New mascot?

Mette has been working around the clock lately to finish campaign roll-out for the conference Beyond Kyoto, Aarhus University. Actually she has almost become a fixture in the office. But when Mette is spending so much time away from home, no one is there to take care of her cute little dog, Bubu. That’s why she brought Bubu with her today, making us all wish the dog would become the new Hatch & Bloom office mascot.

PS. Bubu didn’t offer Børsen more than a sniff. When Jacob handed it to her, she barked: “I want to stay positive.”

A bed misplaced?

As a part of our service design project at Randers District Hospital we’ve spent the last weeks carrying out user studies at the hospital’s acute ward. Here, a dedicated but overloaded staff is trying to keep up with everyday surprises like a sudden explosion of in-coming patients. Too many patients and too little space requires drastic measures and additional beds are placed everywhere possible. At the photo above a creative nurse has decided to place a bed on the hallway next to a fridge. Why? Because this is the only way to get access to a spare power socket! Needless to say this is far from perfect for neither patients nor staff ... Well, we can’t do anything about the number of ill patients but we can re-think important parameters such as work-flow, orientation of physical objects, communication and signage. And as soon as our empirical data is collected that’s what we’re about to do (allowing the nurses to use their energy on more important matters ...)

No recession here!

We know we’ve been posting a lot of pictures of ourselves celebrating with champagne. And here is yet another one. Why? The weather is lovely and the days are getting longer and brighter. Also there’s not the slightest feeling of recession at Hatch & Bloom. But as they say: Here Today – Gone Tomorrow? Nah … we don’t think so. Good karma, positive thinking and a lot of good and meaningful design solutions. That’s our recipe.

Hallo Aarhus!

Right now we have our very own billboard plastered all over the streets of Aarhus. It’s a shout out to Aarhus and a call for action, because Aarhus Municipality wants to make the city CO2 neutral before 2030. So now that the message is out in the open for everyone to see – it’s time to react upon it.

PS. We're very excited about the next few months where we are launching additional campaigns for Aarhus Municipality

Meet our new anthropologist

Everyone, meet our new anthropologist Lone Olsen. Already on her first day she was like a fish in the sea – out in the field communicating with users. Lone just got her degree in social anthropology, but she still had time to get solid work experience with user-studies from her job at Grundfos. Now she’s here to help us create user-driven innovation. We're very excited to have Lone as a colleague.

How to experience?

Yesterday we got together with 16 retail- and wholesale companies amongst inspiring art installations and a scenic view at Silkeborg Bath. The goal for this rendezvous was to make the companies aware of how to better their business by using experiences strategically. It’s the second time that Hatch & Bloom facilitates an idea-workshop for the Municipalities of Skanderborg, Silkeborg and Favrskov. Like last time the participants really got their hands deep into the experience economy and all companies came up with bright new ideas for their business. Altogether a refreshing day that spited the constant flood of headlines about financial crisis.