Desirability Lab / Ames Studio

Deliberately or not, we’re influenced by desires. It’s human nature to want things. But why is it that we desire some experiences or products more than others? We examine what consumers like and why so that designers, marketers and companies can create better products, services, and experiences to improve lives and business. This is design thinking infused with advanced research at its core, and the Desirability Lab achieves it by bringing data scientists and creative designers together to generate new, exciting possibilities in product, service, and interaction design. The DL was created by Beth Altringer, a design and innovation professor at Harvard University, who was named to the 2018 Thinkers50 Radar list of management thinkers most likely to shape the future of how organizations are managed and led. Specializing in using psychology to design products that fulfill human desires, she integrates these psychological principles with the latest technology to create products that tap into the consumer need to engage with brands, as well as learn through interactive challenges. The DL has two priority areas: design consulting for clients, and experimental R&D for technologically-enabled latent learning products and services. For design consulting, past clients include Gucci Group, Uber, Swarovski, Piaggio, SAB Miller, and many others. For R&D, most recently, we developed Chef League, an app that teaches people how to improve their cooking skills by competing against AI chefs with a wide range of palates and preferences. This AI-powered teaching tool can be applied more widely across functions and industries, and designers can similarly create stimulating, educational products. The Desirability Lab is owned by Ames LLC.