The jobs we offer are all about making the mission we have set ourselves possible: creating a smarter, more beautiful and more human future. The Service Design mission, in short, based on its definition. It is an authentic melting pot of skills, a heck of a lot of trades, all pulling in the same direction, despite the occasional headwinds. We combine the analysis of ethnography, the economic dimension of a business model, the algorithmic aspect of development, the sensitive component of our artistic approach and, above all, the creative dimension of the design process to form a team with cutting-edge creative and technical knowledge and skills.
Five professions in one single team
At User Studio we have five main professions. They are not mutually exclusive (we are allowed dual mandates, we’re not in politics after all! 🤭) and they are intended to evolve, to become stronger, to change, even though they’ve now been around for a few years here. Here is a snapshot.
Project architect, or the art of design-driven synthesis
One of them, you may be surprised to learn if you know a little about us, is not directly related to design: the project architect. Cornerstones of the collaboration that we are developing with our business ecosystem, our project architects are tasked with defining the requests from our prospective clients/existing clients, evaluating their financial feasibility, the timescale, and above all, whether they are in line with the studio's vision in terms of the meaning that they have in today's world and their potential impact on the future of many people. Project architects are not service designers…but they are committed to the cause!
As with all User Studio’s professionals, our project architects have a design-driven approach, aimed primarily at ensuring that design has a predominant place in the project. So rather than solving the project before it even happens, our project architects use all their pedagogical skills to match our clients’ challenges with the talent of our designers. Work which involves a great deal of skill and a balancing act that deserves special recognition, as we know that the role of facilitator is crucial in the era of service projects with complex ramifications and businesses.
Strategic service designer, or the art of desiring a future
Strategy is the overarching theme of all our service design projects. Service strategy, experience strategy, organisation strategy... strategic service design is based on a holistic approach that only the most seasoned and open-minded can handle. From our point of view, it is humanist work — as understood by Diderot — the most successful in the era of the service economy as we know it, so much so that it implies a high degree of vision and an extraordinary capacity for synthesis. How can we reconcile brand strategy, lessons learned from ethnographic research, and desirability, and turn these into concrete recommendations that can be implemented to produce a high-value proposition? Few chosen ones are able to carry out this mission that is rarely clear, sometimes dry, often off the beaten track... but which has such panache!
Do you have the nerve to try your hand at strategic service design?
Digital service designer, or the art or creating a desirable future
Obviously, when it comes to service design professions, digital service design is a key speciality of our work at User Studio: there is no service today that in one way or another does not call on digital design skills, commonly known as user experience design and interface design, or UX/UI design.
At User Studio, we make it a point of honour to combine the two specialities. For us, there is no question of separating the concept of the digital experience of a service intended for users, commo nly known as UX design, from the very concrete and tangible creation, in shapes and colours, of the interface displayed on the screens of our contemporary services, known as UI design. Moreover, all our UX designers are skilled in UI, as we cherish the emotional aspect of the artefacts we create. We are convinced that the form of everyday objects is priceless, that the forms and colours of the objects we build are inseparable from their architecture. The quality of an experience requires in-depth work on both components, and our past attempts dictate that we should seek to find the unicorns that have not managed to choose their own path. That's good, isn't it?
Do you feel up to the challenge of UX/UI design?
Art director, visual designer, or the art of choosing the shapes of the future
A key skill in the spectrum of professions at User Studio - yet being an art director is the prerogative of only a few. Few in number, but particularly talented, visual specialists are called upon by everyone for all the studio’s productions in order find the right format for the good ideas created by our teams. An insurmountable challenge? Above all, professional hygiene for these UX/UI designers by trade, who have to juggle between all the problems raised by the different projects, ensuring consistency in the forms produced by the studio, keeping a close eye on trends and inspiring the whole of humanity to dream. A huge task.
Do you have a penchant for art management in the field of digital interfaces?
Creative technologist, or the art of making the future possible
Making-of the new Tapioca Toys at the Pompidou Center, 2016-2017 from Smallab Collective × User Studio on Vimeo.
UX/UI designers by birth too, creative technologists have often demonstrated the weakness of trying to make their designs in real life... an unfortunate tendency to imitate developers and electronic specialists, to watch web tutorials until 4 o'clock in the morning, which has nevertheless allowed them to acquire a surprising (and valuable) amount of experience in seeking technical solutions to prototype the most outlandish ideas, in order to see "how it would work in real life", to carry out "iso-functional tests in the target technology", or even to dream of the global release of a concept within the next two weeks "because otherwise it's not worth the trouble".
One single house, one huge playground
The studio
The whole team is based in the same studio. The agency does not operate on a freelance basis (of course, we still go to see our clients!), and does not work remotely (well, of course, this does happen occasionally 😋). We are convinced that to achieve the small miracle of collective intelligence, we need to work together, eat lunch together, have a coffee together, chat, laugh, listen to each other, see each other, notice each other.
The sectors
User Studio's playground is virtually infinite: we do not specialise in any subject or sector. Of course, it will not have escaped your attention that we are particularly active in the fields of transport and energy, but you may be surprised to learn that we also work a great deal for bank and mutual insurance companies, hospitals and care in general, wellness, catering, personal and public services...
It is with fresh (and sometimes openly naive) eyes that we approach new areas. We are eager for new experiences; we love to learn. This is also what we look for in all our recruits: a good dose of self-deprecation, humility when faced with new subjects, an ability to venture off into uncharted territory, without a pre-established method.
Are you comfortable with uncertainty?