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Ethnography, Explorations

The Tyranny of the ‘Real World’ or Dealing with Insights

Posted by: Paul Hartley, at 7:41 am on December 15, 2011

There are an uncountable number of business-related sites, articles, and books that use the phrase ‘real world.’ You can get an endless number of books or services offering insight into ‘real world’ business problems. You can go to a business school for ‘real world’ learning. You can get...

Ethnography, Experience Design, Featured Articles, Strategic Innovation

Think like a three year old

Posted by: Maryam Nabavi, at 12:39 pm on October 17, 2011

We recently had a learning zone workshop with a group of kids in our office. They were in two separate groups of 3-5 and 6-8yrs, each group with unique exercises to complete. Not to mention how exhausting it was running after the younger ones, I also realized how much more imaginative they are comparing...

Articles, Ethnography, Experience Design, Strategic Innovation

What does an innovation strategist do?

Posted by: Patrick Glinski, at 7:31 am on August 15, 2011

Ask a person what an Innovation Strategist does and they usually give you blank stares or buzz words. So who are you and what would you say you do here? Here’s a quick list of responsibilities from the inside of an innovation firm.

The opportunity to become an “Innovation Strategist” catches people’s attention. Since our initial posting for the role in Toronto, we’ve received over 120 resumes from dynamic, brilliant young individuals all interested in joining the Idea Couture team. From the outside looking...

Articles, Ethnography, Experience Design, Service Design, Strategic Innovation

The relationship between Design Thinking & Innovation

Posted by: Patrick Glinski, at 9:06 am on March 3, 2011

Innovation and Design Thinking are inherently linked. A night on Quora led me to try and make a tangible connection between the two.

As you might expect, the terms Innovation and Design Thinking come up pretty often at Idea Couture. It’s not very often I have to intellectualize the terms, but earlier this week, I ran an internal workshop outlining the foundations of design thinking as it relates to facilitation [side note -...

Ethnography, Featured Articles, Featured Explorations, Strategic Innovation

Pre-Consumer Pie & Provocation

Posted by: Morgan Gerard, at 3:20 pm on January 16, 2011

In a recent blog post, Grant McCracken suggests it is the job of designers to conduct provocation and innovation through pie. He points to Project M as the source of this uniquely American metaphor with its Pie + Conversation = Ideas/Ideas + Design = Positive Change equation. As a first step towards...

Ethnography

The Mind of the Consumer Other

Posted by: Morgan Gerard, at 9:03 am on August 1, 2010

I hate the word “consumer.” But I’m not sure what to do with it. It drives me crazy when clients talk about “the consumer” like they’re some kind of other species out there foraging for nuts and berries in Wal-Mart, Rite Aid or the shopping malls of America. If only they could find the perfect...

Articles, Ethnography, Experience Design, Featured Articles, Industrial Design, Service Design, Social Change, Strategic Foresight, Strategic Innovation, Technology, Transportation Design, Uncategorized

Bygone Nostalgic Design VS. the Emerging World.  Part 2

Posted by: Jesse Diephuis, at 8:03 pm on May 20, 2010

To address better ways of integrating Transportation in Urban environments requires a very wide-angle perspective lens in order to view the whole scenario of life in an urban environment as well as those in and around the  emerging world. It requires that we put ourselves on the same streets of the...

Ethnography

5 Client Tips For Buying Ethnography

Posted by: Morgan Gerard, at 9:54 am on May 2, 2010

We’ve been running ethnographic projects at Idea Couture since go. Almost three years ago, when I first joined what was then a five-person team on the fifth floor of our building, I was jettisoned into the field on a CPG project designed to examine the role of the kitchen in people’s lives. Since...

Ethnography, Explorations, Uncategorized

How To Familiarize Yourself With A City In Three Days

Posted by: Jessica Tien, at 9:01 am on March 30, 2010

I just came back from my first Idea Couture business trip. They sent me ‘down South’ to Austin, Texas and part of my job was to familiarize myself with the culture, customs, and styles of the city. My goal was to research and soak in as much of the lifestyle as I possibly could; but how do you become...

Ethnography

Ethnographic Test Driving

Posted by: Morgan Gerard, at 9:23 am on August 15, 2009

A recent article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette describing how consumer feedback (or lack of it) impacts the design of cars once again reinforces how ethnographic studies trump focus groups in concept development and testing. It points out that the 2010 Ford Taurus and Buick LaCrosse were designed with...