Connected Experiences

Experience Thinking is our research and design framework that focuses on four connected areas: how people experience your brand, content, products, and services. As outlined in Tedde van Gelderen's Experience Thinking book, this approach starts with the intended experience rather than technology or business requirements. The framework ensures all touchpoints work together to create cohesive, connected experiences that build loyalty through good experiences, not just communication.

Tip: Look for teams that understand how brand, content, product, and service experiences interconnect rather than treating each area in isolation.

We begin by understanding your audience's complete journey from customer to user to client - the three distinct roles people play throughout the experience lifecycle. Our strategy work includes journey mapping, service blueprinting, and ecosystem mapping to identify how people move through these roles and what experiences matter most at each stage. This approach helps organizations create remarkable experiences that drive long-term customer relationships and business results.

Tip: Focus on teams that map the complete experience lifecycle rather than just individual touchpoints or transactions.

Our research answers both 'why will I buy' and 'how do I use' questions by examining experience characteristics like timing, interaction, intensity, coverage, and meaning. We use qualitative methods to understand what people say and do, revealing the 'why' behind behaviors, combined with quantitative methods that show 'where' and 'how often' problems occur. This dual approach helps uncover the gap between what people say they'll do and what they actually do.

Tip: Seek research teams that blend behavioral observation with attitudinal insights rather than relying solely on surveys or interviews.

We start by understanding your stage in the product development process, whether you need discovery research for early design, formative research during development, or evaluative research for optimization. The Experience Thinking framework guides methodology selection - brand research might use competitive analysis and brand concept testing, while product research could involve usability testing and design sprints. Each methodology serves specific purposes at different lifecycle phases.

Tip: Work with research teams who adapt their methodology to your specific business questions rather than applying one-size-fits-all approaches.

Human-centered design puts user and customer needs at the center of strategic decisions while balancing business and technical requirements. As emphasized in Experience Thinking, this approach delays technology-building to focus first on the experience, helping organizations validate ideas before significant investment. By understanding cognitive processes like awareness, thought, and observation, we design for both tangible and intangible characteristics that make up an experience.

Tip: Partner with teams that demonstrate how user insights translate directly into business value and strategic decision-making.

We use a holistic approach that considers people, business, process, and technology as interconnected elements. The Experience Thinking framework ensures that business goals and user needs align by creating experiences that deliver value to both. We map how business objectives translate into user benefits and identify opportunities where improving user experience directly supports business outcomes like increased engagement, retention, and advocacy.

Tip: Look for teams that show clear connections between user experience improvements and business metrics rather than treating them as separate concerns.

An experience-first approach means defining the intended experience before selecting technology solutions. This prevents building something that's technically feasible but doesn't meet user needs or business goals. We create early, non-technical versions of experiences to test with stakeholders and users, validating concepts before development investment. This approach helps expose potential problems early and ensures technology serves the experience rather than defining it.

Tip: Collaborate with teams that prototype experiences before committing to specific technologies or platforms.

We establish success metrics that align with both user experience goals and business objectives. This includes measuring experience characteristics like task completion efficiency, emotional response, and long-term engagement patterns. Success metrics are defined during strategy development and tracked throughout implementation, allowing for course correction and optimization. We focus on both leading indicators like usability scores and lagging indicators like customer retention and advocacy.

Tip: Ensure your team establishes clear success metrics upfront that connect user experience improvements to business outcomes you care about.

We structure research to answer specific design questions rather than gathering general feedback. Our approach involves participant observation, interviews, and behavioral analysis that reveal both conscious preferences and unconscious behaviors. Research findings are translated into actionable insights with clear design implications, ensuring research directly informs strategy, design, and development decisions throughout the project lifecycle.

Tip: Choose research teams that provide specific design recommendations rather than just reporting findings.

We use ethnographic methods and participant observation to capture what people actually do, not just what they report doing. Research approaches include task-based usability testing, contextual inquiry, and behavioral analysis that reveal unconscious habits and pain points. This combination helps us understand when attitudes and behaviors align and when they diverge, providing insights into both stated preferences and actual usage patterns.

Tip: Work with teams that observe actual behavior in context rather than relying primarily on self-reported data.

We develop detailed recruitment criteria based on both demographics and psychographics, understanding that profession, lifestyle, and usage context often predict behavior better than age or gender alone. Our recruitment process includes screening questionnaires and pre-research interviews to ensure participants match your actual user base. We also recruit across different user segments to capture the full spectrum of your audience experiences.

