Ashley Izsak, brand and website designer based in ottawa - founder of Ash Izsak studio, image by Alexa Mazzarello
Brand design for 2AM shown on a pop can used as a flower vase

Brand Design, Web Design + Retail Interior Design

Build a brand, launch a website, open a store - but do it in a way that makes people feel something.

Ash Izsak Studio is a brand and design studio creating identities, custom Squarespace and Shopify websites, and retail spaces for businesses that care deeply about how they show up in the world.

I was never Very good at ignoring the aesthetics

Luckily for me, I turned that into a career. From my home base in Ottawa, I’ve spent the last 10 years partnering with clients across Canada, the U.S. and beyond to build brands, websites and spaces people want to spend time in.

10+ Years

DESIGNING FOR BUSINESSES

Canada → U.S. → Beyond

CLIENTS close to home & not so close to home

Brand → Digital → In Person

Forever in awe of the projects that grace my doorstep

Shopify website design for Hosted by Kelly Gaudreau a tabletop decor and home goods store based on long island, NY

I don’t really know how to design one thing at a time

I’ve tried.

But somewhere between pulling moodboard inspiration for the logo, and building out the website mockup - I’m already designing the box, the window signage and most likely the branded email. When I design a brand, I immerse myself in your world and I want that world to feel like everything - all at once - that you didn’t know you wanted but is in fact exactly that.

But at the root of all that dreaminess - there’s a pull for it all to make sense for the business underneath it.

Because that's the part I've come to love most - figuring out how all of these seemingly separate things can fit together.

I took a slightly weird route to get here

Ashley Izsak with curly hair creating content for her brand and web design business. Photo by Alexa Mazzarello

At some point I chose to ignore my lust for design and pursue a degree in business.

Well here’s the thing - I’ve never been good at lying to myself, and eventually the design passion found its way out.

16 years ago I launched a blog about infertility, home renovations, and my favourite Anthropologie finds. I was eight years into a recruiting career and becoming a mom to twins was the sign I needed to let that phase of my life go.

But I was far from finished.

I built businesses of my own. I blogged before we were all supposed to be content creators. I fell very deeply into interiors. That history still shapes the work I do with interior designers, home brands and design-led retailers today. And somewhere along the way, a commercial interiors client asked me if I could design their brand and website.

I could.

I’ve had the pleasure of designing for many brands I’d looked up to, of launching e-commerce shops, of travelling to style photoshoots, of walking into coffee shops and taking in how much people loved the digital and physical space I created.

And it turned out all of those years doing things that didn't look particularly connected at the time were actually very connected.

I understood the business underneath the brand. I cared about how it looked, (obviously). But I also wanted to know who was buying it, how they would find it, what would make them want it, what happened next - and whether the things we were creating would actually help the business become whatever it was meant to become next.

Join me on Substack - a debrief on life and design

shopify website for 11th house studio jewelry brand
Custom brand design for Ottawa property The Emmy an apartment downtown
Karen Hamou Consulting brand identity and business card design by Ash Izsak Studio

WHAT We CAN Build Together

Depending on where you’re starting, that might mean a new identity, a custom website, or bringing your brand into print, signage and a physical space. I work across every touchpoint so the end result feels cohesive, with each piece feeling like a natural extension of the one before it.

Brand Identity

Strategic visual identities, creative direction and brand systems built around where your business is going.

Squarespace + Shopify Websites

Custom websites designed to stand out in your industry, work beautifully, and make it easier for people to understand and choose to support your business.

Print, Signage + Retail

Packaging, printed pieces, signage and dreamy physical spaces that carry the brand experience beyond the screen.

Selected clients & collaborations

Studio Clients

Lume Club
LC Design Co.
Garland Collection
HOSTED by Kelly Gaudreau
Karen Hamou Consulting
Rachel Brill Design
Hailey Jane Jewellery
LRJ PR & Communications
11th House Studio

Kindha Gorman
The Emmy
The Sheldon Manor
Harper Spero
2AM
AREA V5 Pictures
Taste & Tipple
The Recollective
Chelsea Riffe

Select Brand Collaborations

Wayfair
Casper
Brooklinen
Parks Ontario
Schlage Canada
Walmart Canada
Cultiver
Delta Faucet Canada
Semihandmade

Emtek
Ruggable
Loloi
Hudson Valley Lighting
Samsung Home Appliances
Bed Threads
Amazon
Crabtree & Evelyn

We loved working with Ashley! She designed our PR agency's first website, and we are so happy with how it turned out and have already gotten so many compliments on it. Ashley was so great to work with and really created the perfect website for what we were looking for that is both functional and beautiful. Amazing work and a joy to collaborate with!

Lauren Freeman - LRJPR & Communications