By Default was built by two neurodivergent co-founders who spent most of their careers in systems that weren't built for how they think.
At the age of 11, Erlen Masson was told by a teacher he'd never amount to anything in life. All because he couldn't read or spell like his classmates. Then he found Photoshop, and discovered a new way to communicate to the world. He became an award-winning visual storyteller not despite his dyslexia, but because of it.
A decade leading design teams at Hypebeast, Time Inc, NME, and Marie Claire. Award-winning campaigns for Adidas, Nike, Burberry, and Moncler. Clio, Webby, and Shorty recognition. The work is different because the thinking is different.
Syeda Masson built By Default because she kept seeing the same gap. Brands with strong identities showing up digitally in ways that felt flat, forgettable, passive. A decade building brand and consumer experiences across luxury and digital brands — Rick Owens, Isabel Marant, Diesel, ASOS — and on creative campaigns for Verizon and McDonald's. Interactive advertising is how you close it.
This story isn't rare. It's just rarely recognised.
By Default was built to work differently. For clients who want something different. With a team that thinks differently. We see connections others miss. We ask questions others skip. We notice things in culture, in consumer behaviour, in the brief itself, that become the idea.
The name says it: this is our default. Different is where we start.