All posts by Jaewoo Joo

Jaewoo teaches and writes about design thinking and behavioral economics for customer experience, new product development, and new product adoption. He is an associate professor of marketing and participating professor of experience design at Kookmin University.
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What I discovered at Stanford’s d.school’s unusual workshop

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Stanford’s d.school workshop, Unleash Creativity, offers a unique hands-on approach to learning. During my visit, I could feel the creative energy, from the open second-floor view to the iconic d.school truck inside the building to the this year’s course schedule packed with hands-on activities.

Plate says: The Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford was established in 2005 to recognize an extraordinary gift from the Hasso Plattner Foundation to inspire teaching and research in design thinking and the creation of a home for the Institute. The Institute is dedicated to the spread of design thinking and the application of its principles to real-world problems. The design and renovations of this facility along with Hasso Plattner’s continued role in championing design thinking around the world were celebrated on May 7, 2010.

In Unleash Creativity, participants jumped straight into exercises without explanation. For instance, instead of talking about ideas, they started by drawing, connecting, and coloring dots. The interesting part is that they only learned why they did each activity afterward, as the instructor, Dustin Liu, explained the purpose and effect. This approach—learning by doing—really made them feel the power of creative expression.

One memorable activity had them listen to others share about someone they admire and then draw that person without talking. This helped them see deeper into one another’s perspectives. Through the carefully designed powerful exercises of listening, sharing, and drawing, they experienced the true power of empathy.

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Reference

Auernhammer, J., & Roth, B. (2021). The origin and evolution of Stanford University’s design thinking: From product design to design thinking in innovation management. Journal of Product Innovation, 38(July), 623–644.

This article outlines the origin and evolution of one of the most influential design thinking perspectives in the Innovation Management discourse. This study addresses two significant criticisms of design thinking, namely, theoretical grounding and construct clarity. It also illustrates how this humanistic and creative design practice transcended into a comprehensive Innovation Management approach, facilitating entrepreneurship and innovation. Our research analyzes the evolution of the design philosophy and practices developed at Stanford University from 1957 to 2005 through document analysis. We identified design qualities that have been consistent over the decades, providing further construct clarity and insights on managing Design- driven Innovation. These design qualities elucidate design thinking as a cognitive process, creative practice, organizational routine, and design culture. They emphasize finding profound needs and problems and translate them into tangible designs, creating value for people. This design philosophy is deeply rooted in humanistic psychology theories, particularly on creativity and human values. Collaborations between psychologists, industrial researchers, and designers created this creative and human- centered design approach, known today as design thinking. This value- driven innovation offers a humanistic perspective on innovation theory and practice. It also offers an Innovation Management schema of design qualities essential for developing Design- driven Innovation capabilities in organizations and educational institutions. We emphasize that developing a creative design culture in which people have the human values, abilities, and confidence to collaboratively identify continuous emerging problems and needs and contribute through tangible designs generates an era of innovation and is essentially innovation management.

Practitioner Points
  • Design thinking as a step-by-step process with tools prevents fluency in thinking and flexibility in approach, which are essential in Design-driven Innovation.
  • An essential innovation management task is to develop a design culture and capabilities by freeing teams from emerging blocks imposed by the environment.
  • In organizations, Design-driven Innovation requires the development of micro-foundation, such as abilities and attitudes & values, and capabilities, such as creative routines and environments of support and psychological safety and freedom.
  • Innovation managers and educators need to consider essential design qualities when enabling people to design tangible solution for open and complex problems.
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Lint rollers in lockdown: Is California overreacting?

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During a visit to a CVS store in Redwood City, California, I encountered an unexpected barrier to purchasing something as simple as lint rollers. These inexpensive items were locked behind a glass cabinet, requiring me to press a button to unlock it.

The inconvenience of this process immediately raised questions about the rationale behind such measures. Why would store managers restrict access to low-value products, slowing down the shopping experience? This practice seems counterintuitive in a retail environment where seamless customer interaction leads to higher sales.

I speculate that theft prevention might be the motive. One said at Reddit about a year ago,

“We have people that, in broad daylight, will walk right in with backpacks and take everything off a shelf and shove it into their bag and leave. They don’t care if you see them, and they don’t care if they are on camera. CVS would literally not be in business anymore if we didn’t lock things up.”

