Insights curated by Experientia, the UX research and design consultancy
Insights curated by Experientia, the UX research and design consultancy
The European House-Ambrosetti, an Italian economic think tank/management consultancy and organisers of the very prestigious annual international economic conference in the Italian town of Cernobbio, has – in partnership with ABB Italy – published a report on Smart Cities in…
“Design Principles for Eating Sustainably: Bridging the Gap Between Consumer Intention and Action” is the title of an ethnographic research driven service design project by Canadian design and innovation firm Cooler Solutions. Experience suggests that our intentions and actions are…
In 2009, the chief executives and a few staff from a handful of UK non-governmental organisations (including WWF and RSPB) came together to discuss the inadequacy of current responses to challenges like climate change, global poverty and biodiversity loss. This…
The Helsinki Low2No project team just released a smart services and informatics workbook that was developed by ARUP and Experientia. Low2No is a broad project, initiated in collaboration with the Finnish innovation fund Sitra, aimed at the development of a…
Model and actress Lily Cole’s social network, Impossible, has been designed for users to meet and help each other. Users post requests (say, “I wish to have a haircut”), and anyone in their local network can offer to help. The…
This morning I got an invite in the mail to attend a London design symposium at Brunel University next week (16 June) that will debate the core themes of a new design manifesto, strangely called “Big Potatoes” Although I cannot…
The Event project for Kortrijk Xpo, Belgium, developed concepts for how to make trade fairs and temporary events more sustainable. Experientia developed the resulting concepts into a video, showcasing four of the best concepts in action. The video of these…
On Be Everyday, the site of a Brussels-based project, you can follow the stories of inspiring people that live in European cities and who have found their own creative ways to lead sustainable and meaningful lives, everyday! “Why are we…
Aljazeera’s The Stream reports on how people declare economic independence by establishing alternative currencies. “People and businesses are establishing micro-currencies in the wake of the global financial crisis in order to take matters into their own hands. These small alternative…
In an editorial, The Guardian argues for an open web: “To protect the web’s founding principle is a matter of what Tim Berners-Lee would call citizen vigilance, of restraining by openness itself the continual pressure for a closed-down, privately owned…
Brains, Behavior and Design is a group of IIT Institute of Design students appling findings from the fields of cognitive psychology and behavioral economics to the design process. It is not clear to what extent the group is still active…
Artefact is, like Experientia, a UX design consultancy that is strongly inspired by cognitive and behavioral modeling, and uses all kinds of inputs from cognitive and social science to enrich their design work: “At Artefact, we’re becoming increasingly aware of…
The first ever World Happiness Report has been made public and states that our best chance at a contented life is to pack up and move to Scandinavia, writes Wired UK. Published by The Earth Institute at Columbia University and…
All our global institutions — from the United Nations to the World Trade Organization to the International Monetary Fund to the G20 to the G8 — are broken, according to Don Tapscott, the best-selling author of Macrowikinomics. In an 8…
Experientia is partnering with the Centre Scientifique et Technique du Bâtiment (CSTB) of Nice, France and a series of other agencies on Ecofamilies, a project aimed at the enhancement and promotion of eco-responsible behaviours in family homes. Starting from March…
Opower [is a company] that blends behavioral science and data analysis to find ways to help utilities get their customers to use less electricity. [Their] thinking is that it’s not so much factual information that motivates behavioral change — knowing…
Helsinki Street Eats: a book about everyday food By Bryan Boyer and Dan Hill, with contributions from Ville Tikka, Nuppu Gävert, Tea Tonnov, and Kaarle Hurtig. Sitra / Low2No Street food describes systems of everyday life. In its sheer everydayness…
The Design Yearbook 2011 of ARUP — the global firm of designers, planners, engineers, consultants and technical specialists that Experientia collaborated with on the Low2No project in Helsinki — is a gorgeous overview of the power of (sustainable) design in…
The Transition Companion: making your community more resilient in uncertain times by Rob Hopkins Chelsea Green Pub Co, November 2011 320 pages Abstract In 2008, the bestselling The Transition Handbook suggested a model for a community-led response to peak oil…
Designers are beginning to understand how irrational thinking plays into the decisions people make, writes Rob Girling of Artefact. That knowledge can be used to openly influence consumers to make responsible choices. “Recent advances in neuroscience and behavioral economics, cognitive…