Lift lab Now Also on the WWW

Earlier this year, Laurent Haug, Nicolas Nova and I co-founded Lift lab, an independent research agency that helps companies and institutions understand, foresee and prepare for changes triggered by technological and social evolutions. Since then, we have been very active developing our areas of actions from exploratory field studies to foresight research, applications prototyping and event-building in the domains of Web and Internet, video games, mobile and location-based services, urban informatics and robotics/networked objects. Our freshly launched web site exemplifies our services with case studies:

UNDERSTAND: We explore how people behave and interact with technologies in their environment, and use these insights to design better experiences. We rely on field research methodologies that enable clients to better understand their users. Case studies: McKinsey and ENSCI.

ASSESS: We assess innovation through product audits, reviews and testing and field as well as desk research. We then develop a detailed assessment of the project at hand based on our expertise and targeted needs. We finally suggest improvements and alternative solutions. Case studies: Swisscom and BitCarrier.

SHARE: Acquiring the right knowledge is the first step towards change, followed by spreading the word. We give lectures and run workshops on technology, innovation, design and social change. We also use our conference experience to organize private and public events for our clients. Case studies: TechnoArk and Alp ICT.

FORESEE: We map possible future changes to highlight new opportunities and prepare for them. We use futures research and tools to map emerging social and technological shifts and prepare for them. Case studies: Phoenix Studio, UBS and the French Ministry of the Industry.

CREATE: We create instantiations of possible near future applications. Based on prototyping methods, we make product ideas or insights coming from field studies materialize. Case studies: Swisscom and BitCarrier.

Designer Maja Denzer did a perfect job in conceptualizing and designing the site. It combines our own photos, focusing on details of integration of technological instruments and people in intriguing situations, with short sentences on “today and the future”, causing surprise, concerns or curiosity.

Our friends from Bread and Butter designed the logo with the great Akkurat typeface