Insights

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.

Let's face it, technology can enable us to do a lot of new things. That doesn't mean we'll actually do them.

A huge part of a designer’s job is to translate abstract qualities into defining physical attributes and product feature sets.

I recently had an experience that left me thinking about the way in which technology and social media have eroded and blurred the boundaries surrounding our interactions with a company’s products and services.

I have this distinct memory from my childhood: I’m lying on my stomach, propped up on my elbows, cozied up in yellow and orange-ish shag carpet. Dust floats lazily through a sunbeam that peeks through the heavy velour curtains. A clock ticks steadily but softly from the other side of the room. My right hand is rotating the large machined aluminum tuning knob on my grandfather’s hi-fi tuner – back and forth, back and forth.

Many friends of Delve have probably already heard that we are moving our Madison office from the suburban office park that has been our home for the last 15 years to a new building in the heart of a redeveloping corridor downtown.

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.

Rapid invention and evolution in the state-of-the-art have made it difficult to stay versed in the ever-growing variety of components, devices, and technologies that could be used in the design of a product.

In a world where we can go from a CAD model to a 3D printed part well within a typical working day, it’s easy to get excited about just how fast one can iterate and explore design alternatives.

At Design Concepts, we have a pretty great mission statement: “We design cool stuff to drive business success and make life better.”

It wasn't too long ago that the Lyric building was some columns and elevator shafts.

There are many different types of trends you can and should reference throughout the new product design and development process. Aesthetic design trends may be some of the harder nuts to crack.

The Nintendo Switch has a lot of great features, but the modular design leads to some clunky compromises. Ultimately, does it matter?

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.

It can feel like the world is changing at lightning speed and at the same time it can feel like nothing has changed.

How do we know the difference between a designer handbag and a knockoff?

Listening to, observing, and truly empathizing with healthcare professionals is necessary to deliver new solutions that are user-responsive and empowering.

Sure you can make your product "smart." But have you really assessed the desirability of doing so for your users?

Making the complex simple, or ‘simplexity,’ requires diligence in both iteration (build, test, learn) and designing the system and the details equally well.

Mapping user experiences and systems can help you create more delightful healthcare experiences.

Products designed for accessibility end up making life better for everyone.

Have you noticed how many crowdsourcing hits fail to bridge the chasm between viral video and sellable product?

The design of products and services for the most human of needs, healthcare, has a history of being less than humane.

Engineering details, manufacturing processes, and material choices can all be used to inspire your own designs and decisions.

New technologies and processes help us work faster and smarter, but it's the quality of people we hire that makes those tools work for our clients.

I’m a fan of frameworks or techniques that help people understand our complex environment and reduce risk.

Our Model Shop creates a wide variety of models for concept validation and user testing. Learn more about the types of models we create.

Even the most simple items we use every day require an amazing amount of effort to produce. Take, for example, the humble toothbrush.

I thought 2016's divisiveness seems like a good reason to revisit my "United We Stand" state flags project, tweak some, and make them available to download.