Meet Zachary Morgan | Experience Designer for Theme Parks and Brands

We had the good fortune of connecting with Zachary Morgan and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Zachary, what role has risk played in your life or career?
Taking risks is crucial to success both personally and professionally. I’m not saying one way is right or wrong but without risk, things remain in a status quo. Risk causes discomfort, discomfort causes growth and challenge, which many times leads to success. Since I was a child, I was always interested in new experiences and adventures, from jumping off the jungle gym [I almost broke my neck], to jumping out of airplanes, the excitement of the unknown has been something that lights a spark in me. In general, I associate my willingness to take risks with openness, it’s the reason I started my own business, the reason I left a steady job at Walt Disney Imagineering, it’s the reason I moved across the country for a career opportunity. When we leave ourselves open to what the world can offer, opportunity can come from anywhere and inspiration can be found in the most unexpected situations. Creatives know this best; to be creative is to risk baring your soul in your work on a daily basis.

I made a decision a long time ago that I could say has definitely contributed to my success and that is the decision to just say yes. Sure, it’s gotten me into some trouble but for the most part it has been a professional mindset that has driven my success. It is worth noting there is a difference between risk and reckless. I’m not saying a yolo lifestyle brings success, but I do feel that when a person is open to what the world has to offer, some challenges come, but in my experience a lot more opportunity presents itself.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
As a kid, I was always interested in legos and toys like that, but also my grandpa was a woodworker, and it fascinated me. So I always had a propensity towards design and how things come together. And then as I got older, I found interest in Architecture. I studied architecture in college. When I graduated, I wanted to work in traditional architecture with a capital “A.” So I did. I spent 4 years in architecture firms working on airports, theaters, commercial office HQ’s, retail, single-family and multi-family residential, and more. I enjoyed learning and growing as a designer but eventually I felt creatively stifled and that there had to be more to creating architecture then designing buildings as simply objects. More than anything, I felt like architecture wasn’t doing enough to put the user at the center of the design chain.

Themed environments are different, they are about the millions and millions of users every year that come and experience these immersive worlds. I spent about 4 years at Walt Disney Imagineering and then about 4 years at Universal Creative. I worked on projects like Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, Marvel, Frozen and so many more. During my time in the industry I quickly realized that there was a lot to learn from my colleagues. So I would pick the brains of the ride designers, set designers, all the researchers, R&D and really just try to expand my skill set, expand my knowledge, and understand everything that goes into these very complex projects. What I learned the most in creating experiences for themed enviroments is that it’s not about creating fantasy imaginary worlds. It’s about creating something that is relatable and is focused on each touchpoint, from the micro to the macro. Lastly, I’ve spent a couple years working for frog design, a large design consultancy soaking up the amazing talent and skill involved in each of the impactful projects there. Blending design strategy, digital design, service design, and placemaking into solutions that help companies build deeper more meaningful relationships with their clients.

What I do in my company, Untitled Experiences, is at the intersection of the built environment, storytelling and interactive design. It’s truly a combination of the various skills I’ve picked up along my convoluted path to where I am today and I’m fortunate to have had such diverse experience in my career that has allowed me to succeed in my business and given me the knowledge and confidence to feel comfortable pioneering new processes and approaches to create the most incredible experiences.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
You have to go do a hike. I’d say many hikes but I get that’s not everyones jam! For visitors, you should do the hike to the observatory, Echo Mountain north of Pasadena, or Mt. Hollywood.

Local Favs:

Lincoln Heights – Moos Craft BBQ

Echo Park – Low Boy

Eagle Rock – Chifa

K-Town – oo-kook KBBQ

Arts District – Manuela, Loqui, WurstKuche, and so many more

West Adams – Johnny’s Pastrami + Bar

Chinatown – Steep, Highland Park Brewing, Homage Brewing, Qin West Noodle, Howlin’ Rays

There are so many more!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
No one gets anywhere alone. I can’t understate the amount of support I’ve had along my journey. There are so many names along the way that I can’t state them all in this article without missing some but I’ve had the fortune of so many great mentors and peers through college, during my time at Disney and Universal as well as in my own business working with veterans of industry that impart their wisdom. While we’re here I’d like to shoutout 3 specific people, my business partners Matias Cena, Justin Hirose, and Sean Burke. They always say the dream is to work with your friends and I’m blessed enough to have that with this incredibly talented group of guys commited to bringing great experiences to the world.

In ancient times, there was no such thing as a design degree. There was apprenticeship, and that is how you became the designer you were going to be. We can go to design school, but mentorship can teach you those things that school just never could–the real life experiences of people who have been there and done it, failed enough to succeed. I think that mentorship is so important to building the professional ecosystem and in my experience, mentorship goes both ways, as fortunate as I’ve been with guidance and advice throughout my career, I try to provide the same to young professionals and those in school or out still discovering their path. Anything I can do to assist them and provide mentorship on that journey, I’m always happy to help. So shoutout to those on discovering their path every day!

Website: http://zdmdesign.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zdmorgan/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zdmorgan/

Other: https://www.untitledexperiences.com/ https://www.frog.co/designmind/design-mind-frogcast-ep-21-immersive-places-imaginary-worlds

Image Credits
Michael Mcinturf Architects