Last week, we visited Dana De Ano's Evanston studio with the Design Museum of Chicago. Her tactile, 3D mixed-media work feels like raw prototyping—built off a single starting piece, layered with stitched details, depth, and shadow. Our biggest takeaway from Dana was her perspective on finishing a piece. Part of being a great artist is having the discipline to know when the work is complete, to step back, and to leave it with a final "note to say goodbye."Huge thanks to Dana De Ano for opening up her workspace and to the Design Museum of Chicago for an inspiring evening! Check out her website here:https://www.danadeano.com For more info on the Design Museum of Chicago: https://lnkd.in/gU5pv9rF

As we wrap up our reflections from the Reclaiming Value: Sacred Valley Design Immersion, one final, underlying force ties every single takeaway together: Intention and Dedication.
In modern design and product management, there is a dangerous obsession with immediate results. We want to hit the ground running and magically find the perfect solution on day one. But the truth is, when you are exploring uncharted territory, you don't know what it means to get it right initially. True quality takes time, deep dedication, and absolute clarity of purpose.
Throughout our journey in Peru, we saw what happens when organizations drop the obsession with the finish line and commit to long-term intention

In product development, research and testing are too often treated as safety nets, standard compliance checkboxes to make sure nothing is explicitly broken before launch. But one of our most defining closing reflections from the Reclaiming Value: Sacred Valley Design Immersion was that true resilience isn't passive.
True product resilience, making an ecosystem "unfragile", is only achieved when you actively challenge and stress-test your design strategy. You have to aggressively push against your assumptions to find where they break before your users do.
During our immersion, we saw what active, relentless exploration looks like in practice

One memorable phrase from our cohort discussions during the Reclaiming Value: Sacred Valley Design Immersion was the need to "balance empathy and ego" in our design work.

In strategic UX and product design, we always talk about empathy. We have to understand our users, listen to their pain points, and deeply care about their environment. But empathy without "ego", the healthy professional confidence in your own expertise, can actually lead to weak design decisions. If you design only what a user or client explicitly asks for, you risk building a fragmented product. True innovation requires a happy medium: you must be empathetic to the customer’s needs, while firmly standing your ground as the expert hired to map out the solution. You are the one who sees the bigger picture and understands what it takes to build a sustainable, unfragile ecosystem.

In the product and design world, we are conditioned to constantly look forward. We chase the newest tech stack, the next interface trend, and the latest disruptive framework. But what if the breakthrough solution you are looking for isn’t hidden in the future, but waiting in the past?
During our time on the Reclaiming Value: Sacred Valley Design Immersion, our team was forced to confront a question: What happens when we forget to preserve foundational knowledge, and what value gets lost with each passing generation?
Two of our site visits perfectly illustrated how looking backward can actually be the most radical way to move forward

Modern business is dangerously obsessed with two specific points on a timeline: the initial idea and the final deliverable. But when the middle, the craft, the friction, and the sheer dedication become completely invisible, we accidentally strip away the true value and meaning of what we build.
During the Reclaiming Value: Sacred Valley Design Immersion, our cohort spent days analyzing what happens when you intentionally show the process. Two experiences really developed this thought

One of our takeaways from the Reclaiming Value: Sacred Valley Design Immersion was a fundamental shift in how we view constraints. In modern product design, our first reaction to a problem is often: "What brand-new tool, feature, or platform can we build?"
But true sustainable innovation asks a different question: "What is already right in front of us, and how can we look deeper to unlock its hidden value?"

During our time in Peru, we witnessed two incredible examples of site partners who built extraordinary value entirely out of existing environmental and cultural resources

Design Seedling joined the Sacred Valley Design Immersion with Murmur Ring and Empathy. Alongside a diverse cohort of experts, we explored designing with deep intention during periods of systemic change.

We returned with insights that are now shaping our approach to strategic innovation and product ecosystems. Key perspective-shifting concepts from the immersion

While in the NeoCon area, we also checked out a live taping of the Design Nerds Anonymous podcast! Hosted by Amanda Schneider, LEED AP, MBA the episode "We Tested a Gen Z Advisory Model. Here’s What We Learned" brought the next generation directly to the table.
It was incredible hearing Amanda and a phenomenal panel of guests, including Joseph Olivieri, Candon Murphy, and Caroline G. Murphy, discuss bridging generational gaps and actively reshaping workplace culture.

We saw some incredible exhibits and innovations during Day 2 at NeoCon.

Beyond the showroom floors, we also carved out time to focus on how the business of design is shifting.One of the highlight sessions we attended was Design at the Inflection Point: The Forces Shaping What Comes Next. Thank you to moderator Khoi Vo panelists Olivia Ribeiro, Dwayne Stephens, and Kate Pixler, NCIDQ, LEED Green Associate for the insightful discussion.

We spent the first day at NeoCon focused on continuous learning and looking at where the design industry is headed.

The panel discussion, IIDA Collective Design: The Future of Your Big Idea, provided an excellent framework for navigating growth and innovation. Thank you to the moderator Mark Bryan, IIDA, and panelists Adi Goodrich, Karli Slocum, and Carrie Buse for sharing their perspectives.

We are thrilled to announce that Bell Guenther has joined us for the summer as our Founding Operations & UX Research Intern.