top of page
Makena
Brand Strategy
UX/UI Design
Web + Mobile
Makena Capital is a partner-owned investment firm founded by leaders from Stanford Management Company. Rooted in endowment-style investing, it manages more than $22 billion for institutions, foundations, family offices, and other sophisticated investors—with growing access to private-market opportunities.
Makena came to our team to redesign its website and create a more distinctive digital presence. The challenge was to preserve the trust, discipline, and long-term perspective expected of an institutional investment firm while expressing Makena’s entrepreneurial Silicon Valley roots.
The new experience needed to simplify a complex investment offering, highlight Makena’s private-market access, and speak clearly to endowments, foundations, family offices, and institutional partners—feeling modern and people-centered without losing credibility.
Defining strategy
With Makena headquartered in California, I looked to the state’s natural landscape and iconic architecture for inspiration. The Golden Gate Bridge became a central symbol—not only of place, but of connection, strength, and long-term progress. This idea reflected Makena’s role in bringing together people, capital, and opportunities across generations.
Balancing ideas
After exploring three creative directions, the client selected Spanning Opportunities as the foundation for the final design. The bridge captured Makena’s central duality: an engineered structure built on precision and stability, but created to connect people and carry them toward new possibilities.
I refined the concept through architectural linework, California landscapes, and a palette inspired by sky, water, and steel. The resulting system balanced institutional rigor with warmth—expressing Makena as a trusted structure connecting people, capital, and long-term opportunities.
Behind the Build
The final website grew through months of exploration—three creative directions, evolving concepts, and countless refinements across desktop and mobile.
The Figma file captures how Spanning Opportunities developed from an architectural metaphor into a complete digital system, including responsive layouts, reusable components, image treatments, and detailed page designs prepared for development.
bottom of page