How we work
How a product comes about
From the research to the finished template
Every North & Mind Studio product starts with a question from everyday life. For example: how do you actually switch off after work?
Before we design anything, we read what psychological research says about that question. We look at which methods have been studied and how solid the results are.
Then we decide. Methods with good research behind them go into the product. Methods without a reliable basis stay out, however widespread they are.
Inside the product we name the source for every method. We add how large the study was and what it does not show.
That makes the odd page less comfortable than it needs to be. We think it is the part that counts.
Four rules
Research first, design second
Before a product takes shape, we look up which studies exist on the subject. Sometimes the research is thinner than the self-help book beside it suggests. In that case, that is what we write into the product.
Name the source and its limit together
Every method comes with the study behind it. Alongside it, the number of participants and one sentence on what the study does not prove. A citation without that sentence is decoration.
Keep the steps small
Every chapter ends with a single task. It is deliberately kept small. If you only ever do these small steps, you have still taken the essential part.
Say when to stop
Every product explains how to tell that writing is not the right tool right now. Next to it stand the phone numbers that help in that case. We never leave that page out.