By spending time and interacting with potential users of new interactive services, we learn a lot about their habits, preferences, needs and concerns. This knowledge can be crucial for the successful development of innovative concepts for interactive services. Ethnographic studies offer rich data that allow empathic understanding of real-life consumer experiences. Contributing from the perspective of the consumer, our research is complementary to the perspectives of the design, enginering and marketing experts who are collaborating in concept and development teams.

1. Say yes to the mess! For ‘The week of Service Design’ on Molblog, the online...
2. Say yes to the mess! For 'The week of Service Design' on Molblog, the online...
3. Stakeholder Research in Food & Retail for Ahold In collaboration with LBi Lost Boys, STBY recently conducted a...

STBY has developed a unique method to explore and communicate the elusive, inconsistent fabric of everyday life by using video and engaging in a dialogue with the participants in a research. Design documentaries investigate the opposites, paradoxes and ambiguities that are part of everyday life. They inform and inspire concept developers by offering rich insights into the often messy routines of consumers. We have found that this can be far more effective than the clean and simplified consumer profiles based on marketing statistics that are so often the basis for design briefs.

Image above:

1. New Design Documentaries Website A new website dedicated to Design Documentaries - the technique...

Successful interactive services are based on scenarios that go beyond just pushing new technology. The process to develop these scenarios needs to be imaginative and well out of the ordinary to generate interesting, innovative and surprising concepts. The concepts then need to be thoroughly reviewed from a multiplicity of perspectives. The reviewing process may be light at first, but must advance as the scenarios get refined. Our scenario & persona development workshops facilitate this creative and multi-disciplinary process, in order to produce scenarios and personas that successfully combine realism and adventurousness.

No related posts.

Well-designed, surprising and playful materials can prompt participants to report in more lively and surprising ways than during interviews or focus groups, where they only sit and talk about their experiences. Probe studies provide participants with research materials they actively use for a certain period, and that trigger the recording of experiences during this use (e.g. notes, drawings, photos or audio recordings). For probe studies close collabaration between researchers and designers is crucial. This is an excellent method to actively involve members of design teams in the early explorations of a concept development process.

Diaries offer an excellent opportunity to document activities and experiences that take place on unpredictable moments or in private circumstances. In these situations direct observation is not a feasible option. As the research participants are asked to record their activities and reflections in a diary as soon as possible after they occur, the diaries provide reliable data with minimal intrusion. To optimally engage participants in the process of diary keeping, we have found that an ongoing contact with the researcher and an appealing design of the diaries are of crucial importance.

No related posts.

Learn from the leading edge of your customers where the most interesting opportunities to improve your service offering are. More and more companies ackowledge that the customer is becoming the dominant reference point for strategy and innovation. Where better to start than with the innovators among your customers? Based on ethnographic methodologies such as contextual inquiry we visit lead users at their work or their homes to find out what their needs are, and possibly what suggestions they might have for solutions to meet these needs.

No related posts.

Tjebbe

In 2005 Tjebbe Tjebbes started writing for Spunk.nl, at the time the largest E-zine for young people in the Netherlands. A selection of his work got printed every week in cooperation with NRC Handelsblad (a Dutch daily evening newspaper). After serving as the editor in chief of the same E-zine Tjebbe worked freelance for a number of digital and printed media. Currently he is finishing his History degree at the University of Warsaw in Poland.

In collaboration with STBY Tjebbe has worked on several qualitative research projects focused on issues regarding young people in The Netherlands. From pitching a new master course for the University of Tilburg to investigate how Dutch students manage their finances for the IB-Groep (the national body that handles all student loans and studentships).

No related posts.

Formally principal and creative director of her own the branding, design, and advertising agency, Leeor has incorporated ethnography and cultural research into strategic and design projects for clients such as Sega, Levi’s, GE Capital and Nortel. She’s regularly worked with cross-disciplinary colleagues to build collaborative teams around projects and incorporate multiple perspectives in the past, and has continued this approach since joining STBY in September 2010.

Originally from Canada, Leeor holds an MA in Sociology from Goldsmiths Universty in the UK. She is currently based in STBY’s London office.

No related posts.

Michiel is a Senior Design Researcher at STBY, working predominantly out of our Amsterdam office. Michiel has taken the lead on a number of recent projects, including a recent international collaboration with the Danish pharmaceutical firm Novo Nordisk. With years of experience and extensive expertise in the fields of business development and marketing, Michiel is able to emphasise the strategy implications of the design research projects STBY specialise in. He also has a wealth of experience within the education and publishing sectors, meaning he often takes the lead on such projects here at STBY.

Prior to joining the company, Michiel worked at ReedElsevier as Head of Product Management for Collaboration Tools, and also within the ‘Scirus’ department of Elsevier’s Science & Technology division. He was also a founding partner of a Dutch web company focused on the design and implementation of internet applications for customers in the Education and Cultural field.

Michiel received his Masters in Industrial Design Engineering in 1996 from the Technical University of Delft, The Netherlands, specialising in Business & Product Development.  He then served as the Interim Head of the Central Public Services Department at the University Utrecht Library for 2 years, where he was responsible for the development of the digital University Library.

You can contact Michiel by emailing michiel@stby.eu.

No related posts.

Luke is the research assistant in STBY’s London office. His job entails both taking care of the logistical side of projects, ensuring that the senior design researchers have all they need in order to work effectively, whilst also conducting fieldwork, taking part in analysis, and helping moderate discussions in workshops.

Luke originally came to STBY as an intern in the Amsterdam office. For his internship project, he helped produce a magazine that detailed the company’s work and philosophy. Joining the London office full-time in May 2010, Luke has since helped Geke and Bas produce the ‘Tools’ chapter for ‘This is Service Design Thinking’, a comprehensive introduction to the field published in 2010. He also often takes responsibility for the tone and style of STBY’s written reports, as well as the material published on the website, writing much of the content which you’re currently enjoying reading.

Luke holds a BA in Political Studies from the University of Leeds, an MA in Politics and the Mass Media from the University of Liverpool, and both of his arms above his head whenever frightened or alarmed. Prior to working at STBY, he served as the press and research officer for a UK politician, and spent a year in China lecturing in International Relations at Xian-Jiaotong Liverpool University.

He also looks absolutely nothing like the above photo, bearing no resemblance whatsoever anymore to the individual pictured above. This could be because his hair is now about 98% shorter, but it’s just as likely that he uploaded a photograph of a completely random individual that he found on the internet somewhere. He also edits this profile on a weekly basis, safe in the knowledge that nobody is likely to notice if the entire thing is replaced by a story about wasps.

No related posts.

Ré Dubhthaigh, founder and director of the design-led management consultancy Radarstation, is one of STBY’s most frequent collaborators. A specialist in helping executives and operatives in organisations understand the changing needs and desires of their customers, Ré’s experience and expertise have proven invaluable on collaborations for clients such as Sony, CBBC, and Southern Water.

Ré’s work often focuses on the area between between strategic decision-making and operational implementation. In the projects he’s worked on with STBY,  Ré’ has focused on designing projects that place the customer at the heart of an organisation, thus influencing its culture, its thinking, its processes and services. This expertise has made him one of STBY’s most valuable associates.

No related posts.