Studio Contrast is an interface design studio helping scale-ups, with a focus on physical tech companies. Founded by Calin Balea in 2023 after more than a decade of work as an individual contributor across fintech, productivity, and consumer apps, Studio Contrast has spent the past year embedded with FlightWave Aerospace Systems as a fractional design partner.

The engagement covers production-line software for assembly engineers, a redesigned ground control station app for drone operators, and a design system to keep the two consistent. The work has already cut the number of steps needed to complete common actions in half, according to FlightWave's Director of Software.

Beyond the software, the project spans branding, illustration, and physical touchpoints — from gantry and assembly-line interfaces to logo and merchandise work — giving a full picture of what fractional product design support looks like for a hardware-first aerospace company.