Tip: Ensure recruitment criteria reflect actual user behaviors and contexts rather than just demographic characteristics.

Concept testing answers 'which do you prefer' questions about different design approaches and is best suited for early-stage design decisions about visual direction or general functionality. Usability testing answers 'which is easier to use' questions by testing complete user flows with realistic tasks. While concept testing can use static mockups or prototypes, usability testing requires functional designs that support key user scenarios to provide valid insights about ease of use.

Tip: Match your testing method to your research questions - use concept testing for preference decisions and usability testing for performance evaluation.

We use open-ended questions that encourage detailed descriptions rather than yes/no responses, creating conversation opportunities that reveal rich insights. Research sessions are structured to build rapport first, then move into observation and task completion. We avoid leading questions and create comfortable environments where participants feel safe sharing honest opinions, even when they're critical of current designs or approaches.

Tip: Look for researchers who demonstrate strong facilitation skills and create environments where participants feel comfortable being transparent.

We use card sorting to understand how users mentally organize information, combined with reverse card sorting to test existing hierarchies. These methods help reveal user mental models before designing navigation structures. We also conduct information architecture testing with realistic content and tasks to ensure findability and logical information flow that matches user expectations and search strategies.

Tip: Prioritize teams that test information organization with your actual content rather than using generic placeholder information.

Remote research allows us to observe users in their natural environments, providing insights into real-world usage context that lab studies might miss. We adapt methodologies to leverage remote advantages like reduced observer effect and access to geographically diverse participants. In-person research offers richer non-verbal communication and easier collaboration for complex tasks. Method selection depends on research goals and the type of insights needed.

Tip: Consider the advantages of each approach for your specific research goals rather than defaulting to one format.

Competitive analysis helps identify industry patterns, unmet user needs, and opportunities for differentiation. We examine both direct competitors and analogous experiences in other industries that solve similar user problems. This research informs both strategic positioning and tactical design decisions, helping identify what users expect from your category and where you can exceed those expectations through superior experience design.

Tip: Look for teams that analyze experiences beyond your direct industry to identify innovative approaches and emerging patterns.

We use the insights from user research to inform design decisions through structured analysis and synthesis sessions. Research findings are mapped to specific design opportunities, creating clear connections between user needs and design solutions. This process involves both divergent thinking during exploration and convergent thinking during solution development, ensuring designs address real user problems while meeting business objectives.

Tip: Ensure design teams can clearly explain how research findings influenced specific design decisions.

We develop personas based on actual research data rather than assumptions, focusing on behaviors, goals, and context that influence product usage. Our journey maps capture the complete experience lifecycle from initial awareness through long-term relationship, identifying emotional states, pain points, and opportunities at each stage. These tools guide design decisions and help teams empathize with different user needs throughout the development process.

Tip: Look for personas and journey maps that include specific behavioral details and emotional insights rather than just demographic information.

Information architecture design starts with understanding how users mentally organize information and what terminology they use naturally. We research hierarchies and label systems that match user expectations, then create navigation structures that support both browsing and direct search behaviors. The goal is designing content organization that enhances rather than complicates the overall product and service experience.

Tip: Prioritize teams that validate information architecture with user testing rather than relying solely on internal logic.

We use a cycle of design, prototype, test, and refine that allows for continuous improvement based on user feedback. Early prototypes focus on core functionality and user flow, with increasing fidelity as concepts are validated. Testing happens throughout the design process, not just at the end, allowing us to identify and resolve usability issues before they become expensive to fix in development.

Tip: Work with teams that show evidence of iteration and improvement based on user feedback rather than presenting only final designs.

We design for the complete ecosystem of touchpoints users encounter, considering how experiences flow between devices, channels, and contexts. This includes understanding usage patterns across desktop, mobile, and tablet interfaces, as well as how digital experiences connect with physical touchpoints. Our approach ensures consistency while optimizing for each platform's unique capabilities and constraints.

Tip: Look for design approaches that consider the complete user ecosystem rather than designing for individual devices in isolation.

Accessibility is integrated throughout the design process rather than added as an afterthought. We design for diverse abilities, considering visual, auditory, motor, and cognitive accessibility needs from initial concept development. This approach creates designs that work better for everyone while ensuring compliance with accessibility standards and reducing the need for costly retrofitting later in development.

