A Space for Innovation
We get a lot of questions about our 19,000+ square feet of shared space. We’ve built the space to not only make our teams feel welcome, but to invite our clients to be part of the action. read more »
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Think/Say
A Taxi Driver Allegory
Like many busy researchers, I spend a fair amount of time either going to or coming from the airport. And, because I live in a part of Chicago where taxis don’t roam frequently, I have my regular “guy” who picks me up. I’ll call him Ted to protect his identity. Written by Martha Cotton read more »
Workshopping: the collaborative table
Yesterday I participated in my first full-day gravitytank workshop here at the office. I was struck by how distinctively different the experience was from what I’ve been part of in the past after 11 years inside design firms and agencies. Written by Erin Huizenga read more »
Playing with Process: Group Discussions
As innovators, we often turn inward and reflect on ways to innovate our own internal process in response to our own pain points. Innovating on how we innovate – how meta! Written by Jenn Schiffman read more »
In Celebration of Technology that Serves Humanity
I feel fortunate to have been a student of Steve’s career and his prolific development of technology for the rest of us. Written by Chris Conley read more »
You don’t bring me flowers anymore - thinking about consumer loyalty
Our brains respond to reward systems, but to get loyalty that’s deeper and emotional, go for consumer flow read more »
Who Put Chocolate In My Peanut Butter - The Video
Martha Cotton, partner at gravitytank leading research and Dave Sonders, lead strategist, talk about using a tool from marketing to improve design.
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You can't deny the lo-fi
Until a thing becomes tangible, multiple people can have radically divergent interpretations of the same conversation, ideas, and experiences. read more »
The pre-position proposition
Great ideas often get lost between point A and point B. Could pulling a marketing technique forward into the innovation process help? read more »
Segmentation: beyond the math
When done well, segmentations live and breathe in an organization on their own and are key in identifying target consumers, defining a market space, and guiding product differentiation decisions. As an innovation firm, we help clients make sense of the segmentations they’ve commissioned. read more »
From static to adaptive
Justin Rheinfrank joins Shelley Evenson and Hugh Dubberly to summarize his late father’s thoughts on Adaptive Design in an article for Interactions Magazine. read more »
Four benefits of design thinking
gravitytank co-founder Chris Conley presents at “Why Design Now?”, a conference held by the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum and sponsored by GE on how design is playing a broader role in solving global challenges. read more »
The Gemba Walk
Where does business really get done? Where does the proverbial magic happen? If your gut reaction is that it happens in the office, it’s time to take the Gemba Walk. read more »
A cut above
The TUL stainless steel scissors designed by gravitytank for OfficeMax have impressed Real Simple magazine, which pronounced the “sleek mod profile” the Best Ambidextrous. read more »
You can’t EEEMP your way to new business growth
Our modern work life is consumed by the activities of management, not growth. Work activity aimed at growth must include a lot more engagement with the world outside, prototyping & testing of new ideas. read more »
Apps — a real growth phenomena
Apps are changing the mobile & computing landscapes while they are changing people’s lives. This three-minute video summarizes gt’s proprietary study on the Apps phenomena.
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Apps get real
Apps have fast become essential tools for modern living, fostering a sea change in the mobile phone and computing industries. read more »
Obstacle courses
“Observing behavior” and “being tangible” are two essential principles that guide gravitytank’s practice. One way we bring these to life is through “obstacle courses” during our collaborative workshops. read more »
Events
CURRENT
Okner Symposium at Northwestern
Northwestern University will be hosting the Chicago Association of Direct Marketing Educational Foundation (CADMEF) Okner Symposium on Friday, February 24th and our own Jenn Schiffman will be leading a roundtable discussion that will enable marketing students to learn about ethnographic research as it relates to business and design strategy. take me there »
IDSA Midwest Conference 2012
Jenn Schiffman and Defne Civelekoglu are speaking at this year's IDSA Midwest District Conference in April. They will be discussing how we are striving to shift the paradigms of traditional focus grouping to concept shaping—a way to collaboratively work with clients and research participants to build and shape ideas that can enable richer, more authentic conversations. take me there »
Larger than life visual note-taking
Craighton Berman will be the official graphic recorder for TEDxSanJoseCA 2012, bringing the lectures to life through larger than life visual note-taking, done in real time. take me there »
PAST
Powerful Storytelling
Innovation consulting is as much about building conviction through compelling storytelling as it is about coming up with the next billion-dollar idea. Martha Cotton, Brynn Freeman and Antonio Garcia will be speaking on "Influencing Organizations through Powerful Storytelling" at the Society of Consulting Psychology conference in Pasadena, California. take me there »
Chris Conley speaking at the Cultural Impact Conference
Chris will be speaking about creative work cultures at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology's Cultural Impact Conference. He will be talking about the importance of culture in shaping successful new services and discussing specific techniques that can be applied in any organization looking to be more successful in their innovation efforts. take me there »
