Avanceé.Agency

Avanceé.Agency

Musings on designing experiences & (re)engineering complexity

Apr 2019

What I Do Exactly

A common question grants a canvas to an uncommon answer: ”So what exactly do I/does Avanceé do?”

Heard somewhat often because explaining “experience design” to those who may be around design tangentially is a dice roll. For those who are familiar with design and it’s many permutations, an explanation goes into some specifics and vernacular. For those who don’t have that association, syncing activities and intentions to a space they are familiar with grants the desired clarity. That said, coming via card/site/social media doesn’t always grant the same context. So, consider this a mild explanation of those bits talked about on the About page and those images occasionslly shared

The primary service-level products include the following::

User Experience and Process Design SME/Consulting

At times, the work encompasses experience design for new or existing products, which often includes looking at the process by which those products will be developed and implemented, not just how those products look and function. These projects are usually not talked about directly because of nondisclosure agreements, or they fall under a slightly different window of access. However, the subject area for these projects is a consistent theme for nearly everything done to date.

Digital Life/Digital Humanism Coaching and Strategy

Through some of the more executive and strategy conversations, some work and consultation has also spoken to the prospects of what it means for digital and connected artifacts to enhance or degrade humanity. Digital humanism is a pretty frequent topic because many are looking at what it looks like to be committed with technology, while also being in a state of balance despite it. To date, work on this topic has been through posts and a few presentations. However, it’s because of this lens that “what exactly do you do” question gets asked the most.

Pattern Behavior Research

Pattern behavior research could probably be put under the same category with user experience and process design, but this work is a little deeper than what is traditionally experienced in either of those spaces. Also done with an executive component, pattern behavior research doesn’t just look at what it takes to build a product or service, but it looks at the underlying causes and implications of those products and services. To date, this has resulted in product scoping and market research for specific clients.

Professional/Executive Innovation Coaching

And finally, there’s the piece which happens as a part of some projects/engagements, but doesn’t get as much publicity due to the intensity of the action - coaching. This happenes on a limited basis, but has consistently drawn interest from executive-level supporters of Avanceé as a wanted serivce because of time spent in the other engagment spaces, and their enablement to take modern technology and practices forward.

As a fractional executive, or in-position consultant, research and collaboration establishes known or unknown key meausres, prioritizes issues, and then continual reporting and coaching is used to reshape perspetives and product outputs in order to reach measurable and sensible goals.

Mobile and Connected Device Subject Matter Expert (SME)

As it relates to mobile, wearables, and other connected devices, some work primarily centers around how to better understand behaviors and content going into those types of devices, what kind of services can be enabled from those devices, and what can be understood from the behaviors and analytics. Sometimes, this means merely looking at data streams and interpretation get next steps or gaps in existing flows. Occasionally, there’s room to concept better approaches which might improve customer experience, user experience, and technical performance. And sometimes, there’s just play — which becomes products themselves.

Outputs from those service-level products include:

Professional/Executive Innovation Coaching

As stated above.

Wireframes, Interactive Decks, & Workshop Presetations

Thankfully, not everything has to sit behind a conversation. Some of the work that has been produced ends up in wireframes, interactive decks, and presentations. These are public facing, or publicly shared, components which allow a small glimpse into the finished products, while also not betraying some of the sausage-making which happens before and after these are produced.

Targeted training and/or direct connections to upskill-oriented products

Where possible, limited training is offered for targeted areas. Or, if theres a partner or product which is better to leversge for upskilling people or organizations, those will be recommended. If there is a referral or other type of arrangement with the referral, this would be disclosed at the moment of recommendarion.

This is what Avanceé looks like to date. If there’s a common theme to most of it, it’s simply articulating systems by understanding design in order to re-engineer complexity. Perhaps a complicated way to say “see the forest and the trees while navigating in space,” but that’s how this endeavor has evolved.

If you think Avanceé can be of service to your teams/org, get in touch and let’s move forward in your space.