Briefly describe a day in the life of
your lab. There is a lot going on here
in a week, and every day is different,
so I’m going to give you a mix. Let’s
say it’s the day of a Pre-Work Talk,
which is a monthly event series
we’ve been organizing for over 10
years where we invite two inspiring
speakers to give a talk or take part in
a panel discussion. The event draws
around 100 to 150 people in Berlin
for what’s always a great morning
of informal open dialogue, with a
vibrant and engaged community of
designers, creative technologists,
researchers, and entrepreneurs. After
that’s wrapped up and we’ve done
some casual networking over coffee,
people disperse either to workshop
rooms or to wherever they feel like
sitting for the day.
Every Tuesday we have a team
lunch where a chef comes in to make
us a meal that we eat together; then on
Wednesdays we have a lunchtime skill
exchange where people can choose to
attend (via video link if they’re in the
other studio) a presentation or demo
from a fellow team member based
around their skills.
We often have clients who work
alongside us in our studios for days
or weeks at a time, depending on the
project, so there’s always something
different going on and people to engage
with. Also, as most of us work a 32-
hour week and take Fridays off, we
have Thirsty Thursdays: The fridge is
stocked for us to wind down together
before we head off for the extended
weekend.
What is one feature of your lab that
you could not do without? There
are many creative prototyping toys
like the laser cutter that we can’t do
without, but if we’re talking about a
feature, we all really value our weekly
team exchanges. That includes both
the lunchtime skill exchanges and
Tuesday’s Team Exchange, which
allows the whole team—regardless
of whether you’re in Berlin, Munich,
or your home office—to connect
and share news, updates, and project
lessons and highlights.
What is the one thing you see as most
important about the work you do
there? We strive to be a purpose-led
organization, that purpose being to
create desirable and lasting impact
by empowering individuals, teams,
and businesses. With this purpose
underlying everything we do, we aim to
be an organization with ambitions that
tap into a universal need; that places
humans at the center; and that takes
responsibility for the impact we have
on society.
A big way in which we put that into
practice is by prototyping, both on
ourselves with new internal processes
and also in the services we create. We
are continuously carrying out in-depth
user testing, and by leveraging the
power of prototypes, we enable people
to experience the positive impact of
change. This forms the foundation from
which we can help companies design
new service ecosystems and bring
relevant innovations to market.
http://www.ixds.com
DOI: 10.1145/3280940 COP YRIGHT HELD BY AUTHOR
By leveraging the
power of prototypes,
we enable people to
experience the positive
impact of change.
DAY IN
THE LAB