However, locking up inexpensive items can do more harm than good—it frustrates shoppers and may result in lost sales, as potential buyers could abandon their purchases entirely. This calls for store management to reconsider its approach. After all, a hassle-free shopping experience remains a crucial factor in retail success.

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Reference

Bitter, A. and Reuter, D. (2024, August 11), Locked-up merchandise is turning off shoppers at CVS, Walgreens, and other big drugstores, Business Insider, https://www.businessinsider.com/locked-up-merchandise-drugstores-annoys-shoppers-cvs-walgreens-rite-aid-2024-8

  • Major drugstore chains have locked up a lot of merchandise to prevent shoplifting.
  • But the anti-theft strategy is pushing some customers to wonder: Why even shop here?
  • Locking up so many items undermines one of drugstores’ main reasons for existing: convenience.

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When a classroom feels like a movie theater

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Walking into the empty classroom in Stanford’s Gates Building, I was struck by its resemblance to a boutique movie theater. The whole green chairs are arranged in the semi-circular way and all face a central screen. The muted colors and soft lighting added to this ambiance, making the space feel more like a private screening room.

This theater-like design can influence both teaching and learning positively. For instructors, the semi-circular seating fosters more and better interaction with students. For students, such layouts can help them follow presentations and participate in discussions actively.

Research shows that classroom designs resembling theaters, with tiered seating and central focal points, can increase student engagement and satisfaction. Indeed, classroom environments that mimic theater designs can enhance learning experiences by promoting interaction and focus.

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Reference

Cheryan, S., Ziegler, S. A., Plaut, V. C., & Meltzoff, A. N. (2014). Designing classrooms to maximize student achievement. Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 1(1), 4-12.

Improving student achievement is vital for our nation’s competitiveness. Scientific research shows how the physical classroom environment influences student achievement. Two findings are key: First, the building’s structural facilities profoundly influence learning. Inadequate lighting, noise, low air quality, and deficient heating in the classroom are significantly related to worse student achievement. Over half of U.S. schools have inadequate structural facilities, and students of color and lower income students are more likely to attend schools with inadequate structural facilities. Second, scientific studies reveal the unexpected importance of a classroom’s symbolic features, such as objects and wall décor, in influencing student learning and achievement in that environment. Symbols inform students whether they are valued learners and belong within the classroom, with far-reaching consequences for students’ educational choices and achievement. We outline policy implications of the scientific findings—noting relevant policy audiences—and specify critical features of classroom design that can improve student achievement, especially for the most vulnerable students.

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Rethinking ‘experience’: What my visit to Google Visitor Experience taught me

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Recently, I visited the Google Visitor Experience at the Googlplex. I went in expecting something amazing—maybe the chance to try out new techonolgy like self driving cars (like Waymo), virtual reality glasses (like Ray-Ban Meta Glasses), or advanced AI assistants (like Open AI). High expectations felt natural—it is Silicon Valley and Google, the place for extraordinary experiences.

However, the reality was much simpler. The space named as “Google Visitor Experience” revolves around three main activities: browsing Google-branded merchandise in the store, enjoying a coffee at the café, and relaxing in a small public area called “Huddle.”

These activities felt quite ordinary, which was surprising. For me, and probably for many people in Asia, the word “experience” suggests something special—sophisticated and luxurious. But here at Google Visitor Experience, what I found was simplicity instead. This gap between what I expected and what I actually encountered made me think about the meaning of “experience.”

In consumer research, “experience” is hard to define and measure. Hoch (2002) points out that experiences is enticing but tricky to pin down, which often makes studying them less precise. My visit to the Google Visitor Experience reminded me that sometimes our expectations for an “experience” can be bigger than reality. This visit made me think more about how we define experiences.

Now may be the time to define “experience” through the lens of satisfaction research suggested by Oliver (2014). Customer satisfaction hinges on the gap between expectation and reality, and experience should be understood in the same way—by studying both the anticipated and actual experience. A key challenge here will be managing experience expectations, similar to how we approach expectation management for satisfaction.

