Strategic Design & Research
Most digital transformations fail because teams do not understand why people make the choices they do. Understanding real human behavior is the difference between massive success and expensive failure in your product or business.
NRH Innovation Strategic Design and Research helps you figure out the "why".
What Sets Us Apart
NRH structures deep research into how people actually behave and what motivates them.
This isn't the kind of research about where to put buttons or what color something should be. It's research about whether people will actually use what you're building, and if not, what would need to change. The kind of research that helps you understand whether your product will work before you invest heavily in building it.
Our team has spent 15+ years working on tough business and product problems across Banking, Health Care, Oil and Gas, and Heavy Industry.
People-First Approach
Everything we do is built around understanding customers for who they are, not just demographically, but how they solve problems and what drives their decisions.
A Focus on Quality
We hold our work to high standards and know how to build in complex ecosystems. Mapping spaces where trust and risk are deeply embedded in how decisions get made is core to our process.
Turning Research into Direction
It’s part of our promise to interpret findings, not just hand them over. We help teams understand what the research means for building, how to go-to-market and for creating the future of the customer.
Proven Process, Flexible Execution
We bring structure where it counts and adaptability where it matters. Our methods are always responsive, with rigor and clarity.
Lu Timlin-Broussard
Founding Principal, NRH Innovation
I'm a design strategist who came to this work through media studies and anthropology, which means my approach prioritizes understanding cultural systems over feature preferences.
I've been a founding team designer for 15+ years, creating products and strategies across markets in Latin America, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. I've worked with Fortune 500 companies, governments, and growth-stage businesses on fintech, social programs, industrial goods, and digital transformation.
My practice is called NRH Innovation, focused on Cultural Systems Intelligence—helping teams understand how cultural dynamics determine whether products succeed or fail, especially in contexts where traditional market research gives you demographics but misses deeper motivational systems.
Our Services
Most Engagements combine 2-3 of these depending on what you’re trying to solve.
For example:
Product validation: Ethnography + Synthesis Workshop + Concept Generation
Market entry: Discovery Safari + Strategic Foresight + Synthesis Workshop
Adoption challenges: Ethnography + Synthesis Workshop
Team capability building: Discovery Safari + Synthesis Workshop (teaching while doing)
For help in understanding what solutions would work best in your situation, please reach out.
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What it is: Intensive research where the team spend time with the people who would actually use a product—watching how they work, understanding what they care about, and uncovering what would make them change their behavior.
When you'd use this:
You're building something for a market or customer type you don't deeply understand yet
Adoption is stalling and you need to know why
You have assumptions about customer needs that need validation before major investment
You're entering a new market and need to understand the real context, not just demographics
What you get: Clear insights about what actually motivates people's decisions, what barriers exist to adoption, and what would need to change for your product to work. This shapes what you build and how you position it.
Typical format: 1-2 weeks of fieldwork, including observations, conversations, and context mapping, followed by synthesis and strategic recommendations.
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Discovery Safaris
What it is: Your team goes into the field together for an intensive research expedition of observing customers in their real contexts, having conversations that matter, and experiencing the problem firsthand instead of through reports or data.
When you'd use this:
Your team is making decisions about customers they've never actually spent time with
You need leadership to understand the problem viscerally, not just intellectually
Your team is disconnected from the reality of how people actually use your product
You want to build research capability while solving a real business challenge
What you get: Your team sees what they've been missing, develops genuine empathy for the people they're building for, and comes back with shared understanding that changes how decisions get made. Plus they learn research approaches they can use going forward.
Typical format: 4-5 days of intensive fieldwork where your team observes and talks to people in their real environments, followed by synthesis sessions to make sense of what you learned together.
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What it is: Structured sessions where we take everything you know (research, data, team knowledge, market intelligence) and turn it into actionable direction and specific ideas you can test.
When you'd use this:
You have a lot of research or information but aren't sure what it means for what to build
Your team needs to align on strategy before moving forward
You want to generate concepts grounded in real insight, not just brainstorming
You need to move from "here's what we learned" to "here's what we should do"
What you get: Shared understanding across your team, strategic frameworks that organize messy information, and concrete concepts or directions you can move forward with. Everyone leaves knowing what to do next.
Typical format: 1-2 days of facilitated workshops, either following research or using existing knowledge. Can be standalone or part of a larger engagement.
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What it is: Taking a strategic challenge or opportunity and developing multiple concrete concepts you can test or build. This goes beyond "wouldn't it be cool if..." to concepts grounded in real understanding of what would actually work and why.
When you'd use this:
You know the problem but need help imagining solutions that would actually work
You want multiple directions to test before committing to one path
You need concepts that consider cultural context, not just technical feasibility
Your team is good at execution but needs help with the "what should we build" part
What you get: 3-5 developed concepts with clear rationale for why each would work, who they're for, what makes them different, and what you'd need to test. Enough detail to evaluate and move forward, not just vague ideas.
Typical format: 1-2 weeks depending on complexity, including research review, concept development, and presentation of options with strategic rationale.
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What it is: Structured time to think beyond immediate business needs and explore what's coming—not predicting the future, but understanding possible futures so you can make better strategic decisions now.
When you'd use this:
You're planning beyond the next quarter and need to understand what might be coming
Your industry is changing and you need to anticipate where things are headed
You want to test your strategy against multiple possible futures, not just one assumption
You need to help leadership think differently about long-term planning
What you get: Multiple plausible future scenarios with clear implications for your business, strategic options that work across different futures, and frameworks for ongoing strategic thinking. This helps you make decisions now that are robust across uncertainty.
Typical format: Half-day to full-day sessions, either standalone strategic planning time or integrated into larger strategy work. Can be one-off or ongoing quarterly practice.
Let’s Work Together
If you're interested in working with us, complete the form with a few details about your project. We'll review your message and get back to you within 48 hours.