Business: Case Studies

To stay relevant and avoid disruption through advances in technology or globalization, more and more organizations have embraced user-centered design and UX research methods. Thus, after years of fighting for a seat at the decision-making table, it is becoming more common for UX professionals to find one there. Still, executives often ask UX teams to quantify the value and return on investment (ROI) of their UX efforts. While calculating the ROI of User Experience can be challenging for consumer products and services, it can be truly daunting in enterprise organizations.

This series of articles will describe our journey of discovery in learning how to measure the ROI of User Experience at a large, Fortune-500 company that develops human capital management software and services.

The company had made the decision to invest in several innovation centers throughout the US. Observing the adoption of User Experience in other large enterprises such as IBM, General Electric, Capital One, Honeywell, Philips, and JPL, they came to believe that user-centered design was an essential component of the innovation equation. Therefore, they established our UX team just over three years ago. Read More

Today’s world of mobile app and Web-site development is seeing high adoption of UX design and research, from planning to product launch. UX design is a human-first approach to product design and sets the tone for app development, keeping the focus on satisfying your users. Whether you’re designing physical or digital products, your goal is to create useful, easy-to-use products that provide a great experience to the users who interact with them. Those everyday interactions should be enjoyable and accessible to all users. Throughout your design process, it’s important to closely integrate your UX and UI design efforts. UI design focuses on the look and feel, the aesthetic experience of a product, including its fonts, colors, visual affordances for interaction such as buttons, and page layouts.

In this article, we’ll focus on our UX design journey, creating a motion-design app for smartphones and tablets. A unique feature of this app is its platform: The use of smartphones and tablets for professional motion design is not common. Designers typically create motion designs using applications on desktop computers. Read More

Shifting trends are forcing technology companies to reimagine their value proposition. IBM has chosen to create disruption through design. In embracing the future, the company is essentially invoking its past. Back in 1956, IBM was the first large company to establish a corporate-wide design program. But this time, the company’s goals are more ambitious.

Recently, we interviewed Karel Vredenburg, Director of IBM Design’s worldwide client program and head of IBM Studios in Canada, who told us, “We’ve put everything into this transformation.” The company is investing more than $100 million in becoming design centered. Read More