All Experience design themed posts

Tuesday 22 April 2008 | Posted by Luke Nicholson

More announces the birth of Onzo!

More Associates' passion for using design, technology and original research to deliver sustainable innovation has created Onzo, our first spinoff.

Onzo is a consumer energy demand reduction business. Through its products, Onzo will save hundreds of thousands of tonnes of carbon in people's homes, proving that business can find solutions to climate change.

Onzo was founded in 2007 as a joint-venture between More Associates and Element 06. It was built using insights developed through More's years of experience working with end-users on energy and carbon visualisations, and derived from our energy-literacy programme.

Scottish and Southern Energy and Sigma technology have aquired a combined stake of 49% in Onzo, in a deal worth £9 million in cash and orders.
Onzo is a leader in the new wave of businesses that are tackling climate change head on. Proving that good design can bring together business and sustainability objectives, it is a high-growth business that will make a real difference to people's impact on climate change.

Onzo is More's first spinoff, and we are currently developing new ventures for the future.

Producer vs. User Centred design?

Interesting article by Eric von Hippel writing in the Harvard Business Review (subscription only so no link to the actual piece I'm afraid).

He outlines some clear shortcomings in the way that large companies and governments fail to respond to user needs in the products they develop, and the way in which innovation in these companies is still 'producer-centred' rather than 'user-centred' i.e driven by what the company thinks is right as opposed to what users know is right. Taking up the 'open source' aesthetic, people are now prepared to adapt, play with and improve products when they doesn't meet their needs.