As much of the research was taking place in Germany, we worked with our local partners in the Reach Network, Minds & Makers. Together we developed a methodology for the fieldwork, targeted around the kind of insights we needed. We involved a range of participants that covered a variety of social and geographical backgrounds, each of whom had different preferences and routines centred around mobility  and re-fueling. A series of probes, semi-structured interviews, and location visits gave us the data we needed for an internal analysis workshop at our Amsterdam office.

The end result was a series of clustered insights that could be used to inform and inspire the client’s design teams. To make these insights as accessible as possible to these teams, we visualised them on a large-scale poster, in addition to presenting them in a more traditional report format. Presenting results in this way is something we’ve had a lot of success with in the past; after all, even the most resonant of insights will achieve little if the right people never get to see them.

In a full-day internal workshop with people from many different departments in the client organisation we presented the insight from the research, and participated in discussions around a series of new service concepts they are currently working on. The posters with observations, quotes and insights were there to refer to and to ensure that the consumer perspective did not get lost during the sometimes passionate strategic discussions.

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Through a series of in-depth interviews with a mix of journalists, analysts, and NGOs in the US, UK and Netherlands we documented a large collection of recent and actual Customer Journeys. The recurring patterns in these stories, identified in the analysis, have been translated into a set of personas, each consisting of a rich profile description and a few typical aggregated customer journeys.

The conversations with the external stakeholders were complemented with interviews with key internal experts within Ahold. As professionals in Corporate Communication, Investor Relations and Corporate Social Responsibility they represent important ‘touch points’ for external stakeholders, either through face to face contact or phone and email. Their interaction can be one of the key aspects in the overall customer journey, just as the online platform can be. These individual touch points can all be ‘moments of truth’ that make or break the service experience.

The development of an online communication strategy cannot be done in isolation from these ‘offline’ touch points. They all need to fit together into a smooth and integrated service delivery. So one of the main research purposes was to develop a holistic vision on how the corporate website connects to the wider context of Ahold’s corporate communication.

By empathising with key external stakeholders, Ahold can look at their corporate service offering from an ‘outside-in’ perspective, validate their current communication strategy and innovate their future strategy. The insights from the stakeholders research provide a useful sounding board for this.

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Do different people in different companies have the same conversations? Is the language people use influenced by context, culture, technology – or even all three? That’s what STBY have recently been trying to determine in a major project conducted for Nokia. Working with our Chinese and Spanish partners from the Reach Network, we designed a study that analysed how the cultures people live in can influence the type of language they use.

Working on such a broad topic was a challenge in itself – as indeed was conducting a simultaneous study in 3 separate timezones – but one of the benefits of the Reach Network is how quickly these projects can be up-and- running; both planning and preparations benefit greatly from the network company approach.

The first step in this case was to create a matrix of existing knowledge, developing a framework of relevant issues from a wide range of literature (in 3 different languages no less). This was then further focused on the topic at hand via a series of in-depth expert interviews. We spoke to a range of leading academics, journalists, and designers in order to build our own analytical framework that was capable of refining a hugely complex issue into a series of hypotheses. These initially helped shaped an interview script, before they were subsequently used as a ‘lens’ to provide differing perspectives on the research data gathered.

Once developed, we then applied this framework to a series of in-depth ethnographic immersions. Going out into the field in London, Barcelona, and Shanghai, we conducted a series of intensive interviews with a wide range of different people. This generated an incredibly rich amount of data, which our framework helped shape into a workable format; namely, a series of wall-sized ‘conversation maps’ that were used for a collaborative workshop in London. These maps allowed all the partners to work with Nokia on the data that had been gathered, displaying a series of conversations organised around the insights that emerged when the framework was applied.

This complex, multi-phase project proved how design research techniques can be applied to all kinds of issues, from concrete to abstract, helping in this instance to maintain a grip on the broad topic of communication. It also proved how the network-company approach adopted by Reach can allow such projects to maintain a global focus, incorporating cross-cultural differences (and universal similarities) into the earliest possible stages of a design process.

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STBY have recently completed a project with the Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk. We were asked to put a human face to four different types of patients with diabetes, all of whom cope with their disease in very different ways.  The company wanted to present their teams with materials that would guide and inspire development of future products and services, by synthesising and enriching user-research material from several previous studies into one cohesive whole.

In order to achieve this, it was essential that we collaborated very closely with the client team. This began with a collaborative workshop which was designed around the notion of consolidation; Novo Nordisk already had a great deal of research data, but the insights they’d generated were spread over a number of different projects and reports. Working with them to collate and synthesise this material allowed us to identify and elaborate on those insights that could be made more accessible to their designers and engineers.

We did this by developing a series of scripts for twelve design documentary films. Again working closely with the client team, we created a series of videos that vividly illustrated the behavioural insights upon which they were founded. A team made up of STBY and Novo Nordisk researchers travelled to the US to film these videos, which focused on the everyday lives of four people who were all coping with their diabetes in very different ways.

Working with Novo Nordisk’s existing research data had allowed us to prepare scripts for the films that effectively focused upon the insights that typified each persona. This meant that we were able to seamlessly integrate the films with the data generated from the company’s previous studies. Our focus wasn’t on providing vast amounts of new data, but on finding creative ways to make the existing material they had more accessible and ‘alive’ to the engineers and designers who would be using it. The videos were a key part of this, providing an empathic link to the patients at the heart of each persona.

