This session will focus on the ways in which human-centered researchers team with colleagues across disciplines to transform a mass of data — field observations, contextual interviews, secondary research and anecdotal stories — into actionable design principles.

Note that while case studies shared in this session will refer to work that primarily informs decision-making in the tangible realm, the methods refined by researchers at the furniture manufacturer Steelcase can also be (and often are) effectively applied to the design of digital media experiences.

In this session, you will:

* Discover ways to both engage a multi-disciplinary audience in the design process and build shared ownership of stories and insights.

* Explore how this shared development of a research platform can be used to inform business, marketing and design decisions.

About Emily Ulrich

Emily is a design researcher in the EXP Brand Experience group at Steelcase, a global designer and manufacturer of products that are used to create high-performance work environments. Steelcase research explores the notion of work as a social activity, and speculates about the role office design plays in evolving organizational culture and enabling organizational change.

Since 2002, Emily has participated as both a team researcher and project lead in Steelcase’s “deep dive” explorations, where she has focused on the work behaviors of people in higher education, professional services and health care settings. The goal of this work is to contribute to internal product development and inspire client and design colleagues to think differently about the integration of architecture, furniture and technology.

Emily leverages techniques learned during her graduate studies at the Institute of Design at the Illinois Institute of Technology, where she received an M.Des. in Design Planning. Today Emily explores distance collaboration with her Michigan-based colleagues from various locations around her home in San Francisco.