Pros
Great exposure to high profile projects; hospitality, restaurants, day clubs, night clubs, lounges, entertainment facilities, workplaces, real estate development and even space!!
There is a great studio culture here that thrives on creativity, exposure to the latest happenings in the city, weekly lunch and learns, bringing a wide range of vendors to share their latest and greatest product offerings, lunch included :). Weekly share-outs from internal teams teaching about their projects ups and downs, tips and tricks for software uses, and best practices when starting new projects, such as space planning tips and AI workflows. Quarterly Crit Days gather the entire studio for quick thinking pitches of hypothetical project brief scenarios that foster open minded, free range expressions that are fueled by studio wide participation and engaging dialogue. Public speaking is expected of the entire group and this is a safe expressive place to build your voice.
Cons
The directives are not clear at the onset of projects, no high level synopsis of goals beyond making cool spaces. Early developments are explored by associate and managerial levels, critiqued by directors after development, with small timeframes left for correction. This adds additional hours and stress to staff, as noted in all the reviews on this platform. The lack of creative direction at the beginning of projects is likely due to the upper management/directors having lack of experience outside of their only jobs here at ICRAVE, now Journey, which counts as them having two work place experiences. Having been at multiple size firms over decades, I can say that the creative oversight here has been the least hands on in my experience. This results in individuals progressing the best they can with what they know, only to be offered criticism late in the process and expected to shift course with minimal time remaining, rather than a open dialogue from the beginning and fine tuning along the course. This is not true for all upper management, though it does account for the bulk, when participation is 95% words and 5% sketches, reference images and if you’re lucky, an actual drawing/sketch. Lead by example is not practiced from this group.
But do expect to know all of the current software programs your directors don’t know, they will insist it is part of your growth and they’ll be sure to provide minimal support to get you to learn it, including a stipend for learning that you can use on your free time, whenever you do find time between your already packed schedule… it’s hard to understand the prioritization of software skill building as being more important than developing designs for production, when there are specialists that do only one thing like rendering, or digital twins. As a designer, you’re expected to build the models for them and produce the drawings for construction. They want you to be the designer, the renderer, the drawing production and the digital asset developer, all in one. But for sure, you’ll only get paid for being one of them, not all 4. They think this is streamlining or removing redundancy, neglecting to see the specialty needed in each. So in short, they want an all in one architect, interior designer, renderer, 3D real time animation specialist, and did I mention presentation/graphic designer? The hubris of their stance while expecting everyone else to be unicorns…
