M3 Design, a leading strategic creative consulting firm located in Austin, Texas, is seeking to add several Research Strategists to its growing team.
Job Role: Senior DR Strategists will work directly with the Director to create M3’s unique methodology, drawing on their experience as well as suggesting new methods and exploratory ideas on involving our clients and their customers. Likewise, DR strategists will be asked to lead the DR component of projects, including but not limited to: brainstorming with ID and mechanical team members, creating test plans, setting up recruitment (typically with third party vendors, if appropriate), performing ethnographic research, running studies, analyzing and articulating the results to feed the ID and ME portions of the project, and communicating the process and findings to clients. DR Strategists might also be called on to pitch DR and M3’s capabilities to clients as well as to write whitepapers, brief articles, case studies or blogs and present at national/international, if appropriate.
Requirements: 3 – 5 years experience at top tier firms using ethnographic and participatory methods and/or statistics/ergonomic/human factors methods. Ability to speak clearly and articulately on research to clients, interface with customers and to a larger community (e.g. conferences) on DR topics. Passion and utter belief in Design Research as the driver and impetus to improve the design of products, which touch our lives on a daily basis or perhaps in extreme circumstances. Ideally, DR strategists would have particular focuses led by interest (e.g. “emotional design,” “medical interest” etc.) which has led their DR work in personal and unexpected ways. Strong graphical ability (to present analysis) and strong oral or writing ability (e.g. whitepapers and articles) preferred.
Creative self-starters please apply. World-view and empathy appreciated. No-fear attitude, willing to try just about anything deemed worthwhile.
About Design Research at M3:
The Design Research Group is led by Laura Seargeant Richardson, a 5-year frog design veteran and recent IDSA World Congress speaker on The Art and Science of Measuring Emotion. Laura is tasked with building a best in class Design Research Group, with particular emphasis and focus on pushing the boundaries of design research – both human (ethnographical, participatory, transformational and emotion driven with consumers) and machine (mechanical, bio-mechanical, functional, and ergonomical). Laura is interested in pursuing radically different approaches to forward design thinking, but also relying on proven techniques to address desired outcomes. Deeper, wider and through differently colored lenses is her approach. For an example of her thinking, please read: http://www.frogdesign.com/design-mind/articles/winter-2006/tasting-rainbows.html
About M3:
M3 Design is a 10-year old strategic creative consulting firm, which designs anything from pet products to boats, from surgical instruments to consumer wearables, from lighting experience programs to laptops. Currently featured in Austin’s Museum of Art, M3 Design also picked up Silver in the 2006 IDEA Design Awards for AMD’s PIC (personal internet communicator). The PIC is currently featured in NY’s Cooper Hewitt Museum and in the magazine, Designing for the other 90%. M3’s work on Dell’s XPS 2010 laptop won Best of CES Innovations 2007 and 20 Most Innovative Products, PC World, February 2007.