Rachel’s Insight

This article highlights the important building blocks to constructing a “courageous and vibrant culture.” Corporate culture is something I take very seriously at User Insight; helping to shape it and making sure we as a company stay committed to cultivating the amazing spirit we’ve built over the last 10 years. With a strong culture, you have a solid foundation to do great work. Building a strong culture within a company can not only come from the top down, it has to live within the company. Our strategy team recently had a team offsite to generate ideas; if you could have stepped into the room for a moment, our culture would have knocked you over! We live it and breathe it: passionate for the work we do, empowered to do our best work, detailed in the way we look at end Users’ lives, and consistent in our delivery of high quality work.  I’m honored to work for such a great company with an amazing culture! http://www.fastcompany.com/1810674/culture-eats-strategy-for-lunch

Chat with Rachel @rachelmwalsh.

Allison’s Insight

I guess that I’ve been on a house kick lately! But, I do love the idea of turning the building paradigm upside down. The company FACIT uses CNC mills to custom build full-sized homes that are extremely energy efficient, one to two people can assemble, and are (from what I understand) affordable! Check it out – TreeHugger: FACIT Homes.

Darryl’s Insight

Rethinking the Oreo. Here we have a product which has been successful for 100 years being humbled by the consumer. Chinese consumers were not impressed with America’s favorite cookie. After doing some user experience (UX) research, a new Oreo was created which has penetrated deep into the Chinese market showing once again the power of the type of work that we do here at User Insight. Kraft Foods had to be humble to reconsider the Oreo. If the Oreo can be improved, then I wonder what else could be better? http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/01/27/145918343/rethinking-the-oreo-for-chinese-consumers – I recommend listening to the audio as it contains a little more content than the written article.

Darryl’s on Twitter @UX_Life.

Michael’s Insight

As a big fan of board games, this is really interesting to me. Moving physical board games into the world of electronic games almost seems inevitable. Yet, there’s still something about getting together in person and having that tactile element as well. It’s interesting to see what the future will bring, especially the idea of combining physical and electronic elements.  http://www.fastcompany.com/1810959/board-games-risk-factions-ticket-to-ride-reiner-knizia

Beth’s Insights

Check out http://iampacked.com. Epic. As UXers, we are constantly looking for better ways to visualize Users, their behaviors, and their motivations. But sometimes, I think to myself, “if I hear the word ‘infographic’ one more time, i’m going to scream!” (slight exaggeration).

It’s true though, we are always working towards a more accurate representation of the world around us. What has always been good to us is the ability to tell a story that can engage, entertain and enlighten our clients.

I love this site because I am a packing freak (I checked a bag once for User Insight travel and have since always gone with a carry on) and because I love to see how others around the world are similar, different, or more efficient than I am in packing.  Traveling light has changed the way I buy shoes (buy a pair that can be dressed up or dressed down–loafers are great!) and interact with technology (if i have my iPhone, do I really need my mac?) This is site is almost as awesome as http://scanwiches.com/. Scanwiches has a slight edge because everything looks tasty.

Also epic: http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2012/01/27/145986052/the-dolphinator And completely silly! Dolphin jet pack – get on it!

Talk to Beth @bethyeckley.