Pluspunten
If you enjoy working on environmental / architectural / interior design projects, Rapt is one of the leading studios working in that discipline. Everyone there is very knowledgable about this craft and how to execute upon that vision.
Minpunten
My background is in graphic design and branding. I have very limited expertise with environmental or interior design work. While Rapt does the occasional branding project, it isn’t their bread and butter. So I was honestly surprised they extended me an offer. I couldn’t quite connect the dots, and over time, it became clear they couldn’t either. The work I was assigned to seemed misaligned with my abilities, but it’s not as if I hid that at any point. So while the projects were interesting, I perpetually felt like a fish out of water on them with my expertise.
Because the need for graphic and branding work was much more diminished as a result, I spent most of my time flexing disciplinary muscles I’m not as experienced with. This isn’t a dealbreaker, but without guidance or support from the rest of the team, I often felt adrift and lost.
There is a resonant “you can do whatever you want here except the wrong thing” type of culture at Rapt. You will be encouraged to be autonomous and take charge, but this will only be accepted if it’s decisions that the inner circle agree with. Otherwise, your voice of dissent will die in darkness.
I had no real management or 1:1s at Rapt, which meant I didn’t have much insight or direction to work with apart from my own instincts. This might seem wonderful to some people, but for me, it just enabled a chaotic environment built upon miscommunication, vaunted egos, and arbitrary criteria that always shifted. It’s hard to keep up or find growth potential in a place like this.
Rapt will say they encourage a deep sense of collaboration and are very interdisciplinary, but all that really means is that they take on whatever project seems sexy to them from either a brand or monetary standpoint; there aren’t really any values or integrity with their approach beyond the superficial posturing you can see on their website. And if their definition of collaboration is just people with an inflated sense of themselves telling you what they think is better, then I suppose they’re *very* collaborative.
Culture felt very wooden and awkward at Rapt. It almost felt as though people were afraid to step on each other’s toes or say the wrong thing — like everyone was mimicking what they thought close friends are supposed to behave like. Hey, look, I don’t need to be best friends with my co-workers, but having some genuine sense of camaraderie can be really helpful for boosting morale and motivation. It certainly strengthens the work in a subliminal way when you feel united in your commitment to it.
There isn’t much of a process or system in place in terms of how the work is done or… just about anything, really. I was entrusted with building out the graphic design team as the new art director, but was told very conflicting things from the other design directors. Some felt it wasn’t necessary or essential, others had very sharp opinions on who they would hire, despite not having any background in brand or graphic design like myself. Many of my vetted candidates were denied moving forward in the hiring process because they just didn’t “click”. When asked what kind of specific criteria I should be looking for, I was given vague and unhelpful answers that couldn’t be codified into a proper job description. Every decision in hiring or the work was made almost entirely on instinct or feeling. But again, I learned there are “right” feelings and “wrong” feelings.