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Reference

Hoch, S. J. (2002). Product experience is seductive. Journal of consumer research, 29(3), 448-454.

Product experience seduces consumers into believing that they learn more than is actually so. There are several reasons for this. First, experience is more engaging than most attempts at education, both more vivid and intentional, and consequently more memorable. Second, experience is viewed as nonpartisan, devoid of the didacticism of formal education and the self-serving interests of advertisers. Third, much of experience is ambiguous, but not recognized as such. Experience supports a pseudodiagnosticity that draws the consumer in as a willing partner in the seduction. Finally, the endogeneity of tastes allows consumers to accommodate to chosen alternatives and results in infrequent regrets about being seduced.

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Reference

Oliver, R. L. (1993). Cognitive, affective, and attribute bases of the satisfaction response. Journal of consumer research, 20(3), 418-430.

An attempt to extend current thinking on postpurchase response to include attribute satisfaction and dissatisfaction as separate determinants not fully reflected in either cognitive (i.e., expectancy disconfirmation) or affective paradigms is presented. In separate studies of automobile satisfaction and satisfaction with course instruction, respondents provided the nature of emotional experience, disconfirmation perceptions, and separate attribute satisfaction and dissatisfaction judgments. Analysis confirmed the disconfirmation effect and the effects of separate dimensions of positive and negative affect and also suggested a multidimensional structure to the affect dimensions. Additionally, attribute satisfaction and dissatisfaction were significantly related to positive and negative affect, respectively, and to overall satisfaction. It is suggested that all dimensions tested are needed for a full accounting of postpurchase responses in usage.

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Beyond K-Pop: How the Korean Wave is shaping contemporary art

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The Korean art scene has seen dynamic shifts in recent years. This change is tied to the rise of “Hallyu” or the Korean Wave, which has popularized Korean music (BTS), drama (Squid Game), and food (Kimbop).

Hallyu has pushed even non-Korean artists to explore personal themes in their work. This is seen in the exhibition currently on display at the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco. Japanese artist, Etsu Egami, collaborated with a K-pop celebrity, Lee Byung-hun. Her work showcases how art transcends language barriers. It also shows Korean art works are now reaching wider audiences, challenging the boundaries of conventional art forms.

As Korea continues to celebrate its artistic innovation, it opens doors for cross-cultural exchanges.

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How salon-style displays enrich the art viewing experience

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On a recent visit to the Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens in Los Angeles, I was struck by the “salon style” display of paintings—a densely arranged presentation that contrasts with today’s minimalistic museum trend.

A “salon style” hang not only looks different from how most museums are arranged today-it also changes the viewer’s experience. Instead of presenting works individually, with lots of space, the crowded layout puts paintings in a network, encouraging comparison and debate. Salon artists felt reaccured if their pictures were hung at eye level, and lamented when they were “skied” close to the ceiling. Placement of particular works was determined by level of detail, the hierarchy of genres (a tradition prioritizing history and religious paintings) and, most importantly, the personal politicis of the Academy.

Unlike the single-piece-focused, widely spaced approach seen in contemporary galleries, salon-style hanging places artworks in close clusters, prompting viewers to think differently. Psychologically, this arrangement affects perception in two ways.

First, works displayed at eye level attract more attention—a phenomenon known as “eye level, buy level.” It is well known that eye-level placement in retail settings drives choices. Similarly, artists historically loved this prime placement, aiming to capture viewers’ gaze.

Second and more importantly, viewers are inclined to compare artworks side by side. This phenomenon aligns with Hsee’s research on “joint evaluation (JE) versus separate evaluation (SE). When items are displayed jointly, people place greater emphasis on attributes that may otherwise be hard to assess, fostering a richer, multi-dimensional engagement with items. In historical salons, this might have encouraged viewers to notice intricate qualities in each painting, which might go overlooked today when artworks are displayed individually in modern galleries.

Building on these insights with another pieces of insights found ten years ago at the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA), Boston, museum directors must carefully consider how presentation contexts shape visitor experiences. Museum visitors, like consumers, are influenced by cognitive biases and contextual cues, making behavioral economics principles crucial for optimizing the museum experience.”

