Understand collaboration in working spaces to inform future product launches.
PROJECT CONTEXT
Our client, an office furniture manufacturer, was looking to research what collaboration means in working spaces to support a new product launch.
CLIENT TESTIMONIAL
"This work has directly impacted business strategy and helped the organization position themselves as a thought leader with customers."
- Design Strategist, Client Organization
client Challenge
How can working spaces enhance and support collaborative moments for people in an organization?
PROJECT SET UP
Client
A Fortune 500 furniture manufacturer
Industry
Manufacturing
Time-frame
6 Months
Khoj Lab Team
Design Researcher
Client Team
VP of Design Applications
Director of Marketing
SVP of New Product Strategy
SVP of Innovation
Services Provided
Leadership Interviews
Design Research
Co-creation Sessions
Secondary Research Development
Workshop Facilitation
METHODS USED
Observations
Daily Journal
Analysis & Synthesis
Visualization & Mapping
Workshops
40
hrs
Secondary Research
70
hrs
Interviews
Analysis of collaboration activities into 35 types
KHOJLAB APPROACH
Digital ethnographic study combined with real-time mapping of office spaces
Our research helped us understand the gap between people's behavior and the designed spaces. We used digital ethnography tools and in-person interviews to understand people's behaviors in working spaces and their experience with collaboration and interaction. We implemented a sensor-based study with an accelerometer, dScout survey, and daily journal, followed by ethnographic interviews. The patterns from the data gave the stakeholders and us a believable story on which to base their decisions. We created an internal-facing booklet with comic-style graphics representing the everyday behaviors in the office synthesized from our analysis of over 700 images of real-time activities across multiple organizations. Working with stakeholders, we clustered this information and developed a framework of ten modes of work that described people's behavior in the workplace.
We synthesized from our analysis from over 700 images of real-time activities across multiple organizations
Impact/Outcome
A successful product story that helped customer discovery based on “Modes of Work.”
The resulting framework significantly shifted the organization's mindset and strategy. They were able to use this framework to build better spatial and furniture designs that would support rather than dictate collaborative behaviors in the workplace. And this eventually led to the successful implementation of the Modes of Work research as part of the product story.
We created an internal-facing booklet with comic-style graphics representing the everyday behaviors in the office
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