Sensor Station
We are design-oriented software developers partnering with creatives to craft deliberate experiences.
Sensor Station is a digital studio rooted in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia. We are a two-partner team with a collective foundation in formal design study. Our development practices reflect our propensity toward highly organized, methodical architecture and system design. We specialize in producing projects with minimal library dependencies and runtime efficiency with an affinity for accessibility and low-end device compatibility.
This site reflects our commercial work, but we also have self-driven interests and explorations.
Select Collaborators
Our Services
- Realtime 3D & interactive
- Web development
- eCommerce
- Native software
- Technical consulting
- Eco-minded technical solutions
eCommerce
Sleep On Latex
Looking to bring their web presence up to the level of their products, Sleep On Latex hired us to build their new site. Our Hyssop CMS provides far greater flexibility and control over content and presentation than previously possible with the Shopify CMS.
In collaboration with
Gigantic!
From the 3D animated hero with candy bar chunks floating in outer space to the chunky buttons and vibrant dynamic color theming, Gander's design highlights the web's ability to build personality into a product. We brought their cosmic design to life with a website that checked all the boxes for a new startup: eCommerce, subscription service, CMS, and an unforgettable animating hero.
In collaboration with
Proper
Developing alongside Gardener NYC, we helped bring the design crafted by XXIX to life. The design's centerpiece was a dynamic sundial, a play of shadow and light that appeared in multiple forms across the site. The sundial moves and changes according to the user's location on earth, matching whatever light and shadow they were experiencing in their own environment.
Lupii
Gander's imaginative branding and playful graphics immediately had us on board with Lupii. We were thrilled to take on the challenge of engineering the animated marquee elements of this eCommerce site, allowing the client to have complete control over the dynamic text all within Shopify's native CMS.
In collaboration with
Interactive/3D
GT Maru
We helped Grilli Type bring the personality that they designed into GT Maru to life by way of animation and interaction.
GT Ultra
We helped Grilli Type explain how they are pushing typographic boundaries with GT Ultra, their new typeface that blurs the lines between sans and serif. With deliberate animation and interaction we were able to show off all of the dynamic OpenType features that they packed into GT Ultra.
GT Flexa
Building upon our work on GT Alpina, Grilli Type wanted our help to find out just how flexible OpenType variable fonts can be. From the loading screen to the type tester, we carefully bent, stretched, and squeezed GT Flexa to every possible configuration.
In collaboration with
GT Alpina
Grilli Type enlisted our help to finesse the interactions for their GT Alpina minisite. Together we exploited the fluid possibilities of OpenType variable fonts to show the versatility of this new workhorse serif.
2020 In Review
Antfood enlisted our help to bring together a semi-serious, semi-comedic take on the year 2020. They produced the audio, Golden Wolf the illustration, and we delivered the interactive experience.
Mozilla Brand Accent
XXIX approached us to bring the this analog + digital glitch noise pattern to life for Mozilla's new brand direction. Implemented entirely in a GLSL shader, we made every piece of the multi-layered noise texture respond independently to mouse movement.
In collaboration with
Climate
Platoon's brand for Climate features an extruded 3D logotype that we brought to life with buttery smooth WebGL as the focal point of their new site. The site was featured as an Awwwards site of the day in 2018.
In collaboration with
ClickClickClick
For their wacky 2021 Black Friday event, Cards Against Humanity asked us to break your mouse and trackpad.
In collaboration with
How we work
We aim to build cathedrals: grand, precise, and thoroughly considered. Every detail from top to bottom is crucial to the final product—the developer experience, code size, dependencies and long-term risk, execution performance, bandwidth requirements, build time, accessibility, and carbon footprint, to name a few. In a world of infinite off-the-shelf options, our approach is very much against the grain because we believe it makes for a better product and experience.
We work only on a single project at a time to provide each project the singular focus it deserves. Every project begins with a thorough review of the design work to identify established systems and organizational structures. Our background in formal design study allows us to see how best to structure the code to deliver the experience the designer intended. This attention to detail sets the stage for our projects, knowing that the foundation that’s established in the design is critical to the longevity and flexibility of the codebase.
We enjoy working with design teams to explore interactive, 3D, and animation possibilities. Because we are well-versed in computer graphics programming, we are able to help guide a team to use the expanse of their imagination without restraint of existing libraries and tools.
What to expect
Our services are billed at $6000 per week and we rarely accept projects that require fewer than 8 weeks of work. Project explorations and technical consultations are billed at $200 per hour.
We use Hyssop CMS, a software we built out of the desire for comprehensive solution to content management. At this time Hyssop is available exclusively to our clients.
Work with us
Our earliest availability is August 2022
Send creative briefs, including budget, technical considerations, and design mockups to loo2j1kan2outn29%@55#4fsensn02jx9orstation.com.
