Speck Design Reviews

Pros

Speck Design has the long extensive history of an established company but the recent changes has allowed Speck to stay nimble and adjust to the changing dynamics of the industry The group of individuals that work at Speck Design now are focussed on a new direction that they are excited about and committed to. The employees are committed to success and everyones passion for projects really comes out in their activities on a daily basis.

Cons

Like most companies in the midst of change SpeckDesign does have some growing pains that it is quickly learning and growing from.

Pros

I recently started at Speck Design - my second job after obtaining my undergraduate degree. Speck was acquired by FutureBrand over a year ago and, while I've heard that there were some adjustment problems, overall it's been a positive experience. Pros: - New hires are AMAZING. They work hard, are good leaders, and contribute to a positive work environment. - CEO takes into consideration my strengths, likes, and dislikes, to help me create a job that I enjoy and is useful to the company. - Tuesday lunches and Thursday happy hours! - We have a small company feel (only 20 people in our office) but the benefits of being owned by a larger company. - Schedules are flexible and management is understanding when you need to leave early or take time off. - Leadership cares about your personal growth and progress. - The new space looks and feels nice and contributes to a fun, collaborative environment.

Cons

Cons: - It took awhile to really solidify my job description, but management has always been very open to open communication and proactivity to find solutions. - Some people are still holding on to negativity from the past - but honestly, I think the company has come a long way and will only continue to get better and keep growing. New hires and leadership have been awesome.

Pros

-some real smart and real fun people -I found the compensation to be fair -variety of projects

Cons

-somewhat sketchy behavior from leadership: CEO asked company to put reviews up on Glassdoor to counter the negative ones which had been posted, not ethical -poor project quality & planning has made it hard to succeed or stay interested -poor team cohesion, especially with last-minute new hires who are not properly on-boarded or vetted by the existing team

Pros

-There are literally no pros to working at Speck Design. I could not wait to leave.

Cons

-Some of the highest strung people I've ever worked with. -A very odd group of engineers. No cohesion. -The company has this thing about hiring contractors. Makes no sense. They'd constantly bring in engineering contractors to work on projects. And then a few months later they're gone. That's a great way to build a team. -Projects lack excitement. Maybe not Speck's fault. They have to take on any projects just to make ends meet. -Constant money problems. -No career advancement. -There is no fun here.

Pros

Pretty impressive range of projects. I've had the chance to work on new Google hardware, Apple retail environment, and future of mobility initiatives. And lots of robotics and computer vision technologies. The culture is unique -- supportive and quirky with a bit of rowdiness.

Cons

There are some growing pains with the FutureBrand acquisition.

Pros

I have worked at Speck for over a decade, and watched us grow from a small scrapy company to an impressive design firm. What I love most about Speck is the opportunity to work on amazing projects for very cool clients. We work with everyone one from big companies like Apple, Google, and Ford to exciting start-up with cutting edge technologies. The team here is very close and supportive of one another.

Cons

We are small, so don't have all of the infastructure a large company has. Now that we are owned by FutureBrand some of that infastructure is improving.

Pros

Speck Design works with some of the biggest names in the bay area. The ability to work on groundbreaking products is what drew me to the company and it has not disappointed. Speck Design is in a unique position with the recent acquisition by Future Brands. This has opened up many more opportunities. If you are the kind of person who embraces a challenge and loves to drive change, then Speck is the place for you. The staff is a unique mix of disciplines and everyone works well together. There is never a dull moment.

Cons

There are some growing pains and organizational challenges which come with an acquisition, but I am positive these will be resolved in the near future.

Pros

Every creative agency has at least some creative people so that does not say much. We tend to skew older which means that our people have more than a few projects under their belt.

Cons

MANGEMENT and CULTURE. Wow. We seem to have a glassdoor flame war going on here but from a design and engineering perspective we seem to do project work for decent clients. We are not in the same league as the premier firms by any means. The company has been in business for 20 years but we have never been smaller. There are really about 14 people left (the website still has people that have left) which makes it hard to be taken seriously. It also makes it impossible to have any energy or vibrancy. It feels dead especially with two offices. Sometimes I am the only person in the office... DEAD. We have no awards of late and the company that purchased us has never designed product (they are a brand company). Our leadership is now down to just a CEO that has no design or product experience (as mentioned in many other reviews) and a BD executive that has never sold anything in the 1.5 years that he has been here. I hope things turn around but if you are looking for work here just know that we are in a bit of a stall.

Pros

Truly authentic collaboration culture, within the team and with the clients. Wicked smart designers committed to making products that make the world better.

Cons

Scrappy and resourceful and super fast moving can sometimes feel too scrappy and resourceful and super fast moving, but I think it comes with the territory

Pros

It has a name that it got from Speck Products but there is no connection anymore and there has not been for a long time.... There are good people here but there are at every company. Sadly they are not in leadership. There are some good clients but from a design and engineering perspective they are generally not very challenging. You will not get much in the way of portfolio work here.

Cons

Be very critical of some of the positive reviews. They smell of being shills especially the one right before this. Nobody would say this is the best company they had worked at unless it was the only one and even then I doubt that they would say that. The leadership has run this company into the ground. Just about 16 actual staff at the moment despite the faces on the site. We tend to keep names up long after the people have left. The CEO has never run a service company and it shows. She is a smart, friendly person but has many blind spots and tends to grab onto any new idea without any follow through. There is zero depth of understanding of design and engineering. She makes wild promises to clients and to staff that she cannot back up. She is not trusted by staff, even those who like her personally. It is a sad state of affairs.... The acquisition did not change much. Morale is very low.