A product designer evolved into a business strategist, Nicole Chen specialises in the application of design principles to the solving of complex business challenges. As an avid believer in the power of design on business, Nicole brings a unique balance of human centeredness and analytical rigor to all the strategy work she does at Idea Couture and for her clients. Her previous experience includes advising global brands in new product and service innovation, as well as supporting executive leaders in inspiring transformational change within their organizations. Her industry experience spans sectors such as CPG, consumer electronics, financial services, and telecommunications. She also worked in account management and product marketing at a Silicon Valley startup specializing in delivering digital media solutions to top agencies and brands in the U.S. and abroad. Nicole holds an MBA in Design Strategy from the California College of the Arts and a Bachelor of Science in Product Design from Stanford University, making her a true bschool + dschool hybrid. If you ever meet her in person, be sure to ask her about Elvis, Andorra, spicy pho, mushroom hunting, and how she sprained her ankle in January 2010.

48 Hours. 1,236 Service Designers. 60 Locations. 203 Service Design Concepts.

48 hours. 1,236 service designers. 60 locations. 203 service design concepts. Mix these all up and what do you get? An global event demonstrating what immense creativity, collaboration, innovation, and an aggressive time crunch can produce — Global Service Jam 2011! Participants from San Paulo, Rotterdam, Oslo, Berlin, Stuttgart, Shanghai, Seoul, Sydney, Barcelona, and of [...] Read more...

Some (Belated) Thoughts on Compost Modern

Two weekends ago, I had the privilege of representing Idea Couture at the Compost Modern conference here in San Francisco. Organized by AIGA SF, “‘Compostmodern’ engages designers, sustainability professionals, artists and entrepreneurs to collaborate in realizing a more environmentally, culturally, and economically sustainable world.” While you can read many recaps on the conference that have [...] Read more...

Lessons in Innovation from a Mushroom Forager

Every one of us at Idea Couture has our own “outside of work” creative and quirky passions — that’s what makes us such effective creative and interesting professionals. For example, one of us runs a Design Collective, another plays in a rock-band, and yet another is a hard-core marathon runner. As for me, come every [...] Read more...