Philosophise
About
Philosophise is a behavioural strategy consultancy.
Focussing on the intersection of people, business and design, we use stories as a technique for choreographing services across brand touchpoints. We specialise in domains such as luxury, retail, hospitality and healthcare - those that require sincere human interaction.
What we do
Transparency
Spatial Analysis
Using a well defined and tested approach, we can evaluate a space, how it is used, inhabited and navigated. The data is analysed and turned into useful design directions.
Global Cultures
Traditional culture influences modern society. In an increasingly globalised world, we look at how local cultural subtleties influence global mindsets, turning this into market entry strategies for new products and ventures.
Future Grazing
Understanding global trends can assist in planning and development. We create trend briefings to explore pertinent topics and their relevance to the business issue at hand.
Innovation
Training and Facilitation
Using a unique methodology refined over many years, we run innovation workshops using detailed life size persona's and market data to define human needs and external drivers.
Creating context sensitive research methods
People don't always feel comfortable in interviews, so aside from techniques such as ethnography and documentary etc, we create new ways to probe and understand thoughts and action.
Facilitation
Communication
We work with clients to simplify complex concepts into digestible stories for both internal audiences and external consumers.
New Ventures
Starting a new business, entering new markets and defining solutions for people. These are all exciting ventures. We work with you to help define the people to target, how to target them and what offerings they will respond to.
Recent Projects
open_the_box
Developed in 2007, open_the_box is a tool for exploring how a person reacts to space. It can be used in spatial design workshops to develop what we call the 'User Narrative'. The method can be modified for any medium (product, space, service etc) and any domain.
POV on Knowing and Believing
A project for IDEO, developing a Point of View on how knowledge and belief affect relationship to brand. It resulted in a human centered approach to thinking about how people relate to and process brands. We delivered 6 principles for brands in the form of a short story.
PLAY.orchestra
PLAY.orchestra was a collaboration between Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design, the Southbank Centre and the Philharmonia Orchestra. Using sensor controlled seats in a life size outdoor virtual orchestra, the general public is invited to ‘sit & play', activating the sound of the instrument they are sat on. The installation won several awards and attracted over 250,000 visitors in 6 weeks.
Psychology of Luxury
Dominated by ‘massclusive' brands, hyper luxury is fighting back and conscious luxe consumers demand a very different level of service both in traditional physical realms and new virtual realms. We looked at how texture, touch and body memory play a big role in perception of luxury and considered characteristics of personality and wealth along with global factors that affect the authenticity and honesty demanded by todays consumers.
Tools
Downloads
Cultural Insights in the Field
Maps
Made to order
.open_the_box. This can be made to measure; modified to suit your needs. As a tool, it aids in brainstorming and can be used in house to generate different user scenarios. To request a set of complimentary dice, or inquire about dice tailored to your needs, please get in touch.
.bespoke tours. We curate bespoke tours of London that enable clients to see for themselves specific markets, consumer segments and types of destination. We have created tours to demonstrate Luxury Consumer Behaviour, Retail Innovation, Automotive Trends and more.
Philosophy
It's simple really, to engage your customer you must connect with them on a level they understand instinctively. If you connect with people viscerally; in a multi sensory manner, they do engage.
Approach
People
Working at the intersection of behaviour, business and design. We use narrative techniques to provide clarity around the subtleties of human behaviour, helping brands to understand new and existing markets and working with design teams to develop products and service.
Stories
Stories drive interaction, they enable communication and they facilitate relationships. Using design thinking and real world business insight, we make the narrative of the consumer and the narrative of the company collide, facilitating innovation and interaction.
Reality
As fun as it is to play, we are realistic about what drives progress and we work to make things happen. Our behavioural insights are generative and we direct change.
Who we are
Rakhi Rajani
With a background in Human Behaviour and Design Strategy, Rakhi enables clients to combine business objectives with the evolving demands of increasingly global consumer expectations.
Rakhi was previously a Project Manager at HP in California, running cross cultural projects and facilitating brand innovation. She was Program Chair for DUX 2005 (Designing for User Experience) and regularly writes and teaches on the topic of User Experience.
Network
We work with a highly qualified and international network of specialists, tailoring multi-disciplinary teams to suit specific projects.
Business Sectors
Experiences do not exist on their own, they exist in the context of other experiences. As our work spans a variety of industries and clients, we use insights from a multitude of sectors to innovate across domains.
We work for leading brands and small boutique agencies in many domains. Recent clients include Yahoo!, IDEO, ARUP & Luxury Hotel Chains.
Writing
publications
More than 20 articles in leading magazines and journals.
blog
http://philosophise.typepad.com/
twitter
@luxefiles
Other Ventures
Co-Founded: Like People Do, a research and design consultancy at Central Saint Martins Innovation.
Get in touch
info@philosophise.com
t. +44 (0)20 8144 5639
m. +44 (0)7912 485811