Nudging Pixels

This month’s episode is a special one. At Houston Inc., we pride ourselves on having diverse, interdisciplinary teams. Our designers and developers work together in close knit teams and we really try to blur these boundaries. But we’re still on a quest for the perfect relationship and in this episode we talk about how to get there. The episode also features an interview with Niko Salminen, Principal Technologist at Houston Inc. and some special appearances from some very cool Houstonians. Some quick links Houston Inc. Lean UX Don’t forget to let us know what you thought of this episode and send us any future episode suggestions at nudgingpixels@houston-inc.com We’re also on twitter @nudgingpixels

DesignOps helps companies invest in design by operationalizing their workflow, hiring, alignment between teams, and more so that designers are able to focus on design work and let someone else take control of the rest. But who really needs DesignOps? When’s the right time to start thinking about it, and how does one even get started? We chat with Angelos Arnis, Design Operations at Elisa and Sonja Krogius, Lead Designer at Nordkapp, the people behind the DesignOps meetups in Helsinki. Let us know what you thought about this episode or give us new suggestions at nudgingpixels@houston-inc.com Things we mentioned in this episode: DesignOps Canvas OrgDesign for DesignOrgs Designops.lol @designopshel on Twitter Joint Futures conference

Like many industries, the food retailing and restaurant business are also changing. And there are many new digital players sprouting like mushrooms. One of them is the Finnish startup Wolt. An app that people use to order food from restaurants to their home. In this month’s episode we have a chat with Elias Aalto, the Co-founder and Head of User Experience at Wolt, about the product design and evolution of the Wolt app. We discuss the advantages of having designers in the founding team of a company, the developer designer relationship and the compromises you sometimes have to make when developing a product. We also hear Elias’ views on the future of food deliveries and what Wolt has already done to test new business opportunities. Things we mention in this episode : Design Delivered Tell us what you think on twitter @nudgingpixels or email : nudgingpixels@houston-inc.com

As more companies start adopting a user-centric approach to their business, the need for customer insights increases. But knowing who your customers are is only the tip of the iceberg. With their personal values, attitudes and habits, humans are so much more complex. This was also the basis for Kuudes’ research called Informed Consumer. We talk about this in our second episode with Petra Väänänen-Leimu, Kuudes’ Insight Specialist. Petra tells us how the Informed Consumer project was conducted in Finland, Sweden and China and how everyone can use it to get insights on their consumers in these countries. We also try to understand the difference between market research, insights and trend forecasting. And as a bonus we get Petra to spill the beans on what trends Finland should expect in 2019. Tell us what you think on twitter @nudgingpixels or email : nudgingpixels@houston-inc.com

We’ve been talking about Virtual reality for ages now. We’ve seen it in movies, cartoons and read about it in books. But it’s taken a while to go from concept to an actual, useable medium. And unlike what movies from the 80s would have us believe, our daily lives do not revolve around experiences in virtual reality. In this first episode of Nudging Pixels, we chat with Akseli Anttila, Principal UX Designer at Varjo Technologies, the Helsinki-based startup behind the first human eye resolution VR headset. He tells us why we should be careful about science fiction inspiring our design and we discuss the ethical issues surrounding this immersive medium. We talk about where Varjo is headed and the future of work with VR. Other VR and AR headsets mentioned in this episode: Occulus Vive Google Cardboard Holo Lens Some other things we mentioned: Google Glass Iron Man scene Minority Report Scene Tell us what you think on twitter @nudgingpixels or email : nudgingpixels@houston-inc.com