Tip: Use design teams that demonstrate accessibility knowledge through specific design examples rather than just stating compliance intentions.

Complex system design requires understanding both individual tasks and broader workflow context. We map complete user journeys that often span multiple systems and roles, identifying where efficiency gains and error reduction can have the biggest impact. Our approach balances power-user efficiency needs with occasional-user clarity requirements, creating interfaces that scale appropriately for different usage patterns.

Tip: Seek teams with demonstrated experience in your industry or similar workflow complexity.

Design systems development starts with establishing foundational elements like typography, color, and spacing that reflect brand personality and user needs. We create reusable components that ensure consistency while allowing for necessary variations across different contexts. Documentation and governance processes help teams use the system effectively and evolve it appropriately as products grow and change.

Tip: Look for examples of living design systems with clear usage guidelines rather than just static component libraries.

Usability testing sessions are designed around realistic tasks that reflect actual user goals rather than artificial scenarios. We observe both successful task completion and points of confusion or failure, capturing both quantitative metrics like completion rates and qualitative insights about user mental models. Testing environments simulate real usage contexts as closely as possible to ensure valid results that translate to actual user experience.

Tip: Ensure testing scenarios reflect real user tasks and contexts rather than simplified or artificial situations.

Formative testing happens during the design process to identify problems and opportunities for improvement, helping shape design decisions as they're being made. Summative testing evaluates completed designs against success criteria, measuring performance and user satisfaction with finished solutions. Both types serve important but different purposes in the overall design and development process, with formative testing preventing problems and summative testing validating solutions.

Tip: Plan for both formative testing during design and summative testing before launch to catch different types of issues.

We create prototypes at appropriate fidelity levels that allow meaningful testing without full development investment. Early-stage prototypes focus on core user flows and key interactions, while later prototypes include more detailed functionality and visual design. This approach, emphasized in Experience Thinking methodology, helps expose potential problems early before they create major issues once the product is launched.

Tip: Invest in prototype testing that matches your current design questions rather than waiting until development is complete.

Service experience testing examines the complete customer journey including both digital and human touchpoints. We use service blueprinting to map front-stage and back-stage operations, then test critical service moments through scenarios that simulate real customer situations. This includes testing staff interactions, communication touchpoints, and the connections between different service components to ensure seamless experience delivery.

Tip: Look for testing approaches that evaluate the complete service ecosystem rather than just individual touchpoints.

We recruit participants across your primary user segments and test with scenarios relevant to each group's needs and usage patterns. Testing protocols account for different levels of domain knowledge, usage frequency, and goals that various segments bring to your product or service. This approach ensures designs work well for your entire user base rather than just the most vocal or visible user group.

Tip: Ensure testing includes all your important user segments rather than just your most common or convenient users.

A/B testing works best when guided by research insights about user behavior and preferences. We help design tests that examine meaningful differences in user experience rather than just surface-level changes. Test design includes appropriate sample sizes, success metrics, and analysis plans that provide actionable insights for ongoing optimization and future design decisions.

Tip: Focus on testing meaningful experience differences that align with user research insights rather than random variations.

User satisfaction measurement combines behavioral metrics like task completion and usage patterns with attitudinal measures like satisfaction scores and loyalty indicators. We establish baseline measurements and track changes over time, identifying trends and opportunities for improvement. Regular research touchpoints help maintain understanding of evolving user needs and expectations as your product and market mature.

Tip: Establish ongoing measurement systems rather than relying on one-time satisfaction studies.

Analytics provide behavioral data that complements qualitative research insights, showing patterns across your entire user base rather than just research participants. We use analytics to identify areas for research focus, validate research findings at scale, and monitor the impact of design changes after implementation. The combination of analytics and user research provides a complete picture of user experience performance.

Tip: Our teams integrate analytics insights with qualitative research rather than treating them as separate data sources.

We provide detailed design specifications that combine annotated wireframes showing user flow and content organization with visual design patterns capturing the overall experience framework. Throughout development, we offer ongoing design support for additional elements like icons and custom patterns, plus regular design reviews to maintain intended experience quality levels during build phases.

Tip: Ensure design teams provide comprehensive specifications and remain available for questions during development rather than just handing off completed designs.

