CO-CREATION: A WAY OF THINKING. OF DOING. OF BEING.

For us, co-creation is more than our method – it is our mindset.

At Stratos, we believe strongly in the power of co-creation — bringing customers, designers, and business stakeholders into the creative process — to get to better answers, faster. For us, co-creation is more than our method — it is our mindset.

Simply put: we believe all people are creative.

They are experts of their own experiences, and when given the chance, can provide compelling insight into a new strategy and collectively generate breakthrough ideas on how to improve them.

Most research today doesn’t tap into this creativity and expertise. It tends to treat people like passive test subjects — whose role is relegated to checking a box, rating an idea, or having people follow them around.

We aim to transcend “subject-centered” research and instead invite people to contribute as active participants — unlocking their passion and ingenuity by giving them the tools for expression and inspiration, and opportunities to share their unique points of view.

We are methodology hackers.

A methodology is a string of methods put together to optimize solutions. At Stratos, we believe in leveraging and applying the unique strengths of both established and emerging methodologies, depending on client needs. Our methodology fluency includes:

PARTICIPATORY DESIGN
Co-design is the act of creating with stakeholders (business or customer) specifically within the design development process to ensure the results meet their needs and are usable. Co-design may also be called participatory design – a term which is used more often within the design community. Dr. Liz Sanders, our key collaborator, is a world-renowned expert in participatory design. Her pioneering spirit is a big part of the growth of Stratos and our partnership with her is unique.
 
JOBS TO BE DONE
A methodology pioneered in the early '90s  by Tony Ulwick and many others, Jobs To Be Done is based on the premise that people buy products and services to get ‘jobs’ done; and while products come and go, the underlying job-to-be-done remains constant.
 
SERVICE DESIGN
Service design, first codified in the early '80s by Lynn Shostack, is the activity of planning and organizing people, infrastructure, communication, and material components of a service to improve its quality. It focuses on interactions between the service provider and its customers to find opportunities to innovate. 
 
CUSTOMER ARCHETYPES & PERSONA DEVELOPMENT
Carl Jung, the founder of analytical psychology, advanced the ancient concept of archetypes and the collective unconscious — the emotional drivers, personality traits, motivators, beliefs, and values that define the types of people you serve.
 
CUSTOMER SEGMENTATION
Customer segmentation uses quantitative methods to divide a customer base into groups of individuals to identify messaging and positioning strategies. The more you know about your customer, the better you’ll be able to focus on catering to their needs.

From those frameworks, we employ methods that include but are not limited to:

  • Projective/make methods
  • Co-design workshops
  • Generative research
  • Journey mapping
  • Service blueprinting
  • Scenario narratives
  • Systems mapping
  • Design fiction
  • Opportunity mapping
  • Priming activities
  • Low-fidelity prototyping
  • Quantitative survey instruments
  • Provotyping
  • In-depth interviews
  • Concept validation
  • In-home ethnography
  • Mobile ethnography 
  • Storyboarding
  • User experience testing

THE STRATOS TEAM

Our team is an eclectic mix of talent that includes: design researchers, service designers, experience strategists, information designers, human factor specialists, industrial designers, service systems developers, and workshop facilitators. Leading this team are:

Stratos Co-Founder Monica Weiler
Monica Weiler
Co-founder and CEO of Stratos, Monica holds a Ph.D. in Systems Engineering specializing in Customer Experience Research and Organizational Change Management. Fluent in conducting both qualitative and quantitative research globally, Monica sees value in bringing together diverse schools of thought and translating insights to actions.
Stratos Co-Founder Anthony Weiler
Anthony Weiler
Co-Founder and President of Stratos, Anthony applies his 20 years of design and strategy experience to designing better service delivery systems. His unique ability to combine information design and qualitative research insights translates into innovative, real-world solutions for clients. Anthony has a passion for facilitating co-creation to solve complex problems at a systems level.
 

You can find detailed bios for everyone on our team on LinkedIn.

OUR VALUES

We got together with our team, made a list of things that unite us and made a vow to hold each other accountable to it. Here’s what we agreed to:

Co-Creativity

We fundamentally believe that everyone is creative and has the potential to generate insightful, groundbreaking ideas. Rather than simply being a champion for our own design expertise, we believe in bringing people together to build more creative solutions. 

Ingenuity 

Better ways, always. We love pushing ourselves to discover new approaches because we believe that is the best way to develop new solutions.

Integrity

We say what we do and we do what we say. We don’t oversell our capabilities and our confidence in our abilities.

Empathy

We are not mind readers, but we work hard to understand people, and we apply our time and energy to help meet their needs.

Holistic Thinking

We believe just about all of today’s challenges have deep-seated, systemic origins. We seek to understand those layers, processes, and complexities and find solutions at a systemic level.

Take a look at our team in action!