Meet the firm designing futuristic UI for Iron Man and Samsung

Remember Tony Stark’s glass smartphone and transparent coffee table in the Iron Man movies? Or how about that gorgeous statue rendering of the Avengers in action at the end of Age of Ultron? You’ve got one company to thank for those sequences: Perception, a New York City-based visual design firm. It’s carved out a unique spot building forward-thinking design concepts for films and major tech companies, including the likes of Samsung, Microsoft and Ford. Perception’s work makes it clear we’ve moved on from the days when interface design was merely an afterthought for movies, and when few tech companies brought cinematic depth and emotion to their products. Now, there’s a sort of virtuous cycle of design, where movies lift from tech, and tech companies find inspiration in films.