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INDEPENDENT VENTURE DESIGN STUDIO

AUSTIN, TX / WORKING EVERYWHERE

Systems that
don’t exist yet.

We explore consequential problems.
Design what should exist instead.
Then make enough of it to find out.

Explore the work

START WITH THE SYSTEM.
SEE WHAT IT BECOMES.

A DIFFERENT STARTING POINT

Objects are
only half
the story.

The interesting part is what happens between them.

EXPLORE THREE SYSTEMS

FIG. 01 / RELATIONSHIPS, NOT OBJECTS
A shared operational world.People, agents, and software coordinate around a shared situation. The system gives their actions a common context.PEOPLEAGENTSAPPLICATIONSAUTOMATIONSHAREDSITUATIONX / CONTEXTY / POSSIBILITY

A shared operational world.

People, agents, and software coordinate around a shared situation. The system gives their actions a common context.

Many artifacts. One creative reality.Characters, rules, and relationships form a coherent canon. New stories can emerge without losing the intent behind them.CHARACTERSWORLD RULESSTORIESCREATORSCREATIVECANONX / CONTEXTY / POSSIBILITY

Many artifacts. One creative reality.

Characters, rules, and relationships form a coherent canon. New stories can emerge without losing the intent behind them.

The journey belongs to the pod.Separate the thing being moved from the vehicle moving it. Different transporters carry one modular unit across a coordinated journey.ROADRAILSEAAIRPERSONOR CARGOX / CONTEXTY / POSSIBILITY

The journey belongs to the pod.

Separate the thing being moved from the vehicle moving it. Different transporters carry one modular unit across a coordinated journey.

SELECTED WORK / DIFFERENT STATES

Different systems.
Same instinct.

All work
01 / Company

INDUSTRY 5

Enterprise systems

What if the enterprise were designed for humans and intelligent agents from the beginning?

02 / Company

CANON ENGINE

Narrative systems

What happens to creative control when content becomes nearly free to generate?

03 / Exploration

NŪMŪV

Transportation systems

What if we stopped designing transportation around the vehicle?

A COMPANY. AN EXPLORATION. AN OPEN SYSTEM. EACH IS A VALID OUTCOME.

01 / THE UNDERLYING QUESTION

If none of this
existed yet,
how should the
system work?

Most innovation begins with a market, a category, or a technology stack.

We begin one question earlier.

Start somewhere else

METHOD / FROM QUESTION TO CONSEQUENCE

The vehicle follows
the system.

Our method
01

Explore.

Find the consequential question underneath the familiar problem.

02

Design.

Model what should exist, starting from first principles.

03

Make.

Build enough to test the logic and expose what is missing.

04

Form.

Decide what should carry it into the world. A company is one possibility.

OPEN TO THE RIGHT QUESTION

What should
exist instead?

Perhaps you know a domain extraordinarily well. Perhaps an existing system has reached its limit.

Good places to start.

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