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We apply design research techniques to explore human behaviour and collect stories that inspire future ideas and visions. 

USER RESEARCH AND BEHAVIOURAL INSIGHTS

Collecting insights

We turn insights and data into bespoke visualisations and maps, to better manage complexity and enhance communication, storytelling and participation.

VISUAL MAPPING AND STORYTELLING

Navigating complexity

Through critical thinking and scenario building, we challenge assumptions to reshape design interventions, match needs, and guide decision-making.

SERVICE DESIGN AND STRATEGY

Re-framing visions

Through co-design, testing and prototyping techniques, we transform ideas into tangible products and service visions.

UX DESIGN AND PROTOTYPING

Making ideas tangible

 Unlock a over a decade of service design expertise, tools and resources on our open platform, Service Design Tools.

Touch-base with participants in advance to ease relationship building at distance, during remote research

Light Survey

Orchestrate the work of multiple teams at distance, for effective service design.

Asynchronous co-creation

Make initial service ideas more tangible by illustrating the most important steps of the whole experience

Illustrated scenarios

Wearing a pair of glasses is perceived as a desirable and cool experience, even for people who don’t have any eyesight issues. Why this doesn’t happen with hearing aid devices? What opportunities emerge if we leverage AI and other tech developments to rethink assisted hearing?

Starting from the first Covid-19 lockdown, remote calls and voice-based interactions have become a steady part of many people’s daily lives, shaping new ways of working and communicating. At the same time, people were redefining their ways of interacting in public spaces and engaging with others, wearing masks, and learning to keep physical distance for safety reasons.

All these aspects were highly challenging for people experiencing hearing difficulties. For example, they could suddenly not rely on lip reading and adjusting proximity (essential coping strategies for people with mild loss). Also, video calls don’t usually perform well with hearing aid devices, and people with strong hearing loss had to start taking their hearing assistance off during remote meetings, or compensate by using standard in-ear devices at high volume.

In this context, Samsung saw the opportunity to conduct an in-depth exploration to derive strategic insights and shape new types of experiences. The research was aimed at identifying design principles and opportunities that could inspire a variety of interventions: from integrating new features on existing earbuds, tablets, mobile phones, and TVs, to designing a brand-new type of hearing assistance.

The first round of research was grounded on in-depth interviews with about 30 people with different hearing habits and needs, combined with a structured analysis of hearing devices’ reviews and related conversations online.

Having participants representing a wide range of hearing abilities and needs, from those with mild impairments to individuals with auditory overloads sensitivity, as well as people with specific interests in advanced hearing performance and safety (e.g. musicians) allowed to approach hearing experiences not as a challenge tied to a specific condition, but as part of a broader spectrum of needs.

The research helped collect inspiration from a variety of emerging practices, already enabled by technology - like watching movies with captions to compensate for the possibility of missing something or activating the noise reduction to avoid sensory overload in crowded contexts. Those were elements that could be improved and made accessible to everyone, in a variety of contexts of use.

Another interesting element that emerged during the study was the increasing acceptance of wearing earbuds in public and while interacting with others, showing a possible evolution in the perception of hearing aid devices from a medical stigma to a tool for empowerment. In the words of a participant wearing hearing aids: “I feel like a superhero. I can silent what’s on my left and focus only on my friend on the right when dining out”.



Once we defined an initial set of insights, opportunities and concepts, they were validated with a broader audience (about 3.000 respondants) in order to consolidate the understanding of emerging needs and to size the potential interest around specific ideas.



Focusing the opportunity framework on values such as confidence, empowerment, and safety allowed us to envision solutions leveraging the potential of UX design and AI technologies to the diverse and dynamic ways people engage with sound in their daily lives. For example, AI-based noise canceling in loud environments proved to be a valuable feature, enhancing listening comfort for different users—whether someone with mild hearing loss, a neurodivergent person sensitive to noise or anyone experiencing temporary hearing sensitivity due to a headache or fatigue.

Validated concepts have been later integrated in the first edition of Galaxy AI powered Buds, while the experience framework and research insights keep informing continuous product developments and refinement cycles.

What values do people associate with hearing? What needs and coping strategies emerge when people start to experience specific sensitivities to sounds and/or mild or strong hearing loss? What role could design and technology play in improving human’s hearing ability?

