The Research Behind the Lab

Mr. Bray Labs isn’t just a studio — it’s a lab. Everything we make rests on a research question our founder, Dr. Jesse Bray, spent years studying: how does the media we consume shape the way we regulate our emotions?

His doctoral dissertation examines media consumption and emotional regulation — the science of how stories, images, and screens influence what we feel and how we manage it. Put simply: stories are food. What we take in changes us, for better or worse.

That finding drives how we design. When we build an animation, a children’s book, or an edtech tool, we’re not just chasing engagement — we’re asking what a piece of media feeds the people who consume it, and how it helps them learn, cope, and grow.