We’re excited to introduce a new strategic partnership this week, setting us up to fuse biomimicry with human-centered design. Just like it’s name suggests, human-centered design puts humans at the center of the design process. Our new partner, Azul 7, is the expert consulting firm when it comes to doing that.
Pairing our biological intelligence services with the power of Azul 7’s expertise will give clients a beautiful design experience–one that creates products, processes, systems, and services that benefit humans AND the Earth.
Read on for the full partnership rundown:
Azul 7, a human-centered design consultancy based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Biomimicry 3.8, the world’s leading bio-inspired consultancy headquartered in Missoula, Montana, are inviting companies to re-imagine how they solve problems through a new fusion of biological intelligence and human-centered design.
The companies recently announced a strategic partnership that will enable clients to engage a high-impact innovation platform that inspires design solutions that work for humans—and for the planet.
“Combining our biomimicry expertise that spurs innovation inspired by nature with Azul 7’s pioneering design-thinking methodologies will trigger the development of products, systems, and services to help organizations change, adapt, and grow in response to evolving social, ecological, and business needs,” said Nicole Miller, Biomimicry 3.8 Managing Director.
Biomimicry 3.8 has delivered nature’s solution to the challenges of more than 250 global clients since it was founded in 1998. Whether it’s looking to beetle wings to help international cosmetics giant Natura create sustainable product packaging solutions or piloting a project that will help an Interface, Inc. carpet factory function like a forest, Biomimicry 3.8’s solutions help clients emulate nature’s time-tested, inherently sustainable designs developed during 3.8 billion years of evolution.
Azul 7 specializes in human-centered design, a methodology that uses empathy and qualitative field research to identify user needs, and designs products and services to meet those needs. By drawing on principles of human-centered design and biomimicry, Azul 7 has helped healthcare companies and organizations bring digital products to market that empower patients to better manage their own health, and has advised governmental entities on how to improve services for constituents through purposefully designed service interactions and better technology implementation.
“Our collective design expertise offers a powerful opportunity to design better, more meaningful solutions,” said Denny Royal, Azul 7 Design Principal who graduated in November 2015 with a Master’s of Science in Biomimicry and who is a Certified Biomimicry Professional. “Together, Biomimicry 3.8 and Azul 7 are looking to go beyond simply designing more innovative products and services. We’re looking to innovate the very process of design itself, to arrive at a methodology that looks to both humans and nature for inspiration and solves problems in a way that benefits not just humans, but the natural environments in which humans live.”
Curious about how we can innovate together? Contact us:
* Lisa Helminiak, Azul 7 Co-founder and CEO: lisa.helminiak@azu7.com or + 1 612 875 0072
* Nicole Miller, Biomimicry 3.8 Managing Director: nicole.miller@biomimicry.net or + 1 406 543 4108
Learn more:
Azul 7 is a human-centered and biomimicry consultancy that designs better products and services that are informed by human behavior and inspired by nature. The Azul 7 team helps clients improve service experiences; create innovative, effective digital products; and design sustainable business solutions. Azul 7 clients include Aetna, United HealthCare, Thompson Reuters, U.S. Bank, Hazelden, RedBrick Health, AARP, U.S. Department of Labor, as well as others.
What is human-centered design?
Human-centered design puts the needs of the people we are designing for at the center of the design process. Using a human-centered approach, the design team starts by gaining empathy for those who will use the product or service to uncover unmet needs and continues to infuse user input throughout the design process including prototyping and testing. The benefits of human-centered design include products and services more aligned to market need, faster to market, and lower cost, as well as, teams who are more efficient, aligned, and satisfied.
Biomimicry 3.8is the world’s leading bio-inspired consultancy, founded in 1998 by Janine Benyus and Dr. Dayna Baumeister. At Biomimicry 3.8, we use the practice of biomimicry to help innovators find inspired design solutions. We train professionals to be the next generation of biomimics. And we share the amazing ways that nature’s wisdom solves human problems with people around the world. Our inspired clients include Procter & Gamble, Boeing, Kraft, Nike, Kohler, Interface, Natura, Shell, HOK, General Mills, Coca Cola, General Electric, and many more.
What is biomimicry?
Biomimicry is innovation inspired by nature, achieved by learning from and emulating nature’s forms, processes, and ecosystems to create more sustainable designs.
