PUSH Studio

What PUSH Studio does

PUSH Studio is a Chicago-based design and technology consultancy founded in 2022 and co-located at DePaul University's Jarvis School of Computing and Digital Media. The studio specializes in applying emerging technologies — including augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), artificial intelligence (AI/ML), motion capture, voice-activated systems, data science, and the Internet of Things (IoT) — through human-centered design methodologies. Its portfolio includes nine featured projects spanning VR training prototypes (A Just Reality for law enforcement, CSVR for campus safety, VRSES for student communication skills), AI-powered applications (AI Motion Capture from RGB video), virtual production (VIVE Mars Camtrack), AR applications (AR-CS campus safety), UX redesigns (FutureSightIQ), 3D virtual campus tours (CDM Tours), and interactive museum exhibits (Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum digital globe).

The studio operates a professional services model, delivering emerging technology prototyping, UI/UX design, user research, UX evaluation, advising/leadership training, and 2–7 day Innovation Sprints through project-based engagements. Pricing is not publicly disclosed; each engagement is scoped collaboratively with the client. Customers span education institutions (primarily DePaul University), law enforcement and public safety agencies, museums and cultural institutions, and AI/technology companies, with project teams composed of DePaul faculty subject matter experts and students. The go-to-market is primarily referral-driven through the DePaul network and partner organizations (Matters at Play, VARC Lab, DePaul Center for Data Science, Technology for Social Good Research and Design Lab, Talespin, 11.2 Ventures), with no evidence of paid marketing channels.

PUSH Studio functions as an academic-industry hybrid entity with no external institutional investment, no parent company, and no disclosed revenue. Its core differentiator is the integration of DePaul's multidisciplinary faculty and graduate student talent pool with a project-based emerging technology delivery model, enabling cost-effective execution and a continuous R&D pipeline through DePaul's research labs. The studio's team of approximately 11 people includes a Director, a Director of Research, a VR Technical Lead, a Project Manager, UX designers, UX interns, and research assistants (several of whom are alumni consultants).

Name

PUSH Studio

Legal name

PUSH Studio

Website

https://pushstudio.one

Company type

Private

Founded year

2022

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

PUSH Studio is a Chicago-based design and technology consultancy co-located at DePaul University, delivering emerging technology prototypes (VR, AR, AI, motion capture), UX design, user research, and Innovation Sprints through faculty-student project teams for education, public safety, museum, and AI/tech clients.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Design and Emerging Technology Services

NAICS

Graphic Design Services (541430), Computer Systems Design and Related Services (54151), Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services (54169)

SIC

Services-Allied To Motion Picture Production (7819), Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Content Production (Video, Design, Copy, Studio) (BPAFAAAF)

akta.pro secondary industry

Production Equipment & Technical Services (Camera/Lighting/Grip, Virtual Production) (MPAAAMAH)

Keywords

• Emerging technology prototyping
• Human-centered design services
• Virtual reality training
• UX design consulting
• Design sprint facilitation

Headquarters

HQ city

Chicago

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Emerging Technology Prototyping Services: Development of low or high-fidelity prototypes using emerging technologies (AR, VR, AI/ML, motion capture, drones) for clients. Teams include faculty subject matter experts and students. Deliverables range from experiential to experimental prototypes.
2. UI + UX Design Services: High-fidelity product designs, interactive prototypes, design ideation, product concepts, user flows, and user stories delivered as consulting engagements.
3. User Research Services: Human-centered qualitative and quantitative research methods including interviews and ethnographic studies, with deliverables including insight generation and recommendations.
4. Advising + Leadership Services: Technology and people-centered design training, product workshops, design sprint facilitation, and user experience and emerging technology strategy advisory.
5. Innovation Sprints: 2–7 day design sprint engagements resulting in validated (tested) prototypes by the end of the sprint, with teams comprising faculty and students.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

PUSH Studio is a design and emerging-technology consultancy that delivers project-based services including emerging-technology prototyping (AR, VR, AI/ML, motion capture, drones), UI/UX design, user research, UX evaluation, advising and leadership training, and 2-7 day Innovation Sprints. Engagements are staffed by DePaul University faculty and students and produce custom prototypes, interactive experiences, and validated design solutions for clients in education, public safety, cultural, and technology sectors.

Product overview

PUSH Studio is an academic-industry design consultancy that does not sell a packaged software product but instead offers a portfolio of professional design services and collaborative research-and-development projects. Its service offerings include Emerging Technology Prototypes (AR, VR, AI/ML, motion capture, drones), UI + UX Design, Advising + Leadership, Innovation Sprints (2–7 day design sprints), User Research, and UX Evaluation. These services are delivered through collaborative project engagements with clients and DePaul University partner organizations. The portfolio of featured projects includes A Just Reality (VR law enforcement training), AI Motion Capture (AI-powered motion capture from RGB video), VRSES (AI + VR communication skills training), VIVE Mars Camtrack (virtual production studio), AR-CS (AR campus navigation), FSIQ/FutureSightIQ (competitive intelligence platform redesign), CDM Tours (3D virtual campus tour), CSVR (campus safety VR training), and the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum digital globe redesign. Each project is a custom engagement rather than a standalone product.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Emerging Technology Prototyping

