Be More Innovative

Medical device manufacturers need to design for a new kind of user. This has big implications not just for the devices they design but also for how they do business.

Patients are becoming empowered consumers of healthcare. They bring to medical devices the high expectations formed from their experiences with highly intuitive consumer products—as well as greater risk.

Within every organization, innovation wants to thrive. Here’s what it looks like when organizations dismantle the obstacles that stand in the way.

Here are nine examples across different sectors of how data science and machine learning can help unlock the power of your data.

Companies tend to become less agile and innovative as they grow. This outcome is so common that it feels inevitable. Good news: It isn’t.

Too many times design thinking projects fall victim to the trappings of innovation theater. Here's how not to let that happen.

The 'Jobs, Outcomes, and Constraints' method lets you move into ideation knowing that you're working from something more than a hunch.

Being home more in 2020 meant a little more down time, including more time for books and audio books.

You might remember being forced to read the poem “Ozymandias” in high school English class.

STEEPLE analysis is a tool for scanning your external environment. It helps teams understand phenomena and imagine new opportunities.

For our Delve Talks podcast, Dave Franchino and I had the opportunity to interview a dozen people from various industries, all of whom share a common interest, desire and occupation that involves innovation, creativity and culture building. You can find the whole series here.

For our Delve Talks podcast, Dave Franchino and I had the opportunity to interview a dozen people from various industries, all of whom share a common interest, desire and occupation that involves innovation, creativity, and culture building. You can find the whole series here

Design Strategy is a process and approach for creating or re-inventing businesses and directing innovation/new growth strategies. I think few people have heard of design strategy though they might already be doing something similar, perhaps under the name innovation strategy or product strategy.

(Any Day But) Tuesday… If it was Tuesday, you could guarantee there was no electricity. You couldn’t iron your clothes, watch TV or turn on the lights. You’d do anything to have a portable fan blast air on your face on a crushing summer afternoon, but you couldn’t.

I have been spending a fair amount of time thinking about the spectrum of successes and failures related to the open-source maker movement and its contributions to addressing the COVID crisis.

To say we’re living in turbulent times right now is an understatement. I won’t belabor repeating the news or all the facets of uncertainty. With that, I write this hoping all who read it are as safe and healthy as can be and that you are finding things to be grateful for even when that seems impossible.

Before starting on an innovation strategy, decide which type you're chasing: Incremental, disruptive, and radical innovation each require a unique approach.

Over the years, there have been designers still young in their careers that have come to me looking for advice and ideas of what to do next. They’ve all told me their tales of woe about how design is just not respected or understood where they work. And this, of course, coincides with their (and design’s) struggle to find a solid footing within the organization.

This video was recorded in November 2019 during an After Hours presentation in our Madison office. Read Stefanie Norvaisas' article on decision making.

Apparently, unicorns just went extinct in Silicon Valley. That’s sad news for the small group of tech entrepreneurs who hope to cash in on the latest gold rush and build a company with a $1 billion-plus valuation.

This article is part two of a series about the advantages of an improvisation (improv) mindset on workplace teams. Read part one here.

This article is part one of a two-part series about the advantages of an improvisation mindset on workplace teams.

You’re probably already looking up the word “strategy” to see if it’s a noun or a verb. Spoiler alert: it’s a noun.

I recently hosted a discussion on a topic I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about. Failure. Specifically, the role of failure in innovation.

Have you ever been given a physical tool to help you complete a task when what you really needed was information or support?

Planning research activities for design and innovation projects can be overwhelming at times, especially when entering a new market or segment.

Having a foundational understanding of your problem space is necessary for any design process. You wouldn’t hire someone who has never seen the ocean to design a ship, would you?

Looking back on our four days in Austin, we were struck by a common message spoken and implied by the many purpose-driven speakers we listened to. Here it is: Find an organizing principle for your company, your project, product or community to move the needle.

A very common mantra in product development and specifically Design Thinking is to “fail early and often.”

If you are innovating by practicing customer-centered design, it may be the reason you aren’t getting the results you need.

Most people think that the high cost of pharmaceuticals is largely driven by R&D costs.

I had my first virtual reality (VR) experience at an arcade called Aladin’s Castle located in the Brookfield Square Mall in suburban Milwaukee in 1991.

Designing appliances increasingly involves and interaction design component. How do you integrate this skill into your development process effectively?

Co-creation in the design world might take several forms, but most often it's in the form of a moderated co-workshop that brings together designers, users, and client stakeholders.

