Fully focused on humans over profit.
A design and behavioral economics studio coming to Grand Rapids, MI.
Design decides how something looks and feels. Behavioral economics decides whether anyone acts on it. We do both, on purpose.
Most work treats people as rational, patient, careful, weighing options. Real people aren't like that. They move fast, lean on instinct, and are pulled by context they'll never tell you about. Designing for how people actually behave doesn't just look better. It works.
Where we’re
headed
Design Space started as one person and a strong empathy for humans. We believe design and behavioral science under one roof can change the way products are made and how harm is reduced.
We're building it in Grand Rapids, on purpose. It's a city with design in its bones and a tech community coming into its own, and we want that growth shaped by good practice:
Work that's sharp, evidence-led, and built for real people, not just shipped to make a deadline.
Helping raise that bar here is part of the point.
Core tenants
Behavior is the only honest data.
Everything else is a confident guess.
People aren't rational, and that's not a problem to fix.
It's the material we work with.
Design and incentives are the same craft.
One shapes attention, the other shapes action. You need both.
The best choices feel like no choice at all.
When the work is right, people don't notice the design. They just do the thing.