01
Foresight & strategy
Signals, scenarios and the brand’s next move, then the name, the look and the product. The sketch everything else is built from.
Signals · Scenarios · Naming · IdentityThe futures studio of Jonny V. I show brands their next world before they build it: read the signals, sketch it in pencil, make it real with its own people, then wire it to sell.
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- 01 · The question
The future is not a destination. It’s a decision being made.
See what could happen · Decide what should · Build what comes next - 01 · The question
Every future starts somewhere. This one starts on a desk.
Quest · a home battery prototype · concept demonstration - 02 · The signals
The future is already leaving clues.
Cheaper cells · Repair rules · Peak prices · Longer outages · Tariffs - 03 · The branch
One starting point. More than one future.
Scale · Repair · Access · Shared - 04 · The choice
Four futures. Four different bets.
Each one wins something and costs something - 05 · Scale
Win through scale. Standardize the battery. Optimize the system.
You gain: lowest cost per kWh · You give up: easy to copy, hostage to supply chains - 05 · The decision
A possible future is not a plan. A plan starts with a test.
What must be true: installers buy a standard Quest at volume price - 05 · Repair
Design for longevity. Turn maintenance into a relationship.
You gain: parts, upgrades, refurbishing · You give up: logistics, warranties, long-term compatibility - 05 · The decision
A possible future is not a plan. A plan starts with a test.
What must be true: owners will pay to keep their Quest running - 05 · Access
Sell the outcome, not the object. Power as a service.
You gain: monthly revenue, paid by the grid · You give up: service duty, utility dependence, trust - 05 · The decision
A possible future is not a plan. A plan starts with a test.
What must be true: homes pay for backup hours, not hardware - 05 · Shared
Change who benefits. The block owns the battery.
You gain: building and campus contracts, loyalty · You give up: control; governance gets hard - 05 · The decision
A possible future is not a plan. A plan starts with a test.
What must be true: neighbors can share power and decide together
04 · Which world would you build?
What are you trying to make possible?
A product that doesn’t exist yet. A business model nobody has tested. A system that needs to change. Bring us the challenge.
Start a conversation →See another future
Quest is a fictional concept demonstration, not a client or a forecast. The signals on the desk are real. Sources in Futures ↓
Futures
See it, then make it, then sell it
Most brands plan from last year’s numbers. I start from what’s already moving: how people shop, gather and decide, and the tools and rules arriving around them. Then I make the future worth betting on visible, so your team can stand in it and decide.
01 · Signals
Read what’s moving
The shifts already under way in your category, each one with a source you can check.
02 · Scenarios
Write the futures
Two to four worlds your brand could live in, dated, with what each would take and what it would cost to ignore.
03 · Prototype
Make one real
The one worth building, as a scene, a film, a product or a shop you can walk through before you commit. The film above is one.
NotebookDated. Marked done only when it’s done.
- Oct 2026The Future Is Up for Grabs
One prototype, real signals, four futures, one first test. The experience above, and the method run end to end.
Shipped - 2026Meridian Library
Video you can click. Every object in a film is an address, every fact has a source, and people are never selectable.
Alpha - Brief 01Shopping inside the story
Where buying goes when every brand has a world of its own.
Writing now - Brief 02The sound of a brand
What computer-made music does to culture, and to the brands that live in it.
Writing now - Brief 03Proof you can see
Prices, claims and pictures tied to a record anyone can check.
Writing now
The signals on the desk · sources, checked Oct 2026
- Pack pricesAverage lithium-ion pack price fell to $108/kWh in 2025, down 8%; stationary storage to $70/kWh (BNEF, Dec 2025).Source ↗
- Repair rulesEU Batteries Regulation 2023/1542, Art. 11: portable batteries must be removable and replaceable from 18 Feb 2027.Source ↗
- US right to repairNY, CA, MN, CO and OR laws require access to parts, tools and documentation; Colorado banned parts pairing from 2026.Source ↗
- Peak pricesXcel Colorado puts homes on time-of-use by default: 5–9 pm peak about 2.7x off-peak.Source ↗
- OutagesU.S. customers averaged about 11 hours without power in 2024, the most in a decade (EIA, Dec 2025).Source ↗
- TariffsU.S. tariff on Chinese non-EV lithium-ion batteries rose to 25% in 2026.Source ↗
- Sodium-ionCATL signed a 60 GWh sodium-ion storage deal in April 2026.Source ↗
- Virtual power plantsAbout 33 GW in North America today; U.S. DOE sees 80–160 GW by 2030.Source ↗
- Paid home batteriesSunrun’s CalReady network of about 75,000 home batteries pays owners to share power at peaks.Source ↗
- Community energyU.S. community solar passed 10 GW in 2025 even as new installs fell 25%.Source ↗
- AtlantaA community resilience hub in West Atlanta runs on 34 kW of solar and 320 kWh of storage.Source ↗
Quest and its four futures are a fictional concept demonstration. The signals are real.
