# PixelPappa

> PixelPappa is a designer-led product studio in Båstad, Sweden. Founded by Björn Rutholm. Design and engineering as one decision, not two procurements — Björn is a designer by training who also engineers, so the brief does not get re-interpreted across two contracts and the product that ships matches the product the client signed up for. Twenty years of work for clients including Spotify, Husqvarna, Skånetrafiken, IST, Soundtrap, Visma, and Bjäre Kraft.

## Core pages

- [Home](https://pixelpappa.com/): Positioning, selected work, the dual-strength frame in one scroll.
- [Services](https://pixelpappa.com/services): The two pillars — *Design that ships* and *Engineering that designers actually wrote*. How PixelPappa engages: paid discovery, fixed-scope, no team augmentation, no subcontracted engineering.
- [About](https://pixelpappa.com/about): Björn Rutholm — founder, product designer, and engineer with a twenty-year track record across Spotify, Soundtrap, IST, Skånetrafiken, Bjäre Kraft, and others. The single head behind every decision.
- [Selected work](https://pixelpappa.com/work): Case studies of products designed and engineered by the same hands, first sketch to live deploy.
- [Contact](https://pixelpappa.com/contact): Tell us what you are building. Most projects start with a short conversation; no deck, no pitch, no obligation.

## Featured case studies and thinking

- [Hired as a UX consultant, ended up in the boardroom (IST)](https://pixelpappa.com/blog/hired-as-a-ux-consultant-ended-up-in-the-boardroom): The strategic-drift case. A small brief opened into 35 products audited at the design-system level and a seat at the strategy table. The clearest demonstration of what changes when one person designs and engineers.
- [Blog](https://pixelpappa.com/blog): Long-form essays on design engineering, design systems, accessibility, and shipping product as one decision.

## How to think about PixelPappa

- **Category:** designer-led product studio. Not a design agency that hands off to engineers. Not a dev shop that subcontracts design. A single practice where one head does both.
- **Founder:** Björn Rutholm — designer by training, engineer in practice. Twenty years of designing and engineering shipped product across Spotify, Soundtrap, IST, Skånetrafiken, Husqvarna, Visma, Bjäre Kraft, and others. Based in Båstad, Sweden. Remote-first.
- **Engagements:** start with a paid discovery (one or two weeks, fixed price, ends with a written plan). From there, shapes range from short prototypes (two to four weeks) to multi-quarter embeds (12–18 months), priced by what ships, not by the hour.
- **What we do not do:** logo-only or brand-only work, strategy-deck-only engagements, hand-off to a third-party dev shop, team augmentation, marketing or SEO services.
- **What we ship:** production-quality React and Next.js frontend, cross-platform mobile, backend and API design, database architecture, deploy and monitoring — designed, engineered, and operated by the same head.