“Jump Associates”
Last summer, I visited two leading design/innovation consulting firms located in California: IDEO and Jump Associates. Visiting them inspired me many interesting research topics as well as convinced me that design/innovation is absolutely interesting field.
One thing that I was impressed by Jump Associates is its “smart space.” As it is well described in BusinessWeek, Jump Associates occupies two floors in one building. Interestingly, they are connected by a steel stair inside the building and designers freely go up and down without using the elevator (picture).
Besides, Jump Associates has a wide variety of uniquely designed rooms. The most interesting room is a small room called “Zen Room” (picture). This room has a relatively low ceiling and is full with cushions. According to a designer who gave me a guide, the Zen Room is used for consumers to express their needs and ideas in a warm, comfortable setting. This is interesting particularly because no marketing research has ever identified the value of low-ceiling space. Instead, prior marketing literature shows that high-ceiling facilitates creativity.
Now, I can find that rooms (or their ceiling height) are smartly chosen for different stages of product development process. Designers prefer a low-ceiling room when collecting needs from consumers, but they may need a high-ceiling room when creating solutions for consumer needs.
I wouldn’t say I completely agree on certain issues, but you’ve got an interesting point of view. Anyway, I enjoy the quality you add to the blogosphere and that this isn’t just another abandoned, made-for-adsense site! Take care…
If only more than 69 people would hear this!