Ben Tseitlin

Product Designer
Service Designer
User Experience Designer

I’ve worked in a variety of creative fields ranging from fashion, entertainment, chocolate, and health/wellness. I founded a chocolate company Benchic Chocolate which developed a chocolate making experience that was enjoyed by thousands and brought to companies like Facebook and Google.

http://linkedin.com/in/itsben/http://heyimben.combtseitlin@icloud.com

My Projects

ADENDA Device

AGENDA

Your dashboard for work.

AGENDA

Design Research
UX/UI
Product Design

Handling notifications has become our main job regardless of our title. If you work on a computer, you’re used to notifications from apps like Slack, Mail, Basecamp, Asana and many more. Our modern information overload began when email was introduced into the workplace. A direct line can be drawn from its introduction to managing notifications taking up most of our day, often even outside of work. That makes it difficult to focus - we aimed to fix that.

ADENDA Device

Problem

Modern work environments distract us from doing our best work through nonstop notifications and interruptions.

Insights

An average worker has an ever increasing number of apps and devices to check. Our researched showed that most knowledge workers at least had to check a project management app (Asana, Basecamp), an email app (Gmail, Apple Mail, Outlook), and chat apps (Slack, Microsoft Teams) throughout a typical day.

Depending on the focus mode, AGENDA can close completely (and pop open with only the most urgent notifications), show time and basic upcoming tasks, or a full dashboard of your day. AGENDA gives you back control over your focus.
Depending on the focus mode, AGENDA can close completely (and pop open with only the most urgent notifications), show time and basic upcoming tasks, or a full dashboard of your day. AGENDA gives you back control over your focus.
We explored various ideas including creating a standalone desktop/mobile app before choosing to create a dedicated device.
We explored various ideas including creating a standalone desktop/mobile app before choosing to create a dedicated device.
Depending on the focus mode, AGENDA can close completely (and pop open with only the most urgent notifications), show time and basic upcoming tasks, or a full dashboard of your day. AGENDA gives you back control over your focus.
Depending on the focus mode, AGENDA can close completely (and pop open with only the most urgent notifications), show time and basic upcoming tasks, or a full dashboard of your day. AGENDA gives you back control over your focus.
We explored various ideas including creating a standalone desktop/mobile app before choosing to create a dedicated device.
We explored various ideas including creating a standalone desktop/mobile app before choosing to create a dedicated device.
Depending on the focus mode, AGENDA can close completely (and pop open with only the most urgent notifications), show time and basic upcoming tasks, or a full dashboard of your day. AGENDA gives you back control over your focus.
Depending on the focus mode, AGENDA can close completely (and pop open with only the most urgent notifications), show time and basic upcoming tasks, or a full dashboard of your day. AGENDA gives you back control over your focus.

Solution

We created one place to check for anything important and take back control of our attention. A digital device that uses an accompanying cloud service, helps you keep just what’s important in front of you. And it allows you to create long periods of focused work which increases productivity and decreases stress (and long work hours).

Grand Park App

Grand Park | For The People

A way to discover events at Grand Park and share with friends.

Grand Park | For The People

Design Research
Product Design
Service Design

Using popular dating and music apps as inspiration, we sought to create a compelling event discovery app that would also let users submit their own ideas. We aimed to truly make Grand Park a park for everyone by allowing anyone to submit the event they wished existed.

Grand Park App

Problem

Grand Park noticed their relationship with visitors was fleeting. And so they looked to us to provide ways to deepen that relationship.

Insights

We saw a potential for younger audiences and tech savvy travelers to use an app that would help them find the events that fitted them at Grand Park. To achieve the goal of deepening park visitor engagement with the park, we felt this approach would help build a community that wanted to keep visiting the park and used the app to discover events.

