Future is our
playground.

Our field is young, our tools are constantly being reinvented. Not to mention our professions. Ironically, what we are sure of is that we like to play and work on this shifting, evolving landscape: innovation through Service Design. Not least because we believe it can assist us in our mission to help create a more beautiful, sustainable and more human future for as many people as possible.

  • Service design for organizations that don't know they need it

    Matthew had a great conversation with Marc Fonteijn from the Service Design Show on how we work with organisations new to service design, here at User Studio.

  • Replay: our talk with Lou Downe

    On 15 September 2020, we interviewed Lou Downe, the former Design Director for the UK Government and the author of the book “Good Services”. Lou has been named one of the 100 most influential people in digital government, highlighting their pioneering integration of service design within the UK government. Lou’s prominent position and experience have enabled them to form firm beliefs about what makes a good service for end-users.

  • The essentials of a Service Design project

    This is our first 10-point edition of what we consider to be the Essentials of a Service Design project. In other words, the 10 fundamentals that should not be ignored in the vast majority of projects if they are to be successful. If you bring a project to us, these are the 10 principles for which you will always see us rise up as one man or woman because we are convinced (and passionate) about their importance to your project.

  • RATP mobile application

    RATP asked us to start redesigning its key mobile application. It is a question of not losing the many current users while integrating new, modern principles.

  • Why join us?

    Are you looking for a job in an innovation or design agency? On a human-scale? To do something a bit different from everyone else? Things that make sense, that are beautiful, human and that you can be proud of? With service design pioneers in France?

  • (Service) design as a powerful ecological catalyst

    Acting for a more human future obviously means thinking about people. This also means thinking about our environment, Planet Earth. Caroline, our eco-design expert looks back on our (many!) experiences with eco-responsible and eco-intelligent design. So that we have better understanding of the processes at work in integrating environmental considerations into our projects, and so that we can draw inspiration and make better use of them. For the common good.

  • The ROI of (service) design?

    Dear readers, please be reassured, this is not about revealing the identity of the ‘roi’ [‘king’, in French] of design. As everyone knows, the king of design is... Who is it anyway? No, here we’re talking about R.O.I., that is, Return on Investment, a term we also use in good French!

  • Hiring designers to innovate... And then what?

    The design of products or services contains nothing new; they are all well-designed in one way or another. But design provides fundamentally different results from traditional methods. The “designed” product or service is designed to be tailored to the specific issues of the men and women who use it, and of the organisation that provides it.

  • Sonja's (awesome) final day at the studio

    We've welcomed our first international intern this past Spring. Sonja is a 2nd year design student from Germany. On her last day, apart from having to organize her going-away party and wrapping up the amazing work she produced at Users', I assigned her a final task to complete: handing out her general feedback, her impression, whatever she feels would help anyone coming from somewhere else better understand what we're all about.

  • Creating volunteer dashboards with the French Red Cross

    The French Red Cross wanted to set up dashboards that would allow its 59,000 volunteers to track their activities.

  • Lume, the coloured lampshade for smartphones

    Lume, you have it in your pocket... Your smartphone is capable of emitting an infinitely programmable light. What if it was also the source of a poetry-filled nightlight?

  • Home Book System: energy consumption using the intercom

    Urmet produces the "Home Book System" - an intelligent video intercom system installed in the flats of many new buildings. The HBS is able to retrieve information on water, gas and electricity consumption.

  • Expérience France: Showcasing innovation

    A space design project along with its associated interfaces, Experience France is an exhibition that allows the public to discover the 100 most innovative companies in France.

  • Apple presents our project ‘DIRTI for iPad’ in its latest video

    The new Apple anniversary video, directed by Jake and Ridley Scott for the 30th anniversary of the Macintosh, features our tapioca interface.

  • DIRTI for iPad

    Control your iPad with tapioca! Dirti Tangible Interfaces (DIRTI) are a family of controllers based on the interaction of humans with tangible materials such as tapioca pearls.

  • The User Experience of the Withings Aura iPhone app: an insider's peek

    Just unveiled at the 2014 International CES in Las Vegas, Aura, the new connected device by Withings, is here to revolutionize your sleeping experience. Here's an insider's peek into the iPhone app's user experience we are designing.

  • Culture is Data

    Culture is Data is a report that presents all French cultural events in a new light. Here, the data comes from Etalab, the branch of the Ministry of Culture that handles the distribution of the institution's public data. Indeed, form and image, when articulated together, make it possible to enhance the information and increase its intelligibility. “Proudly Designed in France.” France is a country of culture; the proof is in the pudding.