Engineering inspiration

“This is exactly why I chose you guys for this gig. I love it”

Phil Wilce, Creative Director Europe, Epam

Epam is a global leader in digital engineering, doing so much across so many industries that it’s become hard to define under a single banner.

With 82 offices worldwide, each one designed to follow strict brand colours like their iconic electric blue and yellow (with the occasional quirky feature), EPAM was starting to feel too uniform. Their London HQ needed something different – a space with energy, brand identity, and meaning.

That’s where Motive came in. They were brought on to rethink workplace branding entirely, moving beyond colour schemes to help create a space that reflects who EPAM is now and who they’re becoming.

Designed to inspire engineers

It all began with a provocation: engineering the future. This idea became the guiding star of the project. The aim was to design an office that didn’t just support its people but actively fuelled their creativity. A place that would spark innovation in digital engineering and inspire exactly the kind of thinking EPAM is known for.

This meant diving deep. What truly motivates digital engineers? What needs to be unlocked in the mind to fuel their work? Who are their heroes? Which breakthroughs changed the game?

Function, friction and play

The result isn’t just a beautiful office. It’s unmistakably EPAM’s space, designed specifically for their engineers. Throughout, art installations make people raise a smile, an eyebrow, or even a pencil.

Details include bespoke furniture inspired by Brian Eno’s oblique strategy cards, encouraging unexpected thinking, and a playful wall of rubber ducks that nods to the engineering practice of ‘rubber duck debugging.’

Every feature was created to provoke thought. This wasn’t simply about adding brand-led artwork or installations – it was about crafting moments of surprise, joy, and mental agility. The entire space feels alive with possibility.

EPAM’s CEO, Arkadiy Dobkin, went on to declare that the design and brand integration here will stand as the gold standard for EPAM offices worldwide.