Mary is a leader in design strategy and emerging practices at Johnson & Johnson in New York City. She currently focuses on health and wellbeing, end-to-end experience design, and collaborations that bring behavioral science into the design process. A former consultant and researcher, Mary brings substantial experience with the top NYC design and innovation firms, and her areas of expertise include strategy, innovation, digital design, human-centered design, and simplification.

Marrying up human benefit and effective design became part of Mary’s creative DNA after completing her Master’s program from Carnegie Mellon University. She explores why she is motivated by looking at a project not only from a technical perspective but in terms of whether it fulfills a need from a human perspective. Mary gives her insights on why bringing a human-centered perspective is her core commitment and purpose and how the principles of appreciative inquiry help her achieve those goals.

Mary also touches on the future of behavior-led design and how we can harness the power of artificial intelligence, data, and enhanced awareness to augment what it means to be human. She details how her current work at Johnson and Johnson focuses on enhancing their vision, or ability to breathe more easily, rather than replacing anything, and why it takes what we have as human beings further.

“Intangibility is something that I think is core to a service.” - Mary Quandt

“When we at Johnson and Johnson are thinking about designing services and service design, it’s really looking holistically at what are all of the things that can create a mutual value exchange.” - Mary Quandt

01:59 Mary’s graduate school experience at Carnegie Mellon, her previous design roles, and who has influenced and inspired how she work

05:02 What service design means to Mary

09:35 Mary’s advice for teams making a mindset switch to thinking about service design and the essential factors to consider

11:35 Human needs and behaviors and their connection with design

13:09 How Mary brings a human-centered design lens into her work on a day to day basis

17:42 What appreciative inquiry is and where it comes from

13:36 Why drilling down and appreciating the dynamics and the complexity around a project is so joyful for a design team

24:21 How this field of thinking and design has evolved over Mary’s time in the industry

27:31 Why Mary is optimistic about the future of the appreciative inquiry-led design

JLABS Life Science Movement

Mary Quandt on LinkedIn

David Cooperrider on Appreciate Enquiry

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