by Ani Phelan Prompted by concerns around COVID-19 my inbox is filling up with questions about how I set up my teams to be successful working remotely. Before I dive in, please follow reliable sources like the WHO and CDC to guide you, not sensationalized media. At Work at Play…

by Ani Phelan & David Gratton In the last 20 years, the one thing that separates companies that make great products or deliver great campaigns are those who rely heavily on qualitative research rather than quantitative research. Still, many companies rely almost exclusively on quantitative research. And for those that…

By Ani Phelan, Director of Operations Work at Play continues to invest in VR/AR computing. As part of our YVR Mixed Reality Meetup our office hosted a medical Special Interest Group (SIG) last month, which focused on bringing mixed reality technologies to the medical profession. The connection between industries began when Work at Play CEO David Gratton was asked to speak at the INTERFACE Health Summit, a global conference for leading experts to share ideas and innovation on the future of health and medicine. David immediately turned to the…

By Ani Phelan, Director of Operations Last month we pulled back the curtain on the secret behind designing and building successful products: the mental model. The mental model is the single most important tool for understanding your audience. It’s a game changer for anyone interested in a highly visual, customer-centric tool aimed at product strategy, marketing, and user experience design At the Work at Play offices on October 27…

By Christopher Brandt, Director of Technology Do you need a VanHUG? Join the Vancouver HoloLens User Group for a chance to meet and collaborate with other HoloLens developers. VanHUG (the HUG stands for HoloLens User Group) originated with myself and a handful of enthusiastic YVR Mixed Reality members when we saw a need for a tech-heavy meetup with an emphasis on coding. The aim of VanHUG is to push HoloLens mixed reality technology to the next level by connecting developers across the Vancouver tech community.

By Ani Phelan, Director of Operations The Mental Model is the single most important tool for understanding your audience. October 27, 2016 | 9:30–4:30 | 500–329 Railway St. RESERVE NOW: workshop is limited to 25 seats only! We’re extremely excited to invite you to our Mental Model Fundamentals workshop: open to the public for the very first time. We’ve created mental models for renowned brands including Microsoft, Rennie Marketing, CPA Canada and BCAMA that informed their products, campaigns and strategies, and…

By David Gratton, CEO of Work at Play We kicked off the first YVR Mixed Reality meetup at the Microsoft Canada Excellence Centre last month with a mix of developers, designers, and thought leaders who work in or contribute to the growing field of mixed reality. The evening began with guest speaker Darren Bennett, a lead creative designer on the HoloLens, who shared some inspiring words on the future of mixed reality.

By David Gratton, CEO of Work at Play Pokémon Go became a worldwide phenomenon seemingly overnight. Within days of its launch in the United States, CBC was calling me asking, “Is this a watershed moment in AR?” Well, the numbers certainly support that claim: Pokémon Go earns a reported $1 million a day from in-app purchases, and has garnered over 15 million downloads to date. If nothing else, Pokémon Go is surely a turning point for geocaching — over 9.5 …

By Lorraine Chisholm, Strategist & User Experience Consultant, Work at Play Here at Work at Play, the single greatest impact we’ve made to up the quality of our product design and development has been replacing personas with mental models. For us, the mental model is the undisputed champion. No other tool has come close to replicating the dramatic increase in quality we saw after adopting the mental model. We are leaving the persona behind. You should too, and here’s why…