Worrell design research specialist, Ed Reilly, attended and actively participated in the recent design research conference, Exposed09.  Held at Arizona State University, the conference explored the present and future of design research with many workshops focused on exploring synthesis methods to analyze and present findings to design teams and clients.  Worrell supports multiple avenues for its employees to grow and learn new skills to benefit internal teams and client deliverables.  Having participated in several of the workshops, Ed plans to hold an internal conference at Worrell to download the additional tools he learned for our ever-expanding Research and Strategy team’s toolbox.

At the conferences’ Show-n-Tell Ed was able to share an interactive collaboration between himself and Worrell design researcher, Ryan Sohlden. Think Really Small: Tell a Big Story.  The website for their concept can be found at http://www.thinkreallysmall.com. Think Really Small’s website is a forum on utilizing culture cues to create more engaging personas that encourage empathy with customers and other stakeholders.

Another focus of the conference was on the fairly recent recognition that design and research methods can be utilized to define strategic problems and opportunities for organizational transformation. Worrell has been utilizing this practice for years through our proprietary Censys® platform to define and prioritize strategic direction for clients with the input of a cross-functional client team. With so many opportunities to pursue as an organization, Censys® can help distinguish the right path.