Working with a school, nonprofit or community group? That’s It’s Abundant, my futures lab for communities.
Services
Everything it takes to make a future real
Real
Your products, people and places: photos and footage you already have, or a shoot we plan together.
CG
Computer-generated worlds, characters and products, built from scratch when the idea is bigger than a set.
Both
Most quests mix the two: real product shots inside a built world, real people in a scene that couldn’t be filmed.
Make itReal shoots, CG and new tech
Real
02
Photo shoots
Product, people and campaign shoots, art-directed and shot for every channel.
Art direction · Product & campaign · LookbooksReal
03
Video & film
Launch films, ads and social cuts, shot on set or cut from your footage.
Launch films · Ads & social · Behind the scenesCG
04
CG worlds
Computer-generated places your brand can live in when the idea is bigger than a set.
Environments · Campaign imagery · Scroll filmsCG
05
Characters & mascots
A cast and mascots with faces people remember, ready for film, packs and figures.
Character design · Turnarounds · 3D-readyCG
06
3D & product
Products modeled, exploded and rendered, from first prototype to hero shot.
3D models · Exploded views · Renders & printsReal
07
Merch & 3D-printed objects
Drops people can hold: apparel, figures of your characters and 3D-printed products, made in small runs.
Apparel & merch · Figures & collectibles · 3D-printed productsReal + CG
08
VR, AR & 360
Worlds people can stand inside: 360 video, VR experiences and AR on a phone.
360 video · VR experiences · AR filtersReal + CG
09
Emerging tech
Projection, holograms, interactive installs and whatever arrives next, put to work for the brand.
Installations · Interactive retail · PrototypesSell itThe machine behind the site
10
Websites
A site people step into, built to walk them toward one button.
Scroll-story site · Drop pages · Phone-first11
Funnels
Everything behind that button: the list, the texts, the reminders, the checkout. A tap becomes a sale.
Waitlists · Email + SMS · Checkout12
Flywheels
Referrals, content and retention, so every customer brings the next one, every month.
Referrals · Content engine · CRM & repeat dropsStart
Take one piece or the whole machine.
Start with a teardown of your brand, or go straight to a world, a launch or a flywheel.
See the ways to start →Brand studio
When the future is a launch
One customer, one machine · 88 s
From a pencil line to a sold-out drop.
Futures work ends in a decision. When the decision is a launch, this is how we build it: the world, the site, the funnel behind it and the flywheel that keeps it selling.
Demo brand · QUINTA eau de parfum · made up for this site · built in CGMade for brands like yours
Pick your industry
I build worlds people want to step into. Then I give them a front door, point every street at it, and keep it spinning. Every one starts in a sketchbook.
Futures · Real or CG · Worlds · Funnels · FlywheelsEst. in a sketchbook
Quest Log
Every project, in the order it started
Who’s Jonny V?
Jonny V is my alter ego, the side of me that makes things. The V is five in Roman numerals, and every quest has five moves: foresight, world, website, funnel, flywheel. It’s on the cap for a reason.
I trained in human-centered design and engineering at the University of Washington, design innovation at Northwestern and computer science at Morehouse College, so I think in people, prototypes and code. Every quest starts with what’s changing, becomes a sketch, gets built into a world, and only counts if it sells. That last part is the funnel and the flywheel, and it’s where most studios stop.
BasedAtlanta, often NYC
TrainedUW HCDE · Northwestern · Morehouse CS
ProcessForesight → World → Website → Funnel → Flywheel
Got a project? Let’s build it.
01 · Teardown · from $500
See your teaser
I study your site, your socials and the signals moving in your category, then send a short teaser of what your next world could feel like.
02 · World
Build the world
The idea, the look, the cast and the story, from real shoots, CG or both, as campaign imagery and film.
03 · Launch · 21 days
Open the door
Scroll site, launch film and drop pages, all pointed at one place to buy.
04 · Flywheel · monthly
Keep it spinning
Lists, follow-ups and a rhythm of drops, so every customer brings the next one.
Tell me your brand and what you’re launching. I’ll reply with where I’d start, and a teaser if it’s a fit.