Apple Music makes selecting a new user’s preferred genres fun and intuitive which inspired the favorite events selection. Similarly we used affordances popularized by dating apps to allow users to swipe right or left on events to choose the ones they like. Designed in collaboration with fellow design student David Pope.
Apple Music makes selecting a new user’s preferred genres fun and intuitive which inspired the favorite events selection. Similarly we used affordances popularized by dating apps to allow users to swipe right or left on events to choose the ones they like. Designed in collaboration with fellow design student David Pope.
Apple Music makes selecting a new user’s preferred genres fun and intuitive which inspired the favorite events selection. Similarly we used affordances popularized by dating apps to allow users to swipe right or left on events to choose the ones they like. Designed in collaboration with fellow design student David Pope.
Apple Music makes selecting a new user’s preferred genres fun and intuitive which inspired the favorite events selection. Similarly we used affordances popularized by dating apps to allow users to swipe right or left on events to choose the ones they like. Designed in collaboration with fellow design student David Pope.
Apple Music makes selecting a new user’s preferred genres fun and intuitive which inspired the favorite events selection. Similarly we used affordances popularized by dating apps to allow users to swipe right or left on events to choose the ones they like. Designed in collaboration with fellow design student David Pope.
Apple Music makes selecting a new user’s preferred genres fun and intuitive which inspired the favorite events selection. Similarly we used affordances popularized by dating apps to allow users to swipe right or left on events to choose the ones they like. Designed in collaboration with fellow design student David Pope.

Solution

We found a core need to find new and interesting events that was unmet in many of our interviewees. People described the challenges with finding new events and figuring out new venues that they haven’t visited before. Our concept lets users browse events happening at the park in a simple and fun way. Our aim was to make the park a central destination for friends and families to meet up.

Photo of Tea

Sugimoto Tea

Organizational Challenges to Building a Movement with Cross Cultural Teams

Sugimoto Tea

Business Design

Sugimoto is a Japanese company serving markets across the world. I studied how their teams work across cultures and create innovative processes to serve customers worldwide.

Photo of Tea

Problem

Sugimoto makes fine teas that are available in markets with varying understanding and willingness to pay for high quality tea. How can the company work across cultures and elevate a category that doesn’t yet have widespread appreciation?

Insights

Coffee and wine are examples of products that grew in cultural understanding and appreciation in the US, which didn’t have a strong history with either category.

In the US, tea is often accosted with being sick or something you find in the supermarket where price is more important than quality. There isn’t a widespread appreciation for high quality tea.
In the US, tea is often accosted with being sick or something you find in the supermarket where price is more important than quality. There isn’t a widespread appreciation for high quality tea.
There have been other products with a rich culture and history of appreciation elsewhere that have become popular in the US. Wine and coffee are two examples.
There have been other products with a rich culture and history of appreciation elsewhere that have become popular in the US. Wine and coffee are two examples.
A proposed formalized system where any employee can add ideas they come up with themselves or learn from stakeholders. For example, an American employee might suggest the company sponsor a coffee barista competition and organize a similar tea inspired version. Ideas placed in the database would be accessible company wide and employees could “up-vote” ideas they like. The top five ideas would be reviewed in a company wide meeting consisting of leaders from several offices.
A proposed formalized system where any employee can add ideas they come up with themselves or learn from stakeholders. For example, an American employee might suggest the company sponsor a coffee barista competition and organize a similar tea inspired version. Ideas placed in the database would be accessible company wide and employees could “up-vote” ideas they like. The top five ideas would be reviewed in a company wide meeting consisting of leaders from several offices.
In the US, tea is often accosted with being sick or something you find in the supermarket where price is more important than quality. There isn’t a widespread appreciation for high quality tea.
In the US, tea is often accosted with being sick or something you find in the supermarket where price is more important than quality. There isn’t a widespread appreciation for high quality tea.
There have been other products with a rich culture and history of appreciation elsewhere that have become popular in the US. Wine and coffee are two examples.
There have been other products with a rich culture and history of appreciation elsewhere that have become popular in the US. Wine and coffee are two examples.
In the US, tea is often accosted with being sick or something you find in the supermarket where price is more important than quality. There isn’t a widespread appreciation for high quality tea.
In the US, tea is often accosted with being sick or something you find in the supermarket where price is more important than quality. There isn’t a widespread appreciation for high quality tea.

Solution

To create a new category for a high quality product that people are already familiar with, experimentation is extremely important. It’s vital to build a culture where employee curiosity is nurtured and their ideas can be fairly evaluated.

Back to Current Students

Next

Connect with Me