Conscious Creation

Optimistic design and technical excellence

We see a beautiful future ahead – a place where insights, imagination, design, and technology conspire to deliver valuable and inclusive experiences for your customers, community, and society. That’s where we’re going.

Come with us.

Why Substantial

We believe in the unmatched potential of design and technology to transform our world

  • Design Research + Strategy

  • UX / Product Design

  • Full Stack Development

Why Us

Our Work

Advancing the human experience in a digital world

See project

Vroom

An integrated approach to supporting early learning

Social Impact iOS App Android App
See project

Khan Academy

Leveraging research and storytelling to benefit historically under-resourced communities

Education Design Research + Strategy
See project

USC Shoah Foundation

Modernizing experiential learning with a place-based mobile app

Edtech iOS App Android App
See project

Jane

Simplifying the complicated world of legal cannabis for customers

B2B Responsive Website
All Work

Design Conversations

Optimistic Design

Optimistic Design is a practical, positive look at the future of design, ethical innovation, and technology. Tune in each month with Wilma Lam, Substantial’s Strategy Director, as she is joined by creatives, makers, and thinkers to talk about what it means to design with hope for our ever changing world.

See All Episodes

Recent Episodes

Episode 09

E.09

Jaymes Hanna

Senior Program Officer of K-12 Market Dynamics, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Jaymes Hanna, Senior Program Officer of Market Dynamics on the K-12 Education team, supports the work on improving the design, awareness, and adoption of evidence-based programs, products and services that support teachers and increase student success.

Episode 08

E.08

Adha Mengis

Project Director, Community Collaboration + Design

Adha currently serves as the project director for community and design at Digital Promise, where he designs learning experiences for educators rooted in equity and metacognition.

Episode 07

E.07

Ijeoma Azodo

Associate Director, Clinical and Health Service Design

Dr. Ijeoma Azodo is the Associate Director of Clinical and Health Service Design at NES Technology Service.