Belle & Wissell

In short

Belle & Wissell was founded in Seattle in 2003 by designer Gabe Kean, and its real specialty is physical space with media in it: interactive exhibits, immersive installations, brand story environments, films and soundscapes, with experiential websites as a smaller line. The studio prototypes and tests each piece for ergonomics and usability before it is built. That exhibit craft is why it holds #5 on our Seattle list.

For Amazon's HQ2 visitor center it built a touch-driven scale model of the campus, a multi-user data wall and dual-screen employee story stations. The Remembrance Gallery for the Japanese American Citizens League honours more than 7,500 people held at the Puyallup Assembly Center in 1942, with name markers that light as visitors approach. At UCSF's pediatric pain clinic, a projected waterfall reveals native animals for children to find.

Museums, hospitals, university campuses and companies planning a visitor center or lobby installation are the clients this team suits; SFMOMA, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Getty, the Space Needle and Harley-Davidson are among them. Organisations whose need is ongoing marketing, a conventional corporate website or a rebrand should look at a web or branding agency, since screens on walls are where Belle & Wissell does its best work.