Looking for a path to a better product, service or experience?
Sounds like you need an experience map to point the way, and some expert guides to help you get there.
Cognitive Ink leads the direct research needed to build maps for useful, usable and valuable, products, services and experiences
Launching, or improving a complex experience is like going on a long journey, with both rewarding views and risky terrain. The best way to travel this design landscape is to use human-centred research to build a clear map of what people need (and why), how an experience should work and when it all ties back into an organisation.
We all know what a map is: ‘a diagram showing the arrangement of something over an area.’
We make maps, not for geography, but for experiences. Our maps show how people, process, technology and business come together to achieve goals. With maps, we help everyone inside and outside the organisation agree on how things should be done.
And we do our work before detailed design and build, because an upfront map keeps everyone on track. It saves time, money, effort and avoids risky experience and usability failures.
Research-led experience maps are the valuable and an ethical choice to guide your product, service or experience up the path toward a better future.
Like geographical maps, but for products, services and experiences
Meet your guides, Christopher & Anna, twenty year veterans in human centred experience and service design
Small-but-mighty, Christopher and Anna are the heart of Cognitive Ink. We assess, manage, and provide the core work on any project. When required, we scale via a hand-selected team.
Christopher, is a Researcher, Service & Experience Designer. He focuses on people, their behaviour and context. He has a Masters in Psychology and a postgraduate Certificate in Human Factors. He initially learned his craft consulting with some of Australia’s first usability and experience design companies in the early 2000s.
Anna, is a Strategic Business Analyst and Service Designer. She specialises untangling business and technology. She has a Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Laws (business law), Master of Laws (Honours) (technology law) and Certifications in Business Analysis and Financial Analysis. Anna formed her skills working as a business analyst and service designer for one of Australia’s most prestigious banks, also in the early 2000s.
“You two are the king and queen of design research. It’s not just about your insights, it’s how you lift them up and bring them into the business. You never fail to astound me.”
~Maureen Thurston
Acting Director, Design Factory, Swinburne University of Technology Melbourne, Former Chief Experience Officer of Aurecon, and Chair Emeritus, Good Design Australia
We’ve designed safer, high-performing and valuable experiences for clients across the world
Experiences we’ve designed have changed lives, won awards, and improved the value of organisations globally
Short Facts
2013: Cognitive Ink was founded to offer research-led experience design with a difference, using visual and easy-to-understand ways of breaking down and solving complex problems. We bring the best of social science, system analysis, business optimisation and design to bear. It’s in our name, we think in ink..
165+ Projects: across domains spanning built environment, financial services, manufacturing, healthcare and logistics.
70+ Clients: Businesses and government-funded organisations. Startups and established well-known names. We’ve helped them all. Our clients span the global, including Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, the UK and the US.
A sample of recent clients.
Explore our recent projects or see all our case studies
We work in a structured process
Meet…Cognitive Ink’s Mindset & Maps Methodology
We’re proud to have a method refined over decades, drawing from the best of Psychology, Design, Systems Thinking and Business Analysis.
We constantly respond to changes in technology and capability, which means we have exactly the right tools to find out what customers, users, employees or other stakeholders need and the expertise to design an experience that delivers on those needs.
No matter the complexity of the experience, we’ve got it covered.
And our core engagement principles apply to every project: Collaborate as one team, Respect and challenge expertise, Share skills and knowledge, Offer empathy always.
Ready to find your path to a better product, service or experience?
Drop us a line and we’ll get right back to you.
Not quite ready, but curious to learn more?
Explore our Cognitive Ink Fieldnotes, bite-sized journey entries from the field of Human Centred Exploration, Mapmaking and Design.
