Found this great article from UX Mag on Design Studio and collaborative design.

My favorite quotes:

Having spent time in some larger digital agencies, I’ve noticed that often the account planner, strategist, and creative director spend time in a conference room with the client trying to suss out requirements. The process then moves to the agency’s ivory tower (or black box), where a few select people lock themselves away until they generate “The Insight,” often followed by “The Solution,” which are then communicated to the art directors and technology teams responsible for execution. I could, and will, write an entire article about how fucked up that is, but not today. Needless to say, the days of the black box rockstar/ninja/douchebag creative director are quickly coming to an end. Thank God!

The reality of designing modern digital solutions is that no individual can solely capture all the complexity of creating a truly vibrant product with various customer engagement points, different usage patterns, and behaviors based on complex needs, goals, and customer backgrounds, all interwoven into an emergent, ubiquitous engagement tapestry. This is why innovation really is, and should be, a team sport.

Co-creation needs externalized material. Sharing the fuzzy, early, raw concept gives your partner material to work with, to respond to and evolve. Externalizing ideas allows for closer collaboration, earlier input, and deeper thought partnership. This is true when generating and proposing ideas, and equally important for synthesizing and evolving concepts.
- Stefan Klocek

“Everyone designs who devises courses of action aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones.”
- Herbert Simon, cognitive psychologist

Full article from UX Mag