Hyperakt: Deroy Peraza

DFA Collaborative | Inside the Studio

Written by Mia Manavalan

“At the end of the day, we want to help people.”
- Deroy Peraza

When Deroy Peraza and Julia Zeltser graduated from Parsons The New School for Design, they both found themselves stuck in jobs that just quite didn’t fit. And so in 2001, they started from scratch and created Hyperakt, a social impact design agency located in Brooklyn. From figuring out how to run a business together to understanding their client base, the process was one small battle after another. They worked with many different clients, including their own friends, local non-profits, cultural institutions, and ad agencies. Eventually, they came to the conclusion that the clients they were most interested in working with were those who were mission-driven. By 2009, they narrowed their focus onto social impact work and found that this was what they truly loved. Now, they work with NGOs, non-profits, academic institutions, social entrepreneurship startups, and technology companies that are providing access to information and education.

Most projects involve challenges in communication; this includes helping their clients tell stories in meaningful ways. Their clients are often rigorous academics who may struggle to speak in laymen’s terms. However, their ideas are imperative and could have a significant impact on society — but only if their message is spread to a wider audience. These concepts range from new approaches to the educational system, delivery of vaccines in developing countries, innovation, all the way to transparency between the public and private sector. Hyperakt’s goal is to tell these stories in ways that more people can grasp, using data in an accessible manner to back up their clients’ claims in order to substantiate their plans.

Hyperakt’s work is intellectually challenging because of all the necessary research needed to take in before every project. “We just did a project with New York, called OneNYC,” Deroy said as we sat in the Hyperakt office. “It was cool because we felt like we were working with people who make change and have the power to move things forward. The language and sentiment is embedded in everything Mayor de Blasio does.” The project was based around Mayor de Blasio’s vision for a more just and equitable New York City over the next couple of decades. Hyperakt helped get that vision across. For several months, Deroy and his team were able to see how the heads of the city agencies collaborated, made decisions, and put things down onto paper. Hyperakt took this information and translated it into a format that would be compelling for the general public to read (nyc.gov/onenyc).

Hyperakt’s repertoire also includes launching independent business and user experience platforms. One example is the Refugee Project, a map that uses UN data to show the route of refugees’ migrations (http://www.therefugeeproject.org). Another project is On the Grid, a designer’s guide to the most creative and interesting neighborhoods in the world (http://www.onthegrid.city). Through these projects, Hyperakt is embracing innovation and through this, is truly making an impact through design.

Deroy described Hyperakt’s culture in three words: optimistic, collaborative, and adaptive. It was clear to me that the environment is encouraging, empowering, and one where hierarchy is de-emphasized. “It’s not about how smart you are, how big your portfolio is… it’s about what drives you.” According to Deroy, social impact initiatives are booming more than ever before. At the end of my visit, I had to ask, “How do you find these clients, these organizations, and these ideas?” “There’s options out there,” Deroy says, “You just need to go look for them.”

To learn more about Hyperakt’s projects, check out http://hyperakt.com/work/ .

Illustrated by Allison Chen