10gen founder Dwight Merriman at Chicago MongoDB User Group
Document-oriented databases are hot stuff in web development these days. MongoDB is one of the most popular and fastest growing document-oriented databases. Come and hear him speak about fun tricks and tips for those that are already using MongoDB. take me there »
Geospatial Querying with MongoDB
gravitytank will host the Chicago MongoDB user group as they explore the geospatial features of MongoDB including distance queries, the spherical model and searching for things within arbitrary shapes. take me there »
SEEK Design Conference
Robert Zolna is presenting at this year's SEEK design conference at Northern Illinois University. In its 11th year, SEEK aims to present multiple viewpoints from local and national visual communication designers. Robert joins speakers Debbie Millman, Sean Adams, thirst and The Post Family in this conversation meant to inspire future leaders in design. take me there »
A New Cultural Plan for Our City
Mayor Rahm Emanuel has charged the Cultural Advisory Council and the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events with the task of renewing the Cultural Plan to create new strategies that promote vibrant arts and cultural hubs in every community and help to anchor economic growth on every side of the city. gravitytank will be hosting Chicago’s most creative thinkers, cultural leaders and community and economic development experts together for a brainstorming session to launch the new cultural plan for our city. take me there »
Data With A POV
Does your data talk to you? Does it have a brand? Robert Zolna and Edwin Lee talk at IIT's Design Research Conference about the power of data with a point of view. take me there »
Sharing Innovation Experiences
gravitytank is hosting the 25+ member Economic Development Committee (EDC), of the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP), who are leaders from public and private sector organizations, and talking with them about our experiences with innovation. take me there »
dScout Changes Research
Michael Winnick and Martha Cotton share exciting evolutions in research (and what that means for business) at IIT's Design Research Conference take me there »
Don't Need Tents for SketchCamp
gravitytank hosts SketchCamp Chicago, an unconference that brings together designers of all types for a single-day event focused on sketching for user experience design. take me there »
MAS CONTEXT: ANALOG
Craighton Berman will be presenting at MAS CONTEXT: ANALOG, an affiliate event of the Chicago Ideas Week, which will gather a group of emerging and established practitioners within the field of design to discuss their work based on proposed themes. The event will include presentations by photographers, filmmakers, architects, urban designers, graphic designers and industrial designers. take me there »
Founder Institute in Chicago
Founder Institute, a pre-incubator tech program, is launching in Chicago. Are you one of the 1,000 meaningful and enduring technology companies that the Founder Institute will help build this year? gravitytank will host an event about ideation and finding the essence of your start-up idea. Our own Sal Cilella and Jason Jacobsohn will be talking about creating products and services that resonate with consumers. take me there »
Leading with Graphic Facilitation
Our own Craighton Berman will be leading graphic facilitation at Chicago Ideas Week (CIW)/TEDxMidwest which will bring the world’s top speakers together with Chicago’s brightest to create an ecosystem of innovation and intellectual recreation. take me there »
Kellogg Business Design Challenge
Martha Cotton, Shelley Sather and Bruce Jang kick off this year's Kellogg Business Design Challenge with a workshop on design research. The Northwestern University Kellogg Design Club is a student run organization that educates and inspires Kellogg students to apply design-thinking to business challenges in order to develop new solutions. This year's challenge explores the possibilities that exist at the intersection of financial services, social good and the unemployed. take me there »
ILN InPerson
Innovators in healthcare gather in the Bay Area for inspiration, sharing and collaboration.
Building On Behavioral Economics
Ann Hintzman and Gigi Gormley lead a workshop at EPIC 2011 in Boulder, CO on the intersection between qualitative research and the irrational choices we make. take me there »
MongoDB at GT
A user group for a database doesn't sound that crazy, but these coders get nuts!
36 Hours to Change the World
gravitytankers Jed Wood and Kunal Bhat compete at the 2011 SocialDevCamp Hackathon. take me there »
Leading by Design Fellows Workshop
Chris Conley and Craighton Berman work with business leaders to embody ideas beyond powerpoint and email. Even those who stopped drawing in 1st grade or have never stepped into a shop will be visualizing and prototyping by day's end. take me there »
Don't OD on OD
In an Organizational Development workshop, Brynn Freeman helps Kent State University's Academic Success Center create a value-based departmental strategy.
Synthesis Workshop
Jenn Schiffman and Joey Nakayama help Northwestern University Design for America students make sense of it all. take me there »
National Farm Bureau Conference Keynote
Chris Conley, founder of gravitytank, plows into innovation stories, plants provocations and fields questions.
User Research Workshop
Jenn Schiffman and Joey Nakayama lead Northwestern University students through a user research workshop for Design for America. take me there »
Consumer Culture Theory
Martha Cotton gives the keynote address at Northwestern University's Consumer Culture Theory Workshop for those who marry marketing and business with social science. take me there »
MongoDB User Group
gravitytank's Labs team hosts a group of developers to talk about using this database technology. take me there »