Bold Insight, a full-service User Experience (UX) and Human Factors (HF) research agency, focuses on helping clients understand how their products and services are perceived and used by their customers. They aim to be the most thoughtful, informed, and impactful partner they can be for their clients, their employees, and for the world. The output of the research conducted by Bold Insight is used to inform the design of products and services throughout the development process.
Though a large portion of the research conducted by Bold Insight informs the design and development of safe and effective medical devices, they partner with orgnizations in virtually any industry to improve end-user and customer experience. At the beginning of the product development process, HF and UX research can help an organization understand the context in which their product or service will be used—which informs a robust understanding of use-related needs and enables the design of a product that does what users need it to do. Once a prototype has been developed, the observations made during usability studies give an organization the opportunity to iterate on and improve its product design prior to entering the market. Once a design has been finalized, the focus of user research can shift to validating that specific use-related objectives have been achieved.
With the expertise to plan, manage, and execute HF and UX studies, Bold Insight offers a full service research resource to its clients. When working with clients, Bold Insight’s consultants strive to develop a research plan that meets their clients’ research objectives while working within their constraints. This collaborative approach often results in creative and novel approaches to research. “To provide our clients with the highest caliber of service, we sit down with them to understand their objectives, their constraints, and their criteria for success.” Says Korey Johnson, Managing Director at Bold Insight. Johnson went on to add “We keep our planned approach transparent, so that all stakeholders have an opportunity to participate in the refinement of those plans. This active participation plays a key role in ensuring our client’s objectives are met.” It is this willingness to explore outside-the-box solutions and to collaborate that keeps the work fun.
Just as Bold Insight recognizes the importance of fun in their work with external clients, they emphasize the importance of fun internally for their employees. Bold Insight maintains a fun, supportive, and dynamic work environment that imparts cultural values of empowerment, resourcefulness, and ingenuity. They believe that creating a fun atmosphere fosters a creative and pro-learning environment—which is a central theme of the principles on which Bold Insight was founded.
Many consulting firms are challenged by employees using them as a training ground. Employees stay for a year or two, learn the trade, and leave for an in-house opportunity. To proactively address this, and with a strong desire to bring in and retain top talent, Bold Insight’s founders established a tiered benefits structure,
including an employee ownership program. Every Bold Insight employee is eligible to participate in this ownership program after certain tenure requirements are achieved. Making this opportunity available to all gives employees a sense of empowerment and fosters a feeling of shared commitment and family. Adapting the company’s policies and benefits structure has helped Bold Insight attract the best talent and encourage long term loyalty.
While based in Chicago, Bold Insight hasn’t let borders stop it from influencing the rest of the world. In fact, when Bold Insight was founded in 2018, a global parent company (ReSight Global) was established as the primary shareholder of Bold Insight, as well as their German sister company, UIntent. The ReSight Global management team (which consists of the principals of local operating companies like Bold Insight and UIntent) has since gone on to found sister companies in several other locations around the globe. Bold Insight has also collaborated and partnered with UX research firms in dozens of other countries around the world. The company also offers an international UX training program designed specifically for project, product, and marketing professionals. Attendees of this training program have used it to enhance their own usability research programs and/or to better understand how to integrate UX research into their design and development processes.
In addition to their efforts to be the best partner for their clients and their employees, Bold Insight also strives to make a positive impact on the community. Their commitment to philanthropy and investment in advancing the HF and UX fields is evident in their support for charitable organizations, as well as their participation in professional organizations that set the standards for industry-wide best practices. Bold Insight takes pride in these commitments, and does so with an eye towards humanizing interactions between customers and products around the world.
