MediaCombo is an

award winning group of

creative digital storytellers.

For over 30 years MediaCombo principals have created digital experiences that helped people understand and appreciate subjects ranging from the enormity and complexity of building a subway line to the intricate details of a work of art.

We’ve been delivering mission-critical, award-winning solutions to meet our clients’ objectives – for example:

…I very much appreciated your creative solutions, technical expertise, and collaborative spirit…also your boundless patience and willingness to work with us on getting things just right…

Fred Wasserman
Associate Curator
The Jewish Museum

MediaCombo created a perfect fit between interactive design and content. They studied the exhibition material and proposed solutions that optimized digital tools to explore the historical images and documents. Their design was user friendly and elegant. It was a genuine pleasure to create a website with MediaCombo.

Hilary Ballon
Curator
The Greatest Grid, MCNY Deputy Vice Chancellor, NYU Abu Dhabi University Professor, Professor of Urban Studies and Architecture, Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service

Our Teams.

We bring designers, developers, writers, photographers and artists with a unique set of skills, insights and ideas to each project. They all share our enthusiasm for our clients’ projects, our passion for excellent service and our dedication to delivering outstanding products.

This structure allows us to customize our creative and technical teams to meet your needs. We also have the ability to reach out to a well-tended network of specialists at a moment’s notice if project requirements evolve.

Leadership.

Robin White Owen

Robin White Owen. Principal

Robin has built an inspiring career at the intersection of creativity, education, technology, and cultural enrichment. Co-leading MediaCombo with Michael Owen since 2004, she has directed many innovative and award winning digital experiences, particularly within the museum sector. She has worked with prestigious institutions such as the Rubin Museum of Art, New York Historical Society, Brooklyn Navy Yard, Metropolitan Transit Authority Capital Construction, Museum of the City of New York, the International Center of Photography, American Museum of Natural History, Jewish Museum, Liberty Science Center, and the Morgan Library and Museum.

Robin's work is driven by a profound belief in the transformative power of museums. She sees them as places that can inspire individuals, cultivate curiosity, and offer new perspectives on the world. Her contributions have specialized in narrative, interactive, and immersive experiences across a variety of platforms including video, mobile, web, and extended reality (XR). Her approach, regardless of the technology, has always been grounded in understanding how to enhance the user experience to generate audience engagement and enjoyment.

Working with XR technology since 2016, her projects have engaged visitors through augmented and virtual reality at the Pollock-Krasner House & Study Center, a national historic site in East Hampton, NY, the Morgan Library & Museum, Carnegie Museum of Natural History and in 2025 at the Everson Museum. MediaCombo is also currently working on a bold VR project that employs Visual Thinking Strategies to enhance critical thinking and communication skills for health professional students through art observation.

Robin’s career before MediaCombo was rooted in the art world, with roles at ArtForum Magazine, Crown Point Press, Viart, and Media Alliance, a nonprofit organization housed at WNET-TV/Ch 13 in the1980s, supporting film and video artists. Her leadership extends beyond her immediate professional roles; she has been involved in education and mentoring, including co-chairing the Media, Technology & Design Commission of the NYC Department of Education’s Career & Technical Education Commissions, and mentoring within the Museum Computer Network (MCN) program. Additionally, Robin is an alumna of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses accelerator. Her expertise is frequently shared at museum conferences such as Museum Next, MW2020 and 2021 and MCN, as well as at major XR conferences such as AWE, VRARA and the Immersive Global Summit. Robin's efforts exemplify a dedication to using digital technology to enhance cultural experiences and make art, history and science accessible, engaging, and inspiring for diverse audiences.

Michael Owen

Michael Owen. Principal

As a company principal, I lead MediaCombo into the arena of XR production in 2016 with a 360º video about Lake Baikal in Siberia. Since then I've combined my skills as a cultural documentary producer and technical director to transform the way museums and other cultural organizations tell their stories.

As a freelance producer, I have over 25 years of experience producing documentaries, commercials and music videos. I’ve gained a deep understanding of production and post-production technologies, and so I’m able to grasp quickly what a client expects to achieve from a production.

My career was influenced by producing music videos for The Talking Heads, Television and other bands at the now legendary club, CBGBs, way ahead of MTV. I’ve also had the privilege of working with directors such as Peter Sellars, Jim Jarmusch, Lindsay Anderson, Michael Apted and Sam Peckinpah on a variety of music documentaries.

As a partner in MICA TV in the 1980s I produced a series of short video art portraits of the artists Cindy Sherman, Richard Prince, Laurie Simmons and others. These have been shown on the BBC and Channel Four, as well as in museums around the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of and The Whitney Museum.