Design handoffs include both design specifications and the rationale behind design decisions, helping developers understand not just what to build but why design choices were made. We participate in developer collaboration sessions to answer questions, review implementations, and make adjustments when technical constraints require design modifications. This collaborative approach ensures the final implementation maintains design intent while working within technical realities.

Tip: Our design teams engage actively with developers throughout implementation rather than just providing static deliverables.

We build flexibility into design systems and provide guidelines for making design decisions when unexpected situations arise during development. Regular check-ins and design reviews help identify needed adjustments early when they're easier to implement. Our approach balances maintaining design consistency with practical adaptation to technical discoveries and business requirement changes that emerge during build phases.

Tip: Work with teams that provide frameworks for handling changes rather than rigid specifications that can't adapt to development realities.

Deliverables include design systems documentation, pattern libraries, and guidelines that enable your team to make consistent design decisions after project completion. We also provide style guides, interaction specifications, and decision-making frameworks that help maintain design quality as your product evolves. These materials serve as references for future development and design team members.

Tip: Ensure deliverables include decision-making guidance rather than just static design examples.

Knowledge transfer includes both formal documentation and working sessions where we share research insights, design rationale, and methodology with your internal teams. We provide training on using design systems, understanding user research findings, and applying Experience Thinking principles to future projects. This approach helps build internal capability while ensuring design consistency after engagement completion.

Tip: Plan for knowledge transfer sessions that build your team's capability rather than just receiving completed deliverables.

Ongoing support options include design reviews for new features, user research for product evolution, and consultation on applying established design patterns to new situations. We also offer training programs that help internal teams develop user experience design and research capabilities. Support levels can be tailored to your team's needs and internal capability development goals.

Tip: Consider your long-term needs for design expertise when planning project scope and ongoing support requirements.

We offer certification courses in user experience design and research that combine theoretical foundations with practical application based on real project experience. Training programs cover research methodologies, design processes, and Experience Thinking principles that help teams create better user experiences. Courses are taught by practitioners who work on actual client projects, providing real-world insights and best practices.

Tip: Look for our training programs that combine theory with practical application rather than just academic concepts.

Implementation success measurement includes both process metrics like adherence to design specifications and outcome metrics like user satisfaction and business performance. We help establish success criteria during planning phases and provide frameworks for ongoing measurement after launch. Success measurement connects implementation quality to user experience outcomes and business objectives.

Tip: Establish clear success metrics for both implementation quality and user experience outcomes rather than just project completion criteria.

ROI demonstration connects user experience improvements to business metrics like increased conversion rates, reduced support costs, and improved customer retention. We help establish baseline measurements before projects begin and track performance changes after implementation. The Experience Thinking approach focuses on creating experiences that build customer loyalty and advocacy, which translates directly to measurable business outcomes over time.

Tip: Establish clear business metrics upfront that can be tracked before and after UX improvements to demonstrate concrete value.

Experience Thinking addresses fragmented user experiences where individual touchpoints work well but don't connect effectively across the complete customer journey. This approach helps organizations move from product-focused to audience-focused thinking, creating connected experiences that turn customers into users and users into loyal clients. Business benefits include increased customer lifetime value, reduced churn, and stronger competitive differentiation through superior experiences.

Tip: Understand how experience improvements connect to your specific business challenges rather than just general UX benefits.

User research reduces risk by validating ideas with real users before significant development investment, helping organizations avoid building products or features that nobody wants. Research reveals potential usability problems and user adoption barriers early when they're less expensive to address. This approach, emphasized in Experience Thinking methodology, helps determine if ideas are viable before investing in full development.

Tip: Use research to test viability of ideas at low-cost prototype stages rather than after full development investment.

Service design improves operational efficiency while enhancing customer satisfaction by examining both front-stage customer interactions and back-stage operations. Good service design reduces customer support burden, increases staff effectiveness, and creates positive experiences that drive customer advocacy and referrals. The connected experience approach ensures all service touchpoints work together rather than creating disconnected interactions.

Tip: Consider service design benefits for both customer satisfaction and operational efficiency rather than just customer-facing improvements.

Prioritization combines user research insights about pain points and opportunities with business impact analysis to identify improvements that deliver the greatest value. We map user experience issues to business outcomes, helping organizations focus resources on changes that improve both user satisfaction and business performance. Priority frameworks consider implementation effort alongside potential impact for realistic planning.

Tip: Work with teams that help you prioritize based on both user impact and business value rather than just user feedback volume.