Quantifiable outcome

• VR training prototype developed for law enforcement to improve investigative response to gender-based violence
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability9 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Matters at Play (M@P)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDirected by Lien Tran of DePaul University's School of Design, Matters at Play is a transdisciplinary design lab that partners in the creation of interactive advocacy solutions for positive social transformations — particularly in social justice, health, and environmental issues. M@P co-incubates and co-launches projects with PUSH Studio both in faculty-student collaborative contexts and classroom settings. Key joint projects include A Just Reality (VR law enforcement training) and VRSES (VR communication skills training).
• DePaul Center for Data Science (DePaulDS)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAn interdisciplinary research center at DePaul bringing together faculty expertise in data science, machine learning, and AI. Research areas include biomedical and health informatics, imaging analytics, interactive machine learning, marketing analytics, recommender systems, database forensics, and high performance and scientific computing. Provides AI/ML expertise to PUSH Studio projects requiring data science capabilities.
• Virtual and Augmented Reality Communication Lab (VARC Lab)coreTechnology or IntegrationLed by Professor Paul Booth at DePaul's College of Communications, VARC Lab houses state-of-the-art VR/AR equipment and focuses on helping people learn how to effectively and ethically communicate in VR and AR. It serves as a research and equipment resource for PUSH Studio's immersive technology projects, providing both technology infrastructure and academic expertise in VR/AR communication.
• Technology for Social Good Research and Design LabcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerA research lab bringing together faculty, students, and collaborators to design, build, and study tools for equitable education and empowerment in urban communities. Draws from learning sciences, computer science, human-computer interaction, experience design, data science, and psychology. Aligns with PUSH Studio's mission around ethics and equity in emerging technology.
• DePaul Jarvis Innovation CentercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerA DePaul innovation hub that supported the VIVE Mars Camtrack project, providing resources and space for developing a virtual production lab. Student Piyush Parmar and Josh Tsui (Jarvis Center head) led the initiative, with support from DePaul professors. The center provides institutional backing and physical space for PUSH Studio's virtual production and AI motion capture experiments.
• 11.2 VenturesminorGTM or Marketing Partner11.2 Ventures is the parent company of FutureSightIQ (FSIQ), a competitive intelligence platform using AI and natural language processing. PUSH Studio was engaged to redesign the frontend user experience of the FSIQ platform. Kurt Johnson, CEO of 11.2 Ventures, provided a testimonial endorsement for PUSH Studio's work.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Mursion: Provider of VR-based soft-skills training with AI-powered virtual humans for conversations and interviewing practice — closely mirrors VRSES and A Just Reality use cases in communication and trauma-informed training.
• Talespin: Enterprise VR/AI platform for immersive soft-skills and workforce training, whose Co-Pilot Designer tool PUSH Studio actually uses to build its A Just Reality prototype. Directly comparable as a VR training provider with the same target buyer (L&D, public safety) and a productized rather than custom model.
• STRIVR: Enterprise VR training platform specializing in immersive learning and performance training. Directly comparable to PUSH Studio's VR training projects (CSVR, A Just Reality) in target use case and category, though STRIVR is productized and venture-backed.
• Huge: Digital product and design consultancy delivering UX design, product strategy, and emerging-tech experiences. Closely matches PUSH Studio's UI/UX and design sprint offerings, with comparable client mix including education and enterprise.

Broad incumbents

• frog (frog Design): Global design and innovation firm part of Capgemini Invent, providing design strategy, product design, and emerging-tech prototyping. Overlaps directly with PUSH Studio's UX design and emerging-tech prototype service lines, particularly for enterprise clients.
• Accenture Song (formerly Fjord): Accenture's design and creative services arm providing design strategy, product design, and emerging-tech prototyping. Overlaps with PUSH Studio on enterprise design engagements, particularly where AR/VR/AI capability is required.
• IDEO: Globally recognized human-centered design consultancy offering UX, prototyping, and innovation services. Comparable to PUSH Studio's core human-centered design and emerging-tech prototyping offerings, but operates at vastly greater scale across multiple offices and verticals.
• R/GA: Global design and technology consultancy under IPG, blending brand, product design, and emerging tech (including AR/VR). Comparable in delivering integrated design + technology projects, but at much larger scale and with broader geographic reach.

Others

• Unity (Industrial Light & Magic / professional services ecosystem): Unity's ecosystem supports custom VR/AR content creation and virtual production workflows that PUSH Studio leverages (VRSES is Unity-based; Vive Mars uses Unreal Engine). Comparable as an enabling technology layer for the same kind of immersive experiences PUSH builds.

Emerging players

• Northwestern University Interaction Design Lab (or similar university-affiliated design studio): University-based design research groups (e.g., Northwestern, CMU, MIT Media Lab) operate hybrid academic-industry studios delivering emerging-tech prototypes. Comparable model to PUSH Studio's DePaul-embedded operating structure and student-faculty delivery team.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/pushstudio-one

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles13 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about PUSH Studio