Psychologically based innovation and design development
DE | EN
Together with you, we develop psychologically grounded innovations, designs, and communication strategies that improve customer relations and drive market success.
We are Monika Heimann and Michael Schütz, an interdisciplinary team of experts in psychology, design and innovation.
As your research and development partner, we guide you through the entire innovation process, from initial exploration to market-ready prototypes. Without handovers or unnecessary translation losses. Always in focus: the deeper needs of your customers.
This not only results in viable solutions in a short time. Our collaborative approach also ensures that all relevant stakeholders participate in the innovation process with their heads and hearts and actively help shape it.
The basis for this is InsightArt® – our agile, interdisciplinary research and development concept developed over 15 years, which translates psychological insights directly into concrete ideas, designs, and implementation-oriented solutions. To this end, we think and work beyond the box: For us, psychological-artistic research, strategic thinking, and practical creation are part of a holistic process.
We accompany you according to your objectives
Innovation Guide: Product and offer development
Together with you, we develop products and offerings that provide genuine value to customers and can clearly stand out in the market.
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The Innovation Guide combines psychological research with creative product development and your team’s expertise. Customer needs and internal company capabilities are brought together and further developed into concrete ideas and prototypes.
InsightArt®research uncovers the deeper needs “behind” consumers’ superficial desires and provides the starting point for idea development: the “psychological code.” Employees contribute the potential and opportunities of the company and the team.
This gives rise to ideas and prototypes of a high creative caliber. In an InsightArt® manual, we map out the space of possibilities and identify the most promising directions for innovation.
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Design Guide: Communication development
Together with you, we develop designs and communication strategies that truly resonate with your target audience: campaigns, packaging, products, or digital interfaces.
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Instead of first developing several creative approaches and then testing them, we develop communication strategies directly from the perspective of the target audience’s response. Creativity, psychological research, and design exploration are interconnected from the very beginning.
Depending on the project, this results in prototypes, mockups, or ready-to-use communication solutions, as well as a design guide manual: a working tool featuring visual styles, wording guidelines, style examples, and communication templates that can also be used for future projects.
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Concept Guide: Development of marketing prototypes
As your research and development partner, we’ll help you turn initial product ideas, features, or offering components into an attractive proposition and prototypes that you can immediately incorporate into the customer journey.
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The Concept Guide combines psychological research, marketing development, and prototyping into a single integrated process. Instead of first conducting market research and then translating the results into marketing later, the value proposition, customer journey, and specific touchpoints are developed directly with customers.
The results are usually available (depending on the setting) after about two weeks: prototypes and mockups that can be used directly without further adaptation.
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Future Guide: Psychological future scenarios
We analyze cultural trends and work with you to develop scenarios, visions of the future, and new directions for innovation.
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The Future Guide combines psychological cultural research with psychological scenario development. Because despite all the uncertainty the future holds, psychological needs remain a reliable constant.
We identify specific opportunities and risks, as well as new business areas and strategies for your company. Depending on the task at hand, this leads to scenarios, visions of the future, or strategic areas of focus – to provide greater planning certainty and inspiration.
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The approach is designed individually for each innovation project and the tools used are adapted – or new ones are invented if necessary.
InsightArt® Design Guide on video
(English subtitles)
Project examples (anonymized)
- please swipe -
Innovation Guide
Design Guide
Future Guide
Design Guide
Our book on design psychology
2nd edition (2025)
Monika Heimann, Michael Schütz:
Wie Design wirkt. Psychologische Prinzipien erfolgreicher Gestaltung
Rheinwerk Design 2025
After selling 14,000 copies of the first edition from 2016, it was time for a 2nd, expanded and revised edition.
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What’s it about?
It’s about Maluma and Takete, and about Apollo and Dionysus and the Mona Lisa’s crooked smile. It’s about hopes and fears, life and death, light and shadow, suspenseful arcs, golden ratios, and forbidden symbols. The new edition also features plenty of atmosphere, vibe, and sound, and even more “body” that exists “in the world.” The story turns around wicked attractors and affordances and ultimately even arrives at a legendary “theory of mankind”, or at least a bit of “joint attention.” But even that comes only through a lot of swiping, scrolling, and swiping, and with a bit of AI, which, however, will ultimately prove bitterly disappointing.
Who is this book written for?
For designers, advertisers, design and market researchers, and professionals in marketing and UX design. For anyone interested in design and psychology. For anyone who creates and wants to understand and connect with people. For the curious, the ambitious, the doers, those who want to understand, and for forward thinkers.
Where can I buy the book?
It’s best to buy it directly ➔ from Rheinwerk Verlag. They ship quickly, and Jeff Bezos already has enough money.
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