The end-result consisted of a DVD with the films as well as a poster that summarises the results. As these materials are already being picked up and used within Novo Nordisk, they proved to us once again the value of using video to bring real people right into the heart of design processes.

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How can people in the U.S. live a sustainable lifestyle? That’s the question STBY recently tried to answer during a project with the Reach Network commissioned by Panasonic. Any company developing products for the ‘Eco Aware’ has to first gain an understanding of the lifestyles such consumers need. The plurality of approaches and attitudes that invariably exist towards sustainable living complicates the matter of how people react to green products. Exploring these differences allows companies to develop products that more effectively support people’s efforts to live their lives in an environmentally conscious way.

With this in mind, Panasonic asked STBY to design an ethnographic research project that would deliver inspiring insights into sustainable living in the U.S. The approach we took was to create a series of design documentaries, thus providing an empathic link to those people trying to live in a sustainable manner. By visiting a number of such people in their home, we were able to create videos that communicated a range of intimate insights into their lives and opinions, telling their stories in a way that could both inform and inspire.

To add structure to these stories, we worked with Panasonic to develop a number of cultural probes that could be used during our home visits. These prompted the participants into asking questions about what aspects of their lifestyle could be better supported by new products and services, thus throwing more light onto the areas of their lives where innovation was most needed.

A series of workshops held with Panasonic and the Stanford University Design Research Lab meanwhile allowed us to help the company integrate these insights into their concepting processes. One of the main goals for the project was to create research materials with long-term applications – to ensure that the insights we captured could be used and re-used, time and again. This understanding of consumers’ practices and motivations could in addition be applied to the work of a wide range of internal departments at Panasonic, from design teams to business model developers.

Working with our Reach partner, Portigal Consulting, allowed us to conduct this project in San Francisco at relatively short notice, and with no logistic difficulties. This project once again demonstrated the strengths of both the design documentary format, and the Reach network itself; combining the two allows us to quickly and effectively communicate empathic insights from almost anywhere in the world.

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Bespoke methodology for each project

We design a bespoke project for each situation and environment we’re asked to research. We use a wide range of tools that allow us to consistently deliver intimate and resonant insights. We might use film, making a series of short documentaries that explore and document the lives and interests of particular people. We might use a series of in-depth interviews as the basis for developing personas, clustering together the themes we uncover into easily recognisable groups. Or we might run a user-lab or workshop, inviting people to attend our studio in order to explore new service concepts via a range of interactive exercises.

What we don’t do is reduce people’s lives down to surveys or questionnaires. We prefer to deliver materials that are engaging, and present insights into people’s everyday lives that truly get to the heart of what defines an experience. We don’t think traditional market-research is capable of doing this, nor do we believe that research should take place in isolation of the overall design and implementation process.

Guidance on how to implement the insights and ideas

In fact, our projects often involve providing guidance to service providers and design teams who want to use the results to inform and inspire their innovation processes. We’ve established long-term relationships with a number of clients, and we’ve helped some of them reorientate their research activities around the service design principles we incorporate into our work. These partnerships have in many instances extended over multiple projects; we don’t just deliver results, we build relationships and provide expertise and support in the long-term.

We aim to deliver a holistic solution that generates insights, provokes innovation, and assists implementation. Each of these stages is crucial in ensuring that services are connected with the lives of the people using them.

Still not sure what we do? Try downloading one of the following articles:

Service Design – Visualising Future Solutions tells you a bit more about the field of service design,
Design Research – Inspiring Research with the Principles of Design explains a bit more about the design research methodologies we use in our work.

1. STBY magazine – Service Innovation Inspired by People Motivated by the limited amount of literature on design research...
2. Living Sustainably: Exploring Ways Panasonic Can Support Green Living How can people in the U.S. live a sustainable lifestyle?...
3. Videos to Inform and Inspire: Helping Novo Nordisk Design for Diabetes STBY have recently completed a project with the Danish pharmaceutical...

1. STBY magazine Motivated by the limited amount of literature on design research...
2. Design Research for Service Innovation Our creative research projects connect service providers with the lives...
3. Say yes to the mess! For ‘The week of Service Design’ on Molblog, the online...

Immerse yourself in the service experiences of your customers, identify new opportunities for innovation or discuss your service concept ideas with a sample of lead users.

In a bespoke one- or two-day programme we facilitate a lively encounter between your team and a selection of people from your target group. Through a series of well-prepared interactive assignments the participants explore the current and future service experiences of your customers. Your team will be able to closely observe these experiences and build up a deeper understanding of motivations, barriers and unmet needs by engaging in empathic conversations with your customers.

Our studios in central London and central Amsterdam are perfectly situated to host these Service Experience Labs. In London we are close to Liverpool Street station, so very easy to reach, and in the immediate surrounding of both an upmarket business environment and a buzzing creative area. In Amsterdam we are based at Herengracht, within easy reach from Amsterdam Central Station. Both locations have many buzzing streets and venues around, ideal for service safaris and service prototype testing. Of course we can also facilitate service experience labs with your customers at other locations.

The Service Experience Labs are also suitable for teams that wish to familiarise themselves with the service design approach of engaging with customers in an early stage of innovation projects. In a full-day programme we facilitate an exploration of the essential stages of immersion, insight creation and idea generation. The programme will be customised to fit the objectives and prior knowledge of your team members.

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