We get this question more than any other. After all, just because we’ve designed a multitude of Tony Stark’s tech, RoboCop’s HUDs, Batman’s interfaces and Spider-Man’s “Spidey Signal” what does that have to do with designing for “real world” user experience challenges? The answer is: A lot.
In the many years that we have worked in both science fiction and science fact, we have found some very consistent and profound parallels between both worlds. It’s remarkable how much each informs and elevates the other. Take a deeper dive in this blog post Parallel Worlds.
This is a touchy subject, but the answer is no. Our ideas—the intangible-light-bulb-going-off-magical-moment-lighting-striking-brilliance that could result in tremendous fame and fortune to our clients—are the very foundation of our business. It is our raison d’être; the entire reason why we are hired. If those ideas are given away for free, then the market value is really set at zero. Furthermore, it devalues the work of everyone in our industry in the eyes of our shared network of customers. Certainly, we are all highly skilled and trained artists, able to bring any idea to life across a multitude of platforms, but we are most definitely not a commodity. So while certain skill sets can be found universally across any successful agency’s talent pool, it’s always going to be that specific team’s groundbreaking ideas that set them apart from the rest of the pack. That’s what they are hired for and that’s where a huge portion of the value lies for any creative services engagement. Take a read to find out more about our perspective On the Value of Ideas.
We work with cutting edge clients both big and small, young and old—it doesn’t matter to us as long as they have the full corporate commitment and have allocated the necessary funding to support the full engagement we have been hired for. If you’re a well funded startup that is interested in a collaboration and have allotted the necessary budget for your initiative, we can’t wait to hear from you! However, if you’re a startup looking for our team to work in exchange for an arbitrary amount of equity (the future expected value of shares—a complete unknown), then you’re not the right fit for us. We are not in the business of being investors in other businesses.
We would love to help every business we meet with its design and user experience efforts, large or small. But we understand Perception will not be the right fit for everyone. We support our clients with strategic thought leadership through creative execution, providing enough value to ensure long standing relationships. We engage with a limited number of clients due to the depth and commitment of our relationships. We want to be your trusted adviser and design comrade, not a transactional supplier. We do not set pricing on an hourly rate, but rather on the value we offer our clients through our design excellence.
We are not a project shop and we’re not very interested in “one off’s.” Ideally, we’re looking for relationships for the long haul, and to grow and build on our collective efforts with our clients over the years to come.
We love urgency—If you have a pressing need to engage on a time sensitive initiative, contact us right away!
FILMMAKERS
The filmmakers we work with are generally directing sci-fi blockbusters (often superhero movies) who are looking for us to conceptualize and design futuristic technology that will exist in the world these characters inhabit. We ground everything we design for films in today’s reality and technological climate. Contemporary audiences who are quite tech savvy need to believe the tech we create might actually be possible in the near future. Also important to our film work is that we are using the designs to help tell the story, keep the audience entertained and transport them to the fictional world we’re an integral part in creating. In the pre-production phases, we help directors, vfx supervisors and writers conceptualize technology that might exist in the world of their characters, and will also help plan out the interactions with those technologies before cameras start rolling. Once the post production phase has begun, we will design, animate and seamlessly composite those interfaces into the scenes.
TECHNOLOGY CLIENTS
We work with cutting edge clients both big and small, doesn’t matter to us as long as they have the full corporate commitment and have allocated the necessary funding to support the full engagement we have been hired for. We work in industries across the board–automotive, smart home, cyber security, aerospace, mobile, industrial, haptics and financial services. We get involved in designing and strategizing next generation user experiences from highly conceptual, blue-sky vision videos to prototyping specific use cases of a product all the way to fully functioning applications. The biggest value we bring is the ability to visualize and conceptualize brand new user experiences with our unique cinematic perspective, inspiring key decision makers, engineers and investors to move a groundbreaking initiative forward. Our tech clients rely on the value of our design thinking to envision new paradigms, strategies and possibilities for their inventions. The Perception team will dream up new applications never imagined before, opening up your mind to the expansive possibilities of your technology. We also generate original rich video content for many of our tech clients’ internal usage and social media channels.
Often times even companies with internal design teams recognize the incredible value of an outside perspective and a different way of thinking about a design challenge. When it comes to designing something special, something unlike anything they can find elsewhere, something truly magical that breaks through the boundaries of what they’ve been able to accomplish internally, they bring us in.
We love being an extension of internal design teams, and offering our unique talents to the abilities you currently have. Our goal is the massive success of our clients, and if we can help amplify the design muscle you already have, give us a call.
Please read more of our thoughts on Hiring External Design Partners
- Less is more. Don’t overcomplicate—Simple can be beautiful too.
- Form must always follow function.
- Always design with the end user in mind.
- Usability above all else.
- Great design isn’t just beautiful. It’s a beautiful solution.
- Craftsmanship matters—“God is in the details”—Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.
- Don’t try to be different. Try to be good. Good is different enough.
- Define the fundamental creative problem first, in order to discover the perfect design solution.
- Timeless design is always looking ahead, and will lead the way in creating the future.
- Never lose the child-like sense of wonder to always ask ‘Why?’ Questions are the answer.
The main thing we look for is a uniquely talented individual who has an ability we don’t currently have. Our team is modeled like The Avengers—each artist has their own special gifts and powers to complement one another—and when they join forces as a single unit, they’re truly unstoppable. Beyond design talent, the qualities we value most at Perception are work ethic, hunger, passion, and drive to be the best. We look for “Design Thinkers”. Team members that find design solutions that matter to our clients, not distracted by wanting to make pretty pictures. Being open to new challenges and not being afraid of the unknown are very important to succeeding here as well. Read more of our thoughts here.
Yes, it depends on the overall length of the engagement and scope of the project, this varies. Please contact us for a deeper conversation. We look forward to hearing from you.
The core team is currently 15 people strong composed of artists, thinkers, storytellers, designers, UX strategists and project managers. Our extended team includes a network of extraordinarily talented individuals, with specialized skills, who mesh seamlessly with our team as needed, depending on the project needs. We are growing quickly so if you’re interested in joining, please contact us.
As if there was some secret formula and recipe, one of the most frequent questions we are always asked is: ‘how did you guys start working with Marvel??’ We’re certainly not going to divulge every step of the journey…but there is no secret. It comes down to pure perseverance, determination, tenacity, resourcefulness, courage and sheer love and passion for the Marvel brand. Of course, having a team of artists, designers and thinkers at Perception that are the best in the world at what we do helps a lot, too. Read more about this journey here.
So, what you really mean is, what does a creative team know about writing code? Actually, quite a bit. We live, breathe and dream about new technologies and how they can create new user experiences. And while designing next gen UI is pretty darn cool, what really gets us excited is bringing our future visions to life. From Unity to C++ to Java to iOS to… you name it. We are technology agnostic and deliver complete end-to-end solutions that match our client’s needs.