Turn Hidden Customer Insights into Strategy Your Whole Team Can See
Participatory research and visual synthesis for product teams and insight professionals. We help you uncover unarticulated customer needs that traditional research methods miss.
Your customers know exactly what's wrong with your product.
But
Surveys capture opinions without context.
Focus groups surface articulated needs—missing the unarticulated insights that drive real behavior.
Why Traditional Research Leaves You Guessing?
Visual co-creation closes that gap.
When customers co-create visual journey maps with us, they show you the moment-by-moment reality of their experience—the competing priorities, emotional states, and friction points that never make it into a survey response.
The Result?
Research synthesis delivered as modular visual assets. Your team gets insights that communicate across stakeholder presentations, product roadmaps, and strategic planning.
Research that stays useful long after the presentation & debrief.
Align diverse perspectives into a unified strategy
Bridge learning styles and priorities across teams.
Open up creativity and collaboration through emotional connection and engagement.
Reveal the story behind the data
Services
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Participatory Journey Mapping & Research Synthesis
Uncover unarticulated needs through visual co-creation.
Your customers have insights they can't articulate.
We conduct participatory research sessions where customers don't just answer questions—they co-create visual journey maps that reveal the full context of their experience. This human-centered approach extracts insights that surveys, focus groups, and traditional ethnography miss.
Our Process:
Discovery & Research Design — We develop a customized research plan aligned to your strategic goals
Participatory Workshops — Multi-session co-creation where customers build visual personas and map their journey with your product or service
Research Synthesis — We transform raw insights into a coherent, actionable framework
Knowledge Delivery — Modular visual assets designed for ongoing strategic use
You receive:
* Complete visual journey maps showing pain points, emotional states, competing priorities, and decision moments
* Modular insight cards that can be reorganized for presentations, roadmaps, and strategy sessions
* Research synthesis report connecting insights to strategic recommendations
* Co-creation documentation capturing customer language and unarticulated needs
Best for: Product managers, insight teams, and UX researchers who need to understand the gap between what users say and what they actually need. Organizations tired of expensive focus groups that leave them guessing.
Methodology: Combines ethnographic listening, design thinking frameworks, and visual facilitation to create research that stays actionable long after the presentation.
Typical investment: Custom scoped to your complexity. Generally 60-80% less than traditional focus group research, with higher-impact deliverables.
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Visual Strategy Workshops & Brainstorm Facilitation
Transform abstract discussions into concrete action.
When your team is stuck debating priorities or drowning in complexity, we facilitate visual strategy sessions that create shared understanding. Using co-creation techniques and real-time visual synthesis, we help cross-functional teams align on direction and walk away with actionable next steps.
Workshop Types:
Product Roadmap Planning — Align stakeholders on priorities using visual mapping
Strategic Offsites — Synthesize company direction into frameworks teams can use
Cross-Functional Alignment — Bridge silos by