out of oblo - August 2024
August has been a quiet month for many of us—a time to recharge, explore new places, immerse ourselves in nature, and infuse a bit of Oblo spirit wherever we went.
While some of us took time off to relax, others kept things running smoothly, and then we swapped roles. It’s been a true exercise in balance, ensuring everyone got the well-deserved rest they needed.
Embracing the summer mood ☀️
We have always cherished the summer vibe—traveling, discovering new places, and enjoying the freedom of the season. This enthusiasm has always extended to our studio projects, even when travel wasn’t an option. Back in 2021, we joined forces with Poli.Design UX Design Master to support Alidays facing an important challenge: how to rethink their business and product offering in response to travel restrictions imposed by COVID-19, taking into considerations new travel trends. We conducted extensive research with different kinds of travelers, to uncover their core motivations and explore how travel agencies could evolve to better support them.
So, what about you? Are you a careful planner or a world explorer? If you’re still in the holiday mood, check out our case study here.
Back to field research 🔍
Research remains a cornerstone of our work, and this month was no different. In the sunny countryside of Cantù, near the lake, we began a new project with Abilitiamo, a residential facility for young adults with autism. Our goal is to improve their organisational structure and processes, so we started with on-site observations at Cascina Cristina and are now moving into a series of in-person interviews.
We’re excited to see how this research will shape the new strategy and inform a revamped organisational setup.
Numbers and stars 🌌
As we gazed at the stars on those summer nights, we also delved into the intersection of space exploration and gaming—a topic that’s familiar to us (shoutout to @interstellar raccoons!). Digital ethnography has proven invaluable for collecting user-generated content and drawing insights about possible user personas from real-life habits. We used these insights to guide an internal workshop with our client, helping to better shape their idea and define how to test it. We’re in the process of evaluating different features of the project through a quantitative market research across Europe and Asia.
We’ve used this methodology in the past to test our assumptions and enhance our research with data from social networks. For instance, we applied this approach to understand Gen-Z’s use of photography and self-expression, which helped us develop a new feature for Samsung’s camera. We wrote a case study about this project, you can read it here.
Returning to the office: How to structure your operations more effectively 💼
As we returned to our inboxes, we were thrilled to see the release of the new DesignOps book from Rosenfeld - and we are looking forward to read it. DesignOps has been a recurring theme in the service design world and our studio: last year we started a side project to review our design process and tools, speed up our internal operations, and be sure to keep the same project quality while freeing up time for communication and research projects (as the newsletter you are currently reading 🚀🚀).
Together with other topics, like the design for organisations and AI-driven services, DesignOps will be one of the modules of our master’s course at Talent Garden starting this October. Wherever you are working in a startup, a company or a public organisation check out the master program.
It’s all for this month, see you soon!
Anything you want to discuss with us? You can book a 30 min call or drop us a line.
Enjoy September,
Serena and oblo team