Completely new solutions, replacing old software licenses with the latest product generation or the optimization of existing processes: In digital work, these decisions are often made top-down and under great time pressure. There is no room for user research, is the assumption - but it is in times of trouble that listening to user feedback is the most important. Experienced User Researcher Christina shows, how it works.

“Accessibility? I’m not affected by that.” It’s a thought many may catch themselves having. The accessible design of digital products goes beyond choosing a good font and using the right contrast values, however.

At their workshop for Working Products in Hamburg, D-LABS consultants Maike and Lukas showed how prototyping works and why analogue tools can help inspire the development of agile frameworks.

Potsdam accomplishes quite a lot – and in the digital realm even more. At the Open House Weeks by Silicon Sanssouci, you can meet regional IT experts in a relaxed environment. D-LABS is hosting the kickoff event and shows how optimal workflows and a good user experience (UX) enable the success of companies and people.

Intuition is not a well-liked term in design. Often, it is used to question someone’s professionalism; intuitive decisions become associated with irrationality and aesthetic preferences. We’re taking a stand against this notion: Intuition is an essential skill for designers! It inspires us – each and every one of us, in fact.

“Which matter is close to your heart?” That’s what we asked our network in November, looking for people and causes that deserve more attention. We called it the “Herzsache Initiative” – and realized that a change of perspective is always worth it.

Every year around the holidays we ask ourselves the same question: What to do to end the year on a hopeful note? For D-LABS, one thing is clear: We want to help – not just somehow, not just with something, but in the places few are even aware help is direly needed. To do that, we need you, dear readers!

The cruel war in Ukraine concerns us at D-LABS - as a company, as part of society, and simply as people and employees. The creativity and drive of the many is needed to find sustainable solutions to rapidly emerging challenges.

Is there a fear of finding out about user needs? And if so, how can we face it and find solutions to it?

How can we as digital designers contribute to resource-saving behavior with our work?

Which challenges companies have to face in the time of change and digitalization.

How important it is to pay attention to mental health, especially in times of crisis, and a special action D-LABS took to support key players in this field.

…while we created the optimal user flow of the companion app.

Remote workshops & focusing digitalization: The D-LABS team reports on the challenges it is facing and what new ideas evolved through the corona situation.

How we can systematically improve our communication in agile projects and in the company with the simplest means - with easy-to-learn visualization techniques!

Software development often follows agile approaches and simultaneously wants to work in a human-centred way. But this is not always easy to accomplish. In this post, the potential for conflict between agile project management and human-centred design (HCD) is described. In addition, another approach is presented which can solve this conflict – LeanUX.

For a long time they had the sovereignty of communication, but now, especially in the digital world, they are giving way to large-scale image content and UI elements: texts.

Westnetz, the largest German distribution system operator for electricity and gas, was supported by us in optimizing its customer interface and making it more coherent. As a result, service portals for the customer groups of feeders and installers have been created.

As every year, our colleagues visited the World Usability Day in 2019. This time we went to the beautiful city of Leipzig.

As part of our project work, we are repeatedly confronted by D-LABS with the question of how we see the part of UX design optimally integrated in agile product or service development. In response, we developed a model in the design team for an ideal-typical process and the integration of UX Design and Development in Scrum.

If a new product needs to be useful, if your customers may use it with joy or even get inspired by your product, you have to know your users’ needs and address them by your product.

A few weeks ago the new book “It Doesn’t Have To Be Crazy At Work” from the founders of 37 Signals (which is now Basecamp) Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson got published. It is the fourth book, after their latest releases: Rework, Remote and Getting Real. Since the community has anticipated it for quite a while now the expectations were high. Quick recap: it’s great!

Following the last successful active participation in the Social Hack Day, we once again enthusiastically joined the “Student Company goes App” project to support the development of Germany’s first app dedicated to the work done in student companies.

By now, Design Thinking incorporates a wealth of possible methods and artifacts that can be applied in different process phases. This diversity can lead to increasing flexibility and even better insights; however, at the same time, especially inexperienced design thinkers are becoming increasingly insecure.

At this year’s DAK Firmenlauf in Potsdam our employees gladly faced a new challenge. Even the pouring rain could not diminish the fun we had as participants or cheering fans, so we successfully reached the finish line.

This year, the Awwwards Conference took place from February 8–9 2018 in Berlin in the impressive Langenbeck Virchow House at the Charité premises. Our designers had the opportunity to locally participate in the colorful program comprising award ceremony, lectures, workshops, and a party.

Flexibility and good user research can turn a problem into sustainable innovation. Innovation means using existing tools and methods and recombining them, because we do not have to reinvent everything to produce added value. Years of experience in dealing with innovation teams, tools, and methods makes D-LABS the perfect partner for the task.

The Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin (National Museums in Berlin) are exhibiting a very exciting exhibition of European and African sculptures at the Bode Museum. D-LABS has especially developed a museum app for this purpose that reveals the differences and similarities between the cultures of both continents – quietly captured with a new type of technology.

At D-LABS we specialize on supporting our customers in the user-centered conception, implementation and validation of digital products and services in the spirit of Design Thinking. However, consumer needs do not only play an essential role in the development of apps and websites, but in almost all areas of human experience. Thus, we work holistically and examine also the environment of the users very closely.

With the project task of harmonizing the customer interface – in particular, to increase customer friendliness – we supported one of the largest German network operators. To illustrate the Service Design concept, we applied Service Blueprinting and provided insights into the application of this method for depicting complex service processes in a corporate environment.

End of January 2017 the new museum Barberini opens its doors for the first time. Visitors can expect an up-to-date combination of new technology and outstanding art. A unique, high-resolution media panel presents an exhibition’s art and background in a new way. We at D-LABS are proud to have been part of its development.

This blog article is about an aspect of prototypes which at the same time is the most important one – communication.

Speech held by Jörn Hartwig at the event “Human Resource and Management in the agile environment – experiences and tensions” hosted by the SIBB Forum Digital Business and the Forum Human Resources.

The first step for every company to provide user driven products and services is the understanding of user needs. A powerful tool to capture them is the customer journey map which is presented in the following.

Sticky UX describe a user experience that remarkably remains in the user’s memory. However, Slippy UX tries to achieve a minimalistic UX that attracts little attention. It should find its application within the context of the Internet of Things. Read on to learn more on the two different approaches of slippy UX und sticky UX, their fields of application as well as their connection to IoT.

The whole world likes a good story. We read books, watch TV and go to the movies, as children we love to hear grandpa telling stories or we recollect past experiences together. Stories or narratives, fictional or otherwise, are always taking us by the hand and gratefully away from our everyday lives. In doing so, they not only serve to entertain us and pass the time.

Who are Lead Users? And what is the lead user method? This blog post is intended to provide a brief introduction to this topic.

In the article “Interviews, focus groups and co-creation – which method is the right one?” the concept of “co-creation” was distinguished from the methods “qualitative interviews” and “focus group discussion”. In today’s article, the focus lies on “co-creation” as a method.

Shadowing is a qualitative method which is not very widespread up to today, where a person is accompanied by an observer like a “shadow”. Todays article concentrates on how to apply this method practically, what learnings we had using shadowing during our projects, and how we would assess it in conclusion.