Tools for people
who show up.
We build software that respects your time, sharpens your skills, and stays out of the way.
About
Kuso Designs is a small creative technology studio. We make focused, opinionated tools — not platforms, not ecosystems. Each product solves one problem well.
Our work draws from Japanese craft sensibility: precision in the details, restraint in scope, care for the people who use what we make. We believe software should feel like a well-made instrument — responsive, predictable, quiet when it should be.
We ship fast, iterate in the open, and keep our teams small enough that everyone touches the product.
Principles
- Small scope, deep quality. We'd rather do one thing right than ten things adequately.
- Ship, then listen. Real feedback from real use. No roadmap theater.
- Tools, not traps. Your data is yours. No dark patterns, no engagement farming.
- Craft over cleverness. Simple systems that work beat complex systems that impress.
Work
CIRCLE
Language learning through typing. Phoneme-level progress tracking, AI-generated decks, themed card practice. Currently supporting Hangul, Greek, Hiragana, and Katakana.
Purumo
Staff scheduling for a Tokyo bar. Real-time weekly grid, per-cell sync, event-sourced changelog with time-travel restore. Built around how the team actually works.
Careers
We're a small team and we intend to stay that way. When we grow, it's because we've found someone whose taste and pace match ours — not because we hit a headcount target.
What we look for
- Builders. You make things. You ship them. You care what happens after.
- Clarity. You can explain what you're doing and why in plain language.
- Taste. You notice when something feels wrong — spacing, timing, naming, flow.
- Independence. You don't wait for permission to solve problems you can see.
Open roles
No formal openings right now. If you think you belong here, reach out anyway — we keep a short list of people we'd like to work with someday.
Contact: account@kusodesigns.com