Ilia Werner / Design Lovers

Design Research

Research into your design decisions, delivered as a video and a long-form article.

$5,000 — 10 working days

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What is it?

This is an analysis of the design concept behind your project as a whole, or research into one specific design decision. If you’ve seen the videos on my channel, it’s roughly the same thing.

Examples from the channel

GUI/CLI in modern design

Command lines and chatbots as a natural evolution of graphical interfaces. An analysis of the history behind these decisions and where we are today.

Small details of brand identity

Why Apple keeps a symbol that doesn’t follow its overall design direction, and how this reinforces its identity.

The utilitarian turn

An analysis of the iPhone Pro line’s “rebranding”, starting with the 17 Pro.

The mathematics of rounded corners

The history behind the radius and the mathematics of rounded icons in operating systems.

Why?

To find the historical foundations of the concepts you’ve chosen. To explain when and why the patterns you use were created, and what they led to.

The result.

You’ll get a clear understanding of what your design is built on. Or what to build it on, if for now you only have a general idea.

Who is this useful for?

Anyone whose project has an interface. That includes:

How does it work?

I need as much information from you as possible: examples, a description, your own thoughts on why you chose this direction, what attracts you to it, what concerns you, what inspires you, and what your broader goals are.

  1. Send me the information above.

  2. Once I have all of this, I assess whether I can take it on, and whether I can give you information that will be useful to you.

  3. If so, I suggest a call to clarify a few things.

  4. After that, I take full payment upfront and come back with the research in 10 working days.

What you receive

Video

I make a video for you, between 5 and 15 minutes long, depending on the scope of the topic.

The style is close to what I do on the Design Lovers YouTube channel.

I also write a long-form article.

With more detail, without cutting anything down, and with links to the books, materials and research I used to prepare it.

I know what to trust, and what it means
for your design.

How I work

  • AI can help gather materials.
  • I have the background knowledge to filter out outdated or incorrect information, and to understand which design decisions haven’t stood the test of time, even when artifacts from them have survived.

Experience

  • 20 years of experience in design.
  • 10 years running my own design studio.
  • 6 years teaching interface design and the philosophy of design at a college.
  • 3 years running a YouTube channel.

Audience & mentions

  • My audience includes designers from Apple, WAG Group and Teenage Engineering.
  • Respected figures like Brad Frost and Harry Brignull have mentioned me in their posts.
  • And total views have reached 4 million.

Privacy.

This research is done just for you. The choice to share the results or keep them private is entirely yours. I won’t publish your work without your permission.

  • Can you publish it on your channel?

    No, these studies are not intended for public release.

    But I can make the research video available as an unlisted video, accessible by link, and include a mid-roll placement in another video on my channel, with a link to the full research video.

    Placement on my channel is paid. You can use this option if you want to reach my audience. I offer a mid-roll placement in a relevant video for $1,600.

    $1,600mid-roll

  • Can we work together after the research?

    Unfortunately, I’m not taking on hands-on design work for projects right now.

    But I can offer consulting and art direction. I provide this as a subscription service, starting at $3,000 a month.

    $3,000a month, from