Village One

Who We Are

We are a multidisciplinary team of designers, developers, and strategists, combining our skills to create excellent digital products and infrastructure. We marry delight with function, for ourselves and for hire!

We amplify humanity through design and technology, adhering to ethical design and calm tech principles. At the same time, we're no solutionists—human problems can rarely be solved by technology alone. Our approach balances innovation with thoughtful consideration of real human needs.

We value people and planet over profit, so we only accept projects and clients we believe in—genuine enthusiasm leads to the best work after all. Consequently, we also maintain a blocklist of industries we consider harmful and exploitative, ensuring our work aligns with our values.

Working at Village One

Village One is a cooperative. But what the heck is a cooperative?

A cooperative is a type of company that is collectively owned and democratically governed. There are many ways this can look in practice, but the simplest form is a worker co-op where all the employees of a company own their organization together and apply some form of workplace democracy to make decisions.

What This Means in Practice

• Full transparency around strategy, decisions, and financials
• Democratic decision-making (one member = one vote)
• Equal voice for everybody—issues can't be swept under the rug
• Smaller wage ratio between highest and lowest salary
• Fewer managers and hierarchical theater, in favor of self-management
• More equitable organization because power is far less concentrated
• Higher levels of motivation and identification because it's also your company
• Prioritizing cooperation and community over competition
• A worldview of interconnectedness, rejecting individualism
• Greater resilience—studies show that cooperatives are the most resilient company form in times of crisis

Our Way of Working

We are a fully distributed team, embracing asynchronous communication and running on a 4-day work week. We continuously adapt our practices towards a more equitable work environment, always questioning the status quo and experimenting with better ways of working together.

Employee Benefits

We question established practices and put new ideas to the test. Every member of the team gets:

• 4-day work week (32 hours)—Fridays are off
• Asynchronous working for flexibility and focus
• 100% remote working (most of us are based in Berlin)
• 25 days holiday plus public holidays
• Work as part of a cooperative with ownership and voice
• Flexible working hours to fit your life
• Transparent salaries across the organization
• Education budget of €4,000 per year
• And more

At Village One, we're building not just better products, but a better way of working—one that respects both the people doing the work and the communities we serve.