UX ensures digital transformation creates better experiences for users rather than just digitizing existing processes. User research reveals opportunities to reimagine workflows and interactions that take advantage of digital capabilities while meeting real user needs. The Experience Thinking framework helps organizations design digital experiences that support complete user journeys rather than isolated digital touchpoints.

Tip: Ensure digital transformation includes user research and experience design rather than just technology implementation.

Long-term impact measurement tracks customer lifecycle metrics like retention, engagement, and advocacy that reflect sustained experience quality improvements. We establish measurement frameworks that capture both immediate usability improvements and longer-term relationship benefits. Success indicators include reduced support costs, increased customer lifetime value, and improved Net Promoter Scores that demonstrate experience quality impact on business outcomes.

Tip: Plan for long-term measurement that captures relationship and loyalty impacts rather than just immediate usability improvements.

AI tools can enhance UX research through better analysis of large datasets and automated pattern recognition in user behavior data. However, human insight remains essential for understanding user motivations, interpreting contextual nuances, and making creative connections that drive innovative design solutions. AI augments human capabilities in UX work rather than replacing the human-centered thinking that creates meaningful experiences. We integrate AI tools thoughtfully while maintaining focus on human needs and behaviors.

Tip: Use AI to enhance human insight rather than replace human understanding of user needs and behaviors.

Client collaboration includes regular touchpoints for input on research design, participant recruitment, and insight interpretation where your market knowledge and strategic perspective enhance our research and design process. We schedule specific collaboration sessions rather than expecting constant availability, respecting your time while ensuring your expertise informs our work. Communication includes progress updates, preliminary findings, and direct access to our team.

Tip: Establish clear collaboration expectations and schedules that respect both teams' working styles rather than assuming constant availability.

Stakeholder alignment starts with understanding different perspectives and concerns that various team members bring to user experience projects. We facilitate workshops and discussion sessions that help align understanding around user needs, business objectives, and project success criteria. Alignment activities include sharing research insights in formats relevant to different stakeholder roles and responsibilities.

Tip: Plan for stakeholder alignment activities early in projects rather than assuming everyone shares the same understanding of goals and priorities.

Process adaptation considers factors like decision-making styles, communication preferences, and existing workflows within your organization. We adjust our collaboration approach, deliverable formats, and timeline expectations to work effectively within your team's established practices while introducing user-centered thinking. This flexibility ensures our process enhances rather than disrupts your existing successful practices.

Tip: Discuss organizational culture and working styles early to ensure process compatibility rather than forcing external approaches.

Client involvement varies based on research type and your team's availability and expertise. We value your participation in research planning, participant recruitment, and insight interpretation where your industry knowledge adds valuable context. However, we design research processes that work with your schedule constraints while ensuring you remain informed and engaged throughout the research process.

Tip: Clarify your preferred involvement level early so research processes can be planned to match your availability and interests.

Design disagreements are resolved by returning to user research insights and business objectives that guide design decisions. We facilitate discussions that separate personal preferences from user needs and business requirements, using data and user feedback to inform direction choices. When disagreements persist, we recommend additional research or testing to provide objective input for design decisions.

Tip: Establish clear decision-making criteria based on user research and business goals rather than personal preferences or opinions.

Project management balances structure with flexibility to accommodate discoveries and insights that emerge during research and design phases. We provide regular updates on progress, deliverables, and any needed adjustments to scope or timeline. Communication includes milestone reports and direct access to project team members for questions and collaboration throughout the engagement.

Tip: Choose project management approaches that allow for iteration and discovery rather than rigid adherence to initial plans.

Business needs alignment happens through regular check-ins on project direction, deliverable relevance, and success criteria measurement. We adjust research focus and design direction based on business requirement changes or new insights that emerge during the project. Success measurement includes both user experience improvements and business outcome achievement to ensure project value delivery.

Tip: Maintain open communication about changing business needs rather than assuming initial requirements will remain static throughout the project.

Our approach combines equal parts research-led analysis and inspired creative design, applying Experience Thinking principles that consider brand, content, product, and service experiences as connected elements. We focus on complex systems and transactional experiences rather than purely marketing-focused work, bringing deep expertise in government and business software challenges. Our team includes practitioners who work on client projects and teach certification courses, combining real-world experience with educational expertise.

Tip: Look for expertise and approaches that align with your specific industry challenges and complexity requirements.