Timeline 6 weeks
Team size 2 designers
Deliverables design toolkit binder
Consultancy Moment

My contributions
Internal research and strategy definition
Screenprinting and vendor management
Stakeholder communications
Visual design
Workshop facilitation

Timeline 6 weeks
Team size 2 designers
Deliverables design toolkit binder
Consultancy Moment

My contributions
Visual design
Stakeholder communications
Internal research and strategy definition
Screenprinting and vendor management
Workshop facilitation

Timeline 6 weeks
Team size 2 designers
Deliverables design toolkit binder
Consultancy Moment

My contributions
Visual design
Stakeholder communications
Internal research and strategy definition
Screenprinting and vendor management
Workshop facilitation

Timeline 6 weeks
Team size 2 designers
Deliverables design toolkit binder
Consultancy Moment

My contributions
Visual design
Stakeholder communications
Internal research and strategy definition
Screenprinting and vendor management
Workshop facilitation

Timeline 6 weeks
Team size 2 designers
Deliverables design toolkit binder
Consultancy Moment

My contributions
Visual design
Stakeholder communications
Internal research and strategy definition
Screenprinting and vendor management
Workshop facilitation

American Express OPEN

American Express OPEN had a need to equip their newly formed UX & Design team with tools, methods and a guideline based on the Design Thinking Process. Their team was comprised of a variety of levels of experience, backgrounds and specialities, so the challenge was to find some common ground that everyone could use to baseline the conversation.

American Express OPEN

American Express OPEN had a need to equip their newly formed UX & Design team with tools, methods and a guideline based on the Design Thinking Process. Their team was comprised of a variety of levels of experience, backgrounds and specialities, so the challenge was to find some common ground that everyone could use to baseline the conversation.

American Express OPEN

American Express OPEN had a need to equip their newly formed UX & Design team with tools, methods and a guideline based on the Design Thinking Process. Their team was comprised of a variety of levels of experience, backgrounds and specialities, so the challenge was to find some common ground that everyone could use to baseline the conversation.

American Express OPEN

American Express OPEN had a need to equip their newly formed UX & Design team with tools, methods and a guideline based on the Design Thinking Process. Their team was comprised of a variety of levels of experience, backgrounds and specialities, so the challenge was to find some common ground that everyone could use to baseline the conversation.

American Express OPEN

American Express OPEN had a need to equip their newly formed UX & Design team with tools, methods and a guideline based on the Design Thinking Process. Their team was comprised of a variety of levels of experience, backgrounds and specialities, so the challenge was to find some common ground that everyone could use to baseline the conversation.

The UX director at American Express OPEN brought his idea to Moment to collaborate on building out an internal deisgn toolkit.

He called it 'problem clarity', and it comprised of a workflow chart, diagnostic questions and varying levels of complexity.

Our team took a step back and started addressing some critical questions.

First, what was the objective of the toolkit? What should someone expect to use it for, and how could we embody those mindsets during ideation?

Second, who would use this toolkit? What were their roles as well as their levels of experience? Additionally, should this just be for the design team, or was there an opportunity to engage other Amex groups?

We did a round of secondary research and audited a variety of similar toolkits.

Our team considered international perspectives on design thinking toolkits, as we ll as well-known design thinking toolkits from IDEO and Frog.

To address all of the variables of those using the toolkit, as well as the patterns that we started seeing in other toolkits, we iterated on a framework.

We brainstormed and refined our questions—both in quantity and quality—and then workshopped those questions against the expertise level of someone using this kit.

To validate our thinking, we tested our work with both internal Moment designers and those on the Amex Open side. We asked them to lay out the design thinking process from their perspective, then use our diagnostics quiz against their current project.

Based on those conversations, we refined our process, reconsidered some questions and landed on a final format for the deliverable.

Our team had considered a number of final deliverable formats: board game, deck of cards, presentation deck, and editable binder.

After our testing conversations, we landed on a binder as the path forward. The next step was to determine the styling of each page, the overall packaging, and a scalable format so the OPEN design team could update and add to the format on their own.

One thing we knew that we needed was a guide at the front. An overview of the binder, its intent, a discussion of the process and finally the diagnostic checklist.

Following this upfront section, all 100+ pages of activities, goals, methodologies and outputs were organized and color coded.

To package the 100+ pages, we designed a simple binder to personalize it for the OPEN team. Our team spent an afternoon spent screenprinting a dozen binders and wrapping them up for delivery to Amex's office.

The Outcome

The final box of binders were delivered to the OPEN team later in the week and were circulated around the group. After several months of testing and use, we were asked to expand on our toolkit even further. To this day, years later, our kits are still used within the organization.

This project with Amex also sparked the foundation of Moment's Design Management Office (DMO) effort. Over the course of a few years, the company worked to establish a leadership perspective for building internal design teams at large organizations.

In order to customize the binder for the internal UX team, we designed and set up the cover of all 12 sets to be screen printed. The Moment team ventured out to a Brooklyn printing lab after work one day and I taught everyone how to screen print. The final box of binders were delivered to the OPEN team later in the week and were circulated around the group. After several months of testing and use, we were asked to produce more binders for internal distribution and expand on our toolkit even further. To this day, years later, our kits are still used within the organization.

cassiematias@gmail.com

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