A foundational research study aimed at identifying solid opportunities for Samsung, to expand their computational hearing offer 

The research generated a strategic framework that connects user needs to design opportunities, principles and initial ideas for new products and features. Validated concepts derived from the research, related to Noise Control and Voice Detect, have been later integrated in the first edition of Galaxy AI-powered Buds.

We combined in-depth interviews with people experiencing different hearing struggles and needs (about 30 participants), followed by a quantitative study aimed at refining and validating insights (about 3.000 responses). The information collected during the research helped identify transversal values and needs, as well as deep-dive into user archetypes and their experience journeys.

Envisioning new products and services for people with hearing loss

What happens when a service experience that is essentially campus-based enters an era of hybrid working and learning modes? How to ensure the core value is delivered to a broader audience, in new and diverse ways?

Talent Garden is the largest European network of innovators, that spans across 12 countries with 4500+ members, an innovation school and a corporate program. They engaged oblo and Fightbean towards the end of 2020, with the goal of improving their service experience and offer. Talent Garden was aware of the community value being one of their essential differentiators - but that it could be limited by new ways of working becoming more common.

Before Covid-19 the random serendipity of the space was key in creating connections and giving people access to coaches and mentors in the community. Later, with some courses shifting to virtual classes and people working partially from remote, it has become crucial to ensure the same level of service could be delivered in new hybrid ways, standardising community building and management practices, even at distance.

Together, we embarked in a transformative process to turn Talent Garden in a future-ready and delocalised service. We started from a detailed assessment of the service experience, involving key stakeholders throughout Europe (staff, students, co-working members) in a round of in-depth interviews and observations, aimed at understanding key needs and paint points, but also mapping reasons behind staying in Talent Garden, and emerging habits.

The high fragmentation of internal tools and processes emerged as major blocker - leading community managers to spend lot of time in operative tasks, instead of focusing on strategic aspects, such as facilitating connections and supporting the growth of individuals and businesses.

Insights from the immersion phase allowed to identify a direction for the new experience, shifting the position of Talent Garden from a space-provider to a business partner. The vision was expressed by the “TAG as a trainer” metaphor, that guided the ideation of a large variety of interventions aimed at improving essential services, as well as reinforcing the possibility to get inspired, learn and grow by being part of the TAG community.

Addressing the fragmentation in management and communication tools and processes was the first step to tackle in order to be able to deliver the new vision. We prioritised the development of a new mobile app to support the co-workers’ and students’ experience, as a way to make all community members more independent and relieve part of the pressure from the staff. The app also became a support infrastructure to integrate additional features and services later on, and increase the customer life-time value.

The new vision also required to overcome internal silos and offer divisions: from seeing every user as different based on the type of service they access, to developing a one-community model, able to support a life-long learning approach and encourage ecosystem dynamics.

The one-community model created during the project was particularly helpful to support a reflection on how to establish longer relationship with TAG customers and visitors (being either students, co-working members, companies, alumni, event organisers, guests etc.). For example, it helped ideating how to facilitate internal transitions from one role to another, better adapting to the evolving needs of every community member.

At the same time, the one-community model became an inspiration to experiment with the creation of a more flexible subscription-based offer, that could provide community members access to various services (such as coaching, events, news, startup stories, meeting rooms, etc.) even when not active co-working members or students. This leads towards lighter types of engagement, that could expand the value of the community itself as well as generate new revenue streams.

What elements of the physical interaction, for example on campuses, may be strengthened through the use of technology? What role do digital tools have in supporting community building and networking?

A two years journey alongside Talent Garden, to improve their service experience for staff, co-workers and students, as well as better connect all community members. 

The initial research and strategy (3 months) shaped a pipeline (2+ years) of initiatives that helped improving both the front-end (new campus app, new features for space booking and access to common resources, new subscription offer to standardise mentoring and networking possibilities, etc.), as well as the back-end (new matching system for students and companies, revised school onboarding experience, etc.).

Starting from an assessment of the current experience, we worked with the Talent Garden team to develop a vision for the evolution of their value proposition and shape a roadmap of interventions that could reinforce their positioning and offer by leveraging the potential of digital tools and experiences.

Thinking in depth,
designing with care

We bring innovation to life by

Projects

Learnings

Thinking in depth,designing with care

We bring innovation to life by

Projects

Learnings

Thinking in depth,
designing with care