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Reference

Hsee, C. K. (1998). Less is better: When low‐value options are valued more highly than high‐value options. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 11(2), 107-121.

This research demonstrates a less-is-better effect in three contexts: (1) a person giving a $45 scarf as a gift was perceived to be more generous than one giving a $55 coat; (2) an overfilled ice cream serving with 7 oz of ice cream was valued more than an underfilled serving with 8 oz of ice cream; (3) a dinnerware set with 24 intact pieces was judged more favourably than one with 31 intact pieces (including the same 24) plus a few broken ones. This less-is-better effect occurred only when the options were evaluated separately, and reversed itself when the options were juxtaposed. These results are explained in terms of the evaluability hypothesis, which states that separate evaluations of objects are often infuenced by attributes which are easy to evaluate rather than by those which are important.

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Voting at Stanford: A glimpse into the democracy day

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It is Election Day, and these photos capture an intriguing scene for those who may wonder how American students engage in voting. Here, a line of students stretches out the door, each person waiting patiently to cast their vote—a sight that demonstrates just how seriously these young adults take their role in shaping the future.

Yet, some students saw the long queue ahead questioned: “Does my vote really matter?” and “Do I really make a difference?” These sentiments resonate with many, reflecting the common struggle between civic duty and individual doubt.

Ultimately, these snapshots remind me that, despite geographical and cultural differences, the act of voting holds a universal significance. Whether here in Stanford or in Korea, each vote really matters, which is why it is essential to inspire people to visit the voting centers and participate in the electoral process.

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Reference

Bond, Robert M., Christopher J. Fariss, Jason J. Jones, Adam D. I. Kramer, Cameron Marlow, Jaime E. Settle, and James H. Fowler (2012), “A 61-Million-Person Experiment in Social Influence and Politicial Mobilization,” Nature, 489, 295-298.

Human behaviour is thought to spread through face-to-face social networks, but it is difficult to identify social influence effects in observational studies, and it is unknown whether online social networks operate in the same way. Here we report results from a randomized controlled trial of political mobilization messages delivered to 61 million Facebook users during the 2010 US congressional elections. The results show that the messages directly influenced political self-expression, information seeking and real-world voting behaviour of millions of people. Furthermore, the messages not only influenced the users who received them but also the users’ friends, and friends of friends. The effect of social transmission on real-world voting was greater than the direct effect of the messages themselves, and nearly all the transmission occurred between ‘close friends’ who were more likely to have a face-to-face relationship. These results suggest that strong ties are instrumental for spreading both online and real-world behaviour in human social networks.

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How IDEO pushes boundaries of design thinking: B2B and generative AI

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During a recent visit to IDEO‘s San Francisco office, I learned how design thinking can be harnessed in B2B contexts and the transformative potential of generative AI. IDEO’s approach highlighted how design thinking is not limited to extreme end-users but extends meaningfully to B2B industries. By embracing this methodology, companies can reduce development timelines while serving the needs of various stakeholders.

IDEO’s collaboration with Ford highlights how design thinking can adapt quickly to address B2B challenges. Ford identified a gap in van driver security due to the long product development cycles. In response, IDEO designed a van security solution within just 12 weeks, quick prototyping to expedite development. This solution ultimately led to the creation of the joint venture between Ford and ADT, which integrated sensors, cameras, and AI to detect window breakage or unauthorized access.

One particularly inspiring session was learning about the integration of generative AI into design thinking processes. Generative AI, such as ChatGPT, has opened new avenues for, so called, “synthetic research.” Generative AI enables the creation of hypothetical personas that bring fresh insight into understanding potential customer needs. Additionally, by using video prototypes developed through AI, designers can iterate on ideas faster and more creatively than traditional methods allow.

This visit enlightened me about the transformative potential of merging emerging technologies like generative AI with established design thinking frameworks. By continuously pushing the boundaries of design thinking, IDEO opens new possibilities for the B2B sector, fostering faster, tailored solutions to meet evolving needs.

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Reference

Brown, T. (2008). Design thinking. Harvard business review, 86(6), 84.

