I can help in designing an even better experience for your employees.
(and customers too – as a result)
We’ve seen that the Digital medium can do much more than we previously thought possible – if applied well.
Let’s blend the Digital with the Physical so that Technology works with People – not against them.
Change is unavoidable
(and can be difficult)
If we are going to adapt, let’s do it well
This is not business as usual and we are not returning to that. The new normal is called ‘faster and faster disruption’. Instead of fighting it, let’s learn to navigate change and maybe even steer it.
As ‘Humans’ – first,
As ‘Employees’ – second
The individuals and how they collaborate determine whether the Organization stays relevant.
Employees are your link to what the customer feels. Employees need to be empowered and encouraged to come up with better ways of serving your users and other stakeholders.
Continuous Learning
The new world of work requires new actors with:
*Initiative — setting our own goals and constraints.
*Creativity — being confident that we have it and using it…
*Visual Communication — especially in a digital world
*Curiosity — which we all can train
*Entrepreneurial spirit — continuously seeking ways to create value, especially when others don’t do it.
I can help in creating blended learning programs (digital + physical) aimed at upskilling, re-skilling or onboarding.
âš’ Project — Helping convert a Physical Course into a Digital Experience 🔗
— enabling peer-learning through the use of open-door virtual rooms
— using Learning and Graphic Design principles for increased clarity
— better learning outcomes thanks to the right tool for the job: an LMS
📄 Most employees are willing to spend unpaid time on training and upskilling
📄 How to make Corporate Learning stick
Strong Collaboration
Do you remember when your team started using the right tool for the job (or right approach) and then you thought: ‘why didn’t we make time for this earlier ?‘
I ensure that this happens sooner rather than later, by blending the ‘Physical’ with the ‘Digital’ and the ‘Immediate’ with the ‘Delayed’.
âš’ Project — Working using Empathy 🔗
— connecting those who face the customer with those behind the curtain
— empathizing with key stakeholders, jumping into their shoes
— reality checking key assumptions through frequent validation
📄 Article — “Design applied to the Employee Experience” 🔗
— employees are humans and they have a few basic needs
— remote work does not have to replicate the office
📄 The Manager’s interactive manual for working well remotely (by Slack)
📄 Finding your plays – A Guide (by Atlassian)
Digital should add,
instead of substract
How might our Organization better understand what Customers truly value ?
By being humble, by building in opportunities to listen, and by regularly checking our assumptions…
âš’ Project
How empathic listening and a participative approach taught us things which the co-founders didn’t know
Click to read the Case Study 🔗
* The ‘customer’ is not always the ‘user’. Plus, there are other stakeholders (incl. your colleagues) with an influence over the project. Empathizing with them is equally (or perhaps even more) important.
** Questions and answers adapted from TISDD.com (pages 4-6)
How can we use this knowledge to consistently make the Customer Experience better ?
The aim is to create an offering that: reaches or exceeds the customer’s expectations, fits with their lives, and meets their emotional needs
âš’ Project
Applying a design-driven process by involving key stakeholders early on and through frequent reality testing...
Ensuring that:
– ‘the right thing is being built’
– ‘it is done in the right way’
Click to read the Case Study 🔗
What other things are contributing to what the Customer is going through at the front-stage ?
The organization is made up of intelligent people, doing good jobs. Then why do they still manage to infuriate, confuse or disappoint customers ?
💡 Insight
One of the reasons for this discrepancy is the way organizations are set up…
– Are people systematically encouraged to learn from mistakes – and are errors even allowed ?
– Does knowledge flow easily or is it treated as a non-renewable resource ?
– Do people go into meetings trying to understand each other’s perspectives ? Or do they go in aiming to prove that theirs alone is the correct one ?
The Design Process starts with ‘understanding’ – which happens in ‘iterations’ (i.e. cycles), instead of getting it right the first time.
What others say:
You see things which other people can’t see, or won’t see
– Friend
You quickly find common ground and connect with strangers
– Friend
A real self-starter; and brings a lot of energy to the team. In the project we worked on he pro-actively sought out novel ways to solve the problems, and brings in a lot of interesting background. Plus, he’s eager to learn.
– Thatcher, Design Engineer & Business Developer
see the project 🔗
Energetic young man with brilliant new ideas. It is always a pleasure to work with him and to see how he comes up with solutions. He works very fast but always keeps focused on the main topic. I can recommend working with Marius any time!
– Boudewijn, Co-founder
see the project 🔗
✉ You can reach me using Linkedin or email ✉
Marius Ursu
Service Designer (and ex-engineer)
“I ensure that Technology works with People,
not against them”
After doing Industrial and Digital Design projects, I started seeing the importance of supportive processes and contributing factors (org structure, routines and culture) in order to continuously discover the stakeholder needs and then to consistently act on it.
I come from an entrepreneurial family. Worked across industries and organization types: innovative SMEs, Non-Profits, briefly touched the Corporate world.
See examples of Past Work here.
And for the next trick,
I’d love to join a larger Organization
I am looking for a new long-term challenge within a larger organization with its own product/service offering (in-house), or a design agency (preferred).
I am fascinated by the new business challenge of helping a sizeable organization climb the Design Maturity Ladder.
This involves purposefully designing for employees, as well as using design to inform and make Strategy decisions. Designers must learn the language of decision makers, and truly understand what practices helped get the organization to where it is.
Let us understand and facilitate each other, break down silos, train and learn from each other, let us experiment together.