I have a confession to make. My co-worker Stefanie used to drive me nuts.

As a design team, we are constantly in search of ways to stay involved with the design community and shine light on upcoming talent

In the immediate aftermath of any newsworthy accident, we often hear the words "human error" or "user error".

Psychological safety can be the difference between innovative and just OK. Here are three easy ways to build psychological safety at your organization.

There are very few things I miss about our former home at Buttonwood Drive in Madison ... except for the employees-only bathroom.

Quality Management Systems (QMS) are used in businesses big and small to help insure that business processes are focused on meeting customer requirements and enhancing client satisfaction.

The constellation Orion contains two of the universe’s brightest stars.

Now more than ever, society is hungry for simplicity and human connection.

One of the main focuses of the Health 2.0 conference in Santa Clara, CA this year was on data.

Julie Norvaisas, who is my sister (learn more about sisters in research in this blog), co-founder of Design Strategy and Research at Design Concepts, and now Director of User Experience Research (UER) at LinkedIn, joined us recently to share her perspective on how she approaches user experience research at LinkedIn.

As I was hurtling back to San Francisco across the Rockies, the backbone of our country, after spending a couple days at the Colorado Springs Startup Week, I was struck by the changes in my profession.

I’ve been spending a lot of the time on the mat lately – the yoga mat that is – and have been finding some valuable parallels between what my yoga teachers guide me to do and how to approach a good design research practice.

When I began the first year of my MBA program at a well-known business school, a Facebook was still a real book, printed on paper.

I remember the first time my business partner, design strategist Stefanie Norvaisas, was critiquing a meeting presentation and challenged the presenter with “So what?” on an important slide.

My colleague Roshelle Ritzenthaler and I recently presented at South by Southwest on “How to Give Design a Seat at the Lean Startup Table.” There was a line around the corner for our talk, which tells me this is a topic on a lot of designers' minds.

Stefanie Norvaisas and I recently returned from an amazing trip to South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, where we had the opportunity to host a workshop on Designing Decisions.

We undoubtedly live in a time where change is constant.

I recently returned to Design Concepts after a deeply meaningful six-month world trip with my husband and elementary school-aged daughters.

Innovation is risky business. It is expensive and time consuming. The faster you move, the longer you can survive.

I was given a personal example of the power of a multidisciplinary approach to innovation a few weekends back when I found myself coincidentally working on very similar parts of cars built in two very different eras.

I recently attended the first Big Data Wisconsin conference, which was part of Madison’s larger Forward Festival.

Two weeks ago, I had to do something that I don't really enjoy. No, not a visit to the dentist or cleaning the basement. I had to call customer service.

Late last year, our leadership team at Design Concepts announced the long-in-the-making decision to relocate our Madison workplace from our current suburban office park to the rapidly developing East Washington corridor of downtown Madison.

Crafting a product, department or corporate strategy never happens in a bubble. It’s an ever-moving target because of trends in the marketplace, shifts in consumer behavior, and competitive actions.

Innovation is tricky business, so is working in teams.

The Solid Conference – Hardware, Software & the Internet of Things (solidcon.com), recently held in San Francisco, is touted as a revolutionary conference that goes beyond the Internet of Things.

I love the energy in the new product development space.

Designing and delivering connected products and the transition to the Internet of Things (IoT) is today’s product development frontier.

I was lucky enough to be selected to participate in the inaugural VergeNYC conference hosted by Parsons School of Design where the theme was “Action in the Face of Uncertainty.”

One of my favorite skills acquired while working at Delve is Graphic Recording and Facilitation.

I’ve played squash since I was a teenager.

“A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

I grew up in the 1970s when family dinner was all about conveniences like microwaves, canned food, frozen entrees and instant mashed potatoes. Taste … not so much.

My six-year-old daughter wants to be a fashion designer when she grows up. Given the way she can rock a Sophia the First t-shirt and disco ball silver leggings, she may have an actual shot.

Do you know someone who can absorb a vast amount of complex information about a problem and combine it into a cohesive, elegant solution?

A couple of weeks back I had one of those great experiences that makes this job absolutely unbeatable. We had the chance to visit a client who is wrapping up final testing on the prototype of a product on which we collaborated. Unfortunately, confidentiality still reigns on this project so I need to keep the exact client and project under wraps. But it looks like they’re pretty close to springing it on the market – and we’re pretty sure it’s going make a huge impact. It doesn’t just look and work great — it completely rethinks the industry. In short, it’s a wow.