In the past, design has most often occurred fairly far downstream in the development process and has focused on making new products aesthetically attractive or enhancing brand perception through smart, evocative advertising. Today, as innovation’s terrain expands to encompass human-centered processes and services as well as products, companies are asking designers to create ideas rather than to simply dress them up.

Brown, the CEO and president of the innovation and design firm IDEO, is a leading proponent of design thinking—a method of meeting people’s needs and desires in a technologically feasible and strategically viable way. In this article he offers several intriguing examples of the discipline at work. One involves a collaboration between frontline employees from health care provider Kaiser Permanente and Brown’s firm to reengineer nursing-staff shift changes at four Kaiser hospitals. Close observation of actual shift changes, combined with brainstorming and rapid prototyping, produced new procedures and software that radically streamlined information exchange between shifts. The result was more time for nursing, better-informed patient care, and a happier nursing staff.

Another involves the Japanese bicycle components manufacturer Shimano, which worked with IDEO to learn why 90% of American adults don’t ride bikes. The interdisciplinary project team discovered that intimidating retail experiences, the complexity and cost of sophisticated bikes, and the danger of cycling on heavily trafficked roads had overshadowed people’s happy memories of childhood biking. So the team created a brand concept—“Coasting”—to describe a whole new category of biking and developed new in-store retailing strategies, a public relations campaign to identify safe places to cycle, and a reference design to inspire designers at the companies that went on to manufacture Coasting bikes.

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Bridging theory and practice: My CSULB talk on consumer-centric design

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Last week, I had the pleasure of speaking at the Apostle Incubator. This is a course designed by Institute for Innovation & Entrepreneurship (IIE) at California State University Long Beach (CSULB). This interdisciplinary, entrepreneurial program brought together students from diverse backgrounds, creating a lively atmosphere for our discussion on understanding consumers.

In my talk, I shared insights from my project experience with Korean designers, where we explored how companies can use psychology to improve product design and boost sales. One project I discussed involved creating product bundles. I explained how even small changes can have a big impact on whether people decide to buy.

The students were curious and engaged, asking thoughtful questions. One asked, “What’s the difference between Samsung and Apple?” Others questioned about which marketing tools these companies uses now. We even touched on how Google Nest might face similar questions when trying to bundle products effectively.

Overall, it was inspiring to see the students’ enthusiasm. Many left with new ideas on how to think about consumers in their own projects. I am excited to see where these future entrepreneurs take these insights.

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In-N-Out’s nostalgia drives a unique experience

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I recently visited In-N-Out in Long Beach and found myself immersed in a nostalgic atmosphere. From the iconic red and white decor to the lively staff, the ambiance felt like a step back in time. One detail particularly stood out was that an employee stepped outside to greet drivers at the drive-through, hanging something reminiscent of old-fashioned McDonald’s. This personal, nostalgic touch resonated with many customers, making it more than just a fast-food stop.

Nostalgia can enhance consumer satisfaction, often outweighing price or product quality. When brands like In-N-Out press rewind to create enchantment, they create not just meals but memories. In an era of fast-paced change, such genuine, authentic gestures can be more impactful than any menu update.

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Reference

Hartmann, B. J., & Brunk, K. H. (2019). Nostalgia marketing and (re-) enchantment. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 36(4), 669-686.

Most marketing and branding activities are essentially concerned with enchantment—the rendering of the ordinary into something special. To create enchantment, companies are increasingly marketing past-themed brands and products. Yet, there is little research about why and how such nostalgia marketing creates enchantment for consumers. Building on different modalities of nostalgia identified in sociological literature (reluctant nostalgia, progressive nostalgia, and playful nostalgia), we analyze the creation of enchantment through a longitudinal, qualitative, multi-method program of inquiry. We find three routes to enchantment grounded in different nostalgia modes: (1) re-instantiation (symbolic retrojection into a past), (2) re-enactment (reflexively informing the present with past-themed brands and practices), and (3) re-appropriation (ludic re-interpretation of the past). By unfolding the different ways in which marketers can press rewind to create enchantment, we discern important implications for theorizing and managing past-themed brands in terms of marketing strategy, targeting and positioning, brand experience design, and marketing communications.