Meaning and value are determined by customers. We can help you find the insights that define both.
Every project has unique design needs. We taylor our design approach appropriately and have the talent to bring designs to life on the web, mobile or print.
Our workshops take place within our standard process or as 1-3 day self-contained offerings. We can help your team cut through distractions and uncover true business value.
Founders Mike and Bob started with an idea. Create a model that can quickly build teams that match the skills needed for each client’s unique challenges. The end result was a way to build teams that focus on talent and capability, not just titles on an RFP.
Earning a great reputation with clients, The Big Studio’s approach to creativity secured the client base and helped it expand into more areas. With the greater demand came the need to add more talented design thinkers to the team.
Moving the business to the Cambridge Innovation Center (CIC) was a key strategic decision. Hosting over 200 exciting businesses, the CIC provides The Big Studio with a connection to a robust community that ensures that the team is on top of the latest innovations and trends.
Having re-located into a great thinking space and eager to share the company’s enthusiasm and experience, The Big Studio began hosting speaking events and Meetups as a way to engage and inspire the local design community.
In 2011, The Big Studio took its unique approach to creativity half way around the globe and partnered with folks from IDEO and Westpac in an effort to create the next best product in banking and wealth management.
With so much big thinking going on, the team couldn’t resist harnessing that energy to start an internal Big Studio venture in 2012. Will it be the next Angry Birds or a powerful tool to help fellow designers achieve great things? You’ll find out soon!
Above are a few key activities from our approach that helped define the product
Through extensive user feedback and interviews we worked with Merrill Lynch to create a suite of mobile products focused on changing the conversation financial advisors have with their clients. The results were apps that help facilitate the conversation and provide a way for Merrill to identify smarter plans for their clients beyond just analyzing numbers.
We created a new internal business model for Monster’s marketing and sales team. To support this we designed a digital warehouse that gave the sales team access to the latest information, intelligent recommendations and the foundation to build a community knowledge base.
From persona development to concept iterations, The Big Studio has hosted hundreds of design thinking sessions at the Cambridge facility. Combining our process leadership with our client’s energy and expertise always leads to great innovations.
Redesigning a site or product requires a certain approach and skill set. Redesigning a company’s culture is a different challenge all together. Using our years of experience building teams and processes we were able to establish more creative and efficient ways for Aclara’s internal teams to collaborate.
Re-imagining a world class system requires a broad view of potential solutions. Utilizing design thinking strategies that we originally introduced to the Fidelity team several years back, we were able to think wide and focus quickly to deliver an insightful product roadmap.
We have an innovative model that starts with finding passionate people and developing a team that fits your overall objective. We draw from our deep bench of experts that includes Behavioral Economists, Social Strategist, Concept Designers and other folks in the User Experience space to create the most successful mix of thought leaders for helping you achieve success.
We believe that quality people will always win over quantity of bodies.
Mike is a highly acclaimed strategy and innovation expert, with a creative business background in user based solutions. His 15 + years of professional user experience and design strategy is built on an education at St. Johns University and interactive design at New York University. His ability to connect BIG ideas with cutting edge solutions has become an invaluable mindset for developing unique offerings. Prior to co-founding The BIG Studio, Mike was Fidelity’s Director of Innovation. It was there that he developed and implemented processes and programs that influence The Big Studio’s approach to innovation.
Mike is a highly acclaimed strategy and innovation expert, with a creative business background in user based solutions. His 15 + years of professional user experience and design strategy is built on an education at St. Johns University and interactive design at New York University. His ability to connect BIG ideas with cutting edge solutions has become an invaluable mindset for developing unique offerings. Prior to co-founding The BIG Studio, Mike was Fidelity’s Director of Innovation. It was there that he developed and implemented processes and programs that influence The Big Studio’s approach to innovation.
Bob has more than 15 years of Design Development experience using the latest web technologies such as Flash, HTML 5 and multitudes of 3rd party development applications and was formerly an Interaction Design Director at Fidelity Investments. With a degree in Art Education, he is able to teach teams how to tap into the creative processes that can drive innovation into their products and brands. Using his unique experience, Bob leads teams to higher levels of collaboration by bridging the gap between business needs, design sensibilities and development considerations.
Our bench is comprised of talented people with deep expertise within their areas of focus. What makes our team unique is their passion for solving complex challenges within a team model. The world is switching to a virtual workspace and because of this we are able to tap into a deeper pool of talented specialists. This allows us to assemble the strongest, most agile teams for our clients.
Change the engagement model between a Financial Advisor and their clients by using the iPad to tell interactive stories that reinforce financial topics.
We took complex topics such as income in retirement and created a simple and intuitive illustration model that Merrill’s financial advisors could use to educate and enlighten their clients. The result was a more confident advisor and a client that understood more clearly the context of their financial decisions. It was a “win win” for both the client and the company.
Empower the sales team with a community-based knowledge system.
In envisioning an integrated knowledge system for Monster, we were able to demonstrate the value of building and expanding upon the information that the sales team acquires. This resulted in an increase in sales and a reduction in the knowledge lost due to sales personnel turnover. It also provided Monster with the means to unify their marketing message.