Team Members & Partners.

Ellen ZhaoEllen Zhao

Ellen Zhao

Design Director

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Ellen is an art director, designer and business growth consultant. She believes in the power of design to help businesses and organizations reach their goals, Ellen works in the US and France while based in Montreal with her two children and husband. She has worked with MediaCombo as a Design Director on multiple projects since 2009.

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Elena PessinaElena Pessina

Elena Pessina

Project Manager & Associate Producer

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Elena is an experienced manager of virtual reality projects and digital interactives, working in both Italy and the US for museums, cultural organizations, and schools. She believes in the connection between art and technologies to create new accessible and engaging experiences. She loves Japanese art and traveling with her backpack. Elena has been our project manager on the VR experience Tracing Paint, on the Mandala Lab interactives for The Rubin Museum, and our Virtual Learning Gallery project.

LinkedIn
Brad LaboeBrad Laboe

Brad Laboe

Systems Integrator

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Brad was systems architect on The Rubin Museum Mandala Lab interactives; maintenance manager for the MTA’s Second Avenue sim game, and video projection system designer for the Jewish Museum of Maryland project. At R/GA digital studios he was in-house systems architect and administrator. He was the technical director of computer graphics at Long Island University, running their motion caption and 3D fabrication labs.

Wei ChaoWei Chao

Wei Chao

Technical Director & Interactive Designer

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Wei is an experienced new media producer skilled in both front-end development and design. He has worked in various sectors, including advertising, education, gaming, and arts with a concentration on computer-driven media, web-enabled technologies and user-centric design. Wei has done beautiful work with us on multiple projects for The Rubin Museum.

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David GochfeldDavid Gochfeld

David Gochfeld

Technical Director & XR Developer

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David is an award-winning XR creator, specializing in interactive narrative experiences at the intersection of the real and virtual, drawing on theatrical techniques and cutting edge immersive technology. His immersive projects have been presented at Tribeca, Venice, SXSW, GDC and the Future of Storytelling. David was our patient, heroic technical director on the VR experience Tracing Paint.

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Lisa LokshinaLisa Lokshina

Lisa Lokshina

User Experience Designer

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Lisa is a UX designer & researcher. She has extensive experience designing digital products ranging from enterprise software to interactive narratives, to educational apps for kids. Recently she has been focusing on virtual reality projects. User research is a huge part of her design process. Lisa was our brilliant user experience designer on the VR experience Tracing Paint.

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Lina ZhangLina Zhang

Lina Zhang

User Experience Designer

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Lina is a recent graduate of NYU with an MS in Integrated Digital Media. She is a UX designer, and interaction designer interested in working with new technologies. She is currently working on her Ph.D. in human computer interaction. In her spare time she cooks beautiful Chinese food. Lina worked with MediaCombo as the UX designer on the Mandala Lab interactives at The Rubin Museum.

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Peter SheltonPeter Shelton

Peter Shelton

Video Editor

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Peter is a master video editor, with more than 30 years of experience cutting award-winning documentaries, television programs, music videos and commercials in both New York and London. He has done all this and survived raising twin boys, now in their late twenties. He has been editing videos for our projects for the past twenty years.

LinkedIn
Glimpse GroupGlimpse Group

Glimpse Group is a diversified VR/AR company. We worked closely with one of their subsidiaries, Q-Real, who did excellent work providing the photogrammetry and 3D modelling for the VR project Tracing Paint.

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Paper CranePaper Crane

Paper Crane is a creative services company offering visual identity, marketing collateral design, 2D animation and custom web design and development. They are a professional partner for webflow.io, and they designed MediaCombo’s new site!

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Chapter 4Chapter 4

Chapter Four is a creative technology and post-production company based in NYC with services in video, sound, and music. They are home to a collective of creatives and technologists working across film, advertising, television, podcasts and immersive media. Chapter 4 did a great job designing the soundscape and audio cues for the VR experience Tracing Paint.

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TkXelTkXel

TkXel is a software development company with offices in Lahore, Toronto, London, Krakow, Dubai and Reston, VA. MediaCombo has worked with them for almost 10 years on a wide variety of projects, from a custom built e-learning system for the International Center of Photography, to museum websites in Drupal and WordPress. Our most recent collaboration was a custom built onboarding platform for Guardian Life built in Sharepoint.

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Curious WaysCurious Ways

Curious Ways is a builder of brands and maker of websites and campaigns. They believe in thinking differently, working hard and being nice to people. It was a pleasure to work with their massively experienced graphic designer Ian Fooks on the Mandala Lab interactives for The Rubin Museum.

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