkedIn — suggesting the studio may not yet have enough client work to fully book all members
The anti-generative-AI stance from the founder and emphasis on human creativity could resonate with certain client segments looking for hand-crafted art quality
04
Network and competitive context
Tyler's Supermassive Games alumni network is actively supporting the launch — current Supermassive employee Isis Sousa publicly endorsed the studio
Cottrell previously worked at The Multiplayer Group (MPG), itself a UK co-dev/outsourcing studio — deeply understands vendor-side pipelines
Both founders have worked within outsourcing and co-dev workflows at prior studios (Supermassive uses external partners; Frank Stone was co-developed with Behaviour Interactive)
UK art outsourcing competitors include Athena Productions (Tyler's former associate), The Multiplayer Group, Plan A Collective, K9 Digital, and d3t — plus enterprise players like Keywords Studios and Room 8 Group
Cottrell's GIGAPHANTOM clients (Fuse Games, Imaginary Hazard Studios, Synaworx Studios) represent the small/mid UK studio segment that 1oh1Designs will likely target
05
What to watch next
Track whether 1oh1Designs scales beyond the initial 12-person collective — growth past 15-20 people would indicate genuine commercial traction
Monitor for named client announcements and portfolio case studies — currently no confirmed paid studio-level client work is public
The collective model's viability depends on whether they can win recurring embedded team engagements rather than one-off project briefs
If the UK outsourcing market continues to fragment into boutique collectives, this could create both partnership opportunities and competitive pressure for established service providers
Events
Companies
Games
Locations
United Kingdom
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