Global view on design

DESIGNS ON SUCCESS: Mark J. Mason, center, founder and art director, Kay Belardinelli, rear, front end developer, and Elliot Berry, foreground, developer, are seen at Shell Shock Inc., a design agaency at 244 Weybosset St. in Providence. / PBN PHOTO/ MICHAEL SALERNO
DESIGNS ON SUCCESS: Mark J. Mason, center, founder and art director, Kay Belardinelli, rear, front end developer, and Elliot Berry, foreground, developer, are seen at Shell Shock Inc., a design agaency at 244 Weybosset St. in Providence. / PBN PHOTO/ MICHAEL SALERNO

Born in Germany to an Egyptian mother and a British father, it’s no wonder Mark J. Mason’s Providence design agency has an international flavor.

The fast-growing Shellshock Inc. on Weybosset Street is projecting to double its revenue in 2016 and its growing list of clients are located in different corners of the globe.

“Our business isn’t location specific,” Mason told Providence Business News. “I like to build up a taste of different flavors and cultures – which has a heavy influence on design.”

Indeed, since launching the company in 2012, Shellshock has worked with clients from Boston, California, New Jersey, Ireland, Dubai, Russia, China, Portugal and Spain, to name a few. Mason, who speaks Arabic, along with some Spanish and French, hires employees with different language skills to help broaden the company’s reach and perspective.

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The agency focuses on different areas of design, including websites, advertisement, user experience and research, among other areas. Despite the suite of offerings, however, Mason says his clients tend to have the most trouble when it comes to developing brands which, along with website development, take up a lot of his company’s time.

“Creativity is everything you have to do with the right side of the brain, and while people have great ideas, they have a hard time constructing the words and message of what their company is setting out to do,” he said.

Shellshock’s mantra is “deconstruct, discover, deliver,” which helps clients figure out the why, how and what of their companies, according to Mason.

The philosophy extends to his seven employees, who Mason allows to work remotely. He even encourages them to travel to different countries, where he’ll pay for co-working space, with the stipulation that they get their work done and bring something new to the table from their experience.

“If you take care of your employees, they’ll take care of your clients,” he said.

Mason is a big proponent of Providence. He says he pays a fraction of what he’d spend in Boston on space and advocates that it’s much easier to stand out in a pool with less fish.

“I decided to set up shop in Providence instead of Boston for reasons like pricing and because of the amount of talent that goes through Providence blows my mind away,” he said. “It’s a great place to start a business, particularly for people who’re not location specific.”

Looking to the future, Mason wants to grow to nine employees, but no more. He’d also like to set up an office that doubles as a café and communal space for students and his employees, and has already started looking for space downtown.

When asked what makes Shellshock different from the competition, he replied:

“I think the quality of our work is obviously what stands out to clients, but also the way we do things in the company is pretty unconventional,” he said. •

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