We’re a local team of product designers and UX researchers with 20 years of experience in Japan. We help you ask the right questions, find opportunities, and design products that resonate with your users.
Let's talk
We’re a local team of product designers and UX researchers with 20 years of experience in Japan. We help you ask the right questions, find opportunities, and design products that resonate with your users.
Let's talk
Many companies take a soft launch first, questions later approach to Japan. It rarely ends well. Here's why:
Many companies take a soft launch first, questions later approach to Japan. It rarely ends well. Here's why:
We speak Japanese and English and can work seamlessly
in all the tools, methods and processes your team already lives in.
We speak Japanese and English and can work seamlessly in all the tools, methods and processes your team already lives in.
We brief you on the concepts, design conventions, outliers and trends in the cultural space your product occupies, including direct and non-direct competitors and analogous experiences.
Informed by best practices, we conduct a detailed analysis of where and why your product is meeting the needs and preferences of your customers in Japan—and where it isn't.
We develop testable hypotheses and tangible design concepts to drive conversations with customers and within your organization, informed by everything we’ve learned together.
We develop rich profiles of the interests, habits and mindsets of the people you want to serve in Japan, and provide direction on how to apply these learnings to your product.
We chart a path forward for your team, including design concepts representing high potential value propositions, design examples representing what “good” looks like and specific recommendations on how your team can get there.
We’ll assemble a Japan UX squad to realize and ship these ideas to your customers.
Living and designing in Tokyo since 2001, Chris helps global product teams like yours navigate the cultural landscape of Japan, leading projects for clients like Google, Stripe, American Express, and others. By moonlight, he also teaches a course on the changing role of design in Japan at the U of Illinois.
Start a conversation with Chris to kick off your project.
Living and designing in Tokyo since 2001, Chris helps global product teams like yours navigate the cultural landscape of Japan, leading projects for clients like Google, Stripe, American Express, and others. By moonlight, he also teaches a course on the changing role of design in Japan at the U of Illinois.
Start a conversation with Chris to kick off your project.
