James
Fish

I help mission-driven organizations understand the needs of the people they serve, design better products and services, and build strong design cultures.

Hi! I'm James.

I’m a design strategist, facilitator, and musician with over a decade of experience in design, UX, and innovation.

I’m passionate about working on complex problems that affect real people, in order to improve the world we live in. Personally compelling to me are healthcare, diversity and inclusion, and the intersection of music, technology, and creativity.

Design Strategy

As a design strategist, I help clients navigate the big picture of what they're doing, and whom it affects.

I work hand-in-hand with organizations and the people they serve to understand diverse needs, turning observations into insights, and insights into testable prototypes that align with both mission and vision.

Longer projects often involve a combination of discovery, market and ethnographic research, workshops, prototyping, testing, and strategy recommendations.

For more on what design strategy is and can do for you, click here or here.


Capacities:

  • Participatory design
  • Value proposition testing
  • Concept testing
  • Product roadmap and strategy
  • UX & usability testing
Who needs design strategy?
  • Founders who need to validate an idea — or figure out where to focus their efforts
  • Early stage companies who need to quickly iron out design issues before launch
  • Established organizations who need to discover and define core value propositions
  • Product/service teams that need to figure out their next steps

Workshops

Workshops help teams advance their progress on an vision, idea, product, or service, while simultaneously learning new skills.

As an experienced facilitator, I help teams boost creativity, build empathy, and encourage collaboration, drawing from methods in design thinking, mindfulness, and nonviolent communication.

There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all workshop. Success results from the right activities, in the right sequence, with the right team, facilitator, framing, and scope.


Formats:

  • Intro to design thinking (1-2 days)
  • Design sprint (3-5 days)
  • Skills workshop (1 day)
  • Speculative design (designing for the future!) (1-2 days)
Who needs a workshop?
  • Teams who want to establish collaborative team dynamics and an innovation mindset
  • Established organizations that need to advance a vision, idea, product, or service
Clients say:
"I cannot say enough about James' facilitation skill set. He guided us in a very positive atmosphere to learn a new product development tool. Fabulous experience."

Consulting

Every organization needs the right mix of people, skills, and processes in order to innovate.

I help teams assess gaps in their internal design capacity and identify where they most need to focus their attention.


Who needs consulting?
  • Investors or incubators seeking an in-house design strategist to advise their portfolio companies
  • Founders (or leadership teams) who need a roadmap for their design capacity

About Me

I coach regularly at the HPI d.School and HPI Academy in Potsdam, Germany, guiding students and professionals on real design thinking projects ranging from 3 days to 3 months.

I am also a frequent collaborator with Co.Lab, a decentralized, transnational tech worker cooperative that primarily serves mission-driven organizations through agile web development and cooperative co-design.

I worked for 4 years as a UX researcher at Proteus, a digital health company in Silicon Valley. Previously, I studied sociology and economics at Harvard and learned design thinking at the HPI d.school.

I've lived on three continents and speak 3+ languages (English, German, Italian, and some Turkish.) I’m also deeply involved in the arts as a musician and DJ as well as an interactive event producer. I am currently based in Berlin, Germany.

Get in touch

Send me an email via the form below.
Or, find time on my calendar.

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