Today we’d like to introduce you to Zachary Morgan.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
As a kid, I was always into building with Legos and Knex and all that stuff. My grandpa was a woodworker also, and that fascinated me as he would show me how to use the tools as early as four years old. For this reason, I always kind of had a propensity towards it. And then as I got older, I found interest in Architecture. As I would drive through cities and see different styles and cultures, whether it was old unique architecture or really cool crazy alien-looking architecture, I fell in love with the idea of it because I didn’t know what it really was yet. It just drew me to design.
So after I graduated from college, I went to work in traditional architecture firms. I was committed to going and working in contemporary architecture and doing “what Architects do.” So I worked on airports, retail, single-family residential, multifamily residential–kind of the whole gamut of typologies. And I felt really creatively stifled. I felt like architecture wasn’t doing enough to put the user at the forefront of the design process.
I was really interested in theme parks because theme parks are all about the guests. At the end of the day, it’s about the parents and kids running through the parks and experiencing all these different immersive worlds. I worked at Walt Disney Imagineering for about four years. I worked on Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, Marvel: Avenger’s Campus, Frozen as well as many other smaller side projects. I worked with R&D as well and have my name on a patent there. Any Disney project period–really any themed entertainment project–there are dozens and dozens of disciplines that have a role throughout the lifecycle of that project. And so knowing that I knew that there was a lot to learn from my colleagues on every single project. So I would pick the brains of the ride designers and the show set designers, all the researchers over in R&D – which is actually how I ended up working with them for a good chunk of time there – and really just focused on expanding my skill set, my knowledge, and working to understand everything that goes into these very, very complex projects.
After Disney, I spent another 4+ years working for Universal Creative helping to lead the development of the Wizarding World at Epic Universe in Orlando Florida, pivoting into show set design and attraction design. After almost a decade in theme parks, I moved into designing experiences with a company called Frog Design, a leading global design agency, where I use a similar approach and skill set to theme parks but instead focus my energy on designing experiences for hospitals, financial institutions, brand experiences, and more to make the user experience better. For example, one project was about reimagining the cancer treatment journey for patients and their families. Another project was to reimagine the family dining strategy for a global restaurant chain. With my background in a blend of Architecture, themed entertainment, design research, interactivity, and service design, I approach design in a way that is very unique to my diverse background, personally and professionally.
This all led me to the path I am currently on today. In 2021, I started my own company with some of my closest friends called Untitled Experiences. Our company designs experiences for brands, municipalities, theme parks, and more. We take an approach rooted in an innovative process and a world-class product to develop meaningful and impactful experiences. We are always growing the company and doing our best to make powerful experiences so reach out if you’re looking to collaborate!
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No, it hasn’t always been a smooth road. When you’re creative, your work is your life and so adversity personally or professionally, brings both inspiration and difficulty. I didn’t grow up with a lot, but I grew up with an immense amount of love and parents who pushed me to be the best version of myself. When I lost my father, it shook me to my core and I had just started my job at Walt Disney Imagineering. He was diagnosed in January and gone by July of the same year. In that year, in this new amazing job, I had to make a decision to adapt and move forward or withdraw and become a product of my grief. This was a pivotal moment in my career as a designer because I grew in ways I don’t have enough words to describe, and my perspective on the world changed in a way that rippled through my approach to life.
Some of the other struggles along the way aside from losing a parent much too soon, were working hard to put myself through college and working two jobs while doing it. Along with these struggles, I worked in the material closet of my first internship out of college getting paid pennies but figured out a way to make that work and move my career forward. I list these as reasons I didn’t have the smoothest road, but I firmly believe that bumps in our road shape the journey and teach the real-life skills that matter. I wouldn’t have shaped my professional journey any other way.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I design environments, places, and products through carefully crafted spatial narratives. My company’s focus is on experiential design but I understand that is a broad description. My work lives anchored in the tangible, at the intersection of architecture, interactive design (digital and kinetic), and narrative storytelling. I’ve worked in various typologies of the built environment including retail, hospitality, residential, theater, and workplace design; however, the majority of my career has been in entertainment, helping to lead the design and development of theme parks around the globe. Whatever the medium or scale, the focus is on the meaningful experience of the end user.
I am very proud of the diverse and convoluted path I’ve taken to get to this point in my career. I feel that I have created a diverse foundation for a rapidly changing field which is the built environment. Whether it’s brands, municipalities, museums, theme parks, or some other typology that doesn’t exist yet, I’ve crafted an approach to design that considers typologies, users, and overall physical and digital experience to create holistic solutions that are both impactful and intentional. This interdisciplinary fungibility between modes of working and typologies of environment is not something that is widespread in the industry globally and sets me and my company apart from others who work in the built environment.
Contact Info:
- Website: zdmdesign.com
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zdmorgan/
- Other: untitledexperiences.com
