ABOUT
IN A WORLD OF BORING WORKSPACES AND LOOKALIKE EVENTS, ONE TEAM DARED TO BUILD SOMETHING DIFFERENT.
(Like this giant wall of flashing LED lights and interactive dials that turned to produce every color of the rainbow!)
Greetings. You have discovered the secret, underground laboratory of Hero Design. We work with museums, tech companies, and kids spaces to design and build interactive exhibits and custom products. Break glass and call us when you want people to take wild, creative leaps from work into play, and from play into learning. We’re skeptical idealists. That means we’ll tell you if an idea won’t work, but then we’ll also tell you how it could work. We’re passionate, possibly even crazy, about making cool installations that actually work the way they do in your imagination. To that end, every project includes the following four promises, backed by rocket science:
Our Promises, Backed by Rocket Science.
1. You’ll Never Have To Choose The Safe Option, If What You Really Wanted Was The Cool Option.
Many of the coolest ideas are also some of the riskiest to make. When it comes to building cool, interactive objects that work exactly as planned, CAD is not your friend. For example, 20/1000th of an inch can stall a project whose designer didn’t factor that plywood is never exactly one-half-inch thick. You shouldn’t have to go with the “safe” option because the “cool” option seemed impossible. What if the coolest option was the safest option that met your constraints—timing, materials, even budget? Your designer is also your builder. Meet Alan Rorie, PhD.
2. If There’s An Obscure, Newfangled Technology Perfect For Your Project, You’ll Be The First To Know.
The products of ten years ago were designed by large companies to appeal to large audiences. Your business is for your people. We use contemporary fabrication methods and tools like computers, plasma, lasers, robots, water-jets, 3-D printing and casting, and good old-fashioned files, welders, screws and hammers. We also know about all the latest tech gadgets and thingamabobs that make interactive projects even cooler.
3. See A Finished Product In Weeks Or Months.
No need to spend 6 months refining computer renderings and generating endless rounds of concepts. Within weeks, you’ll get the best concepts that are ready to prototype. Our designs are flexible and scalable, so you can have 1 or 100. Within weeks to months, we’ll refine into a finished product. Take what you imagine. Now, imagine that, but better. Read about the process.
4. Optimized For Northern California.
We also welcome visitors from distant lands, whether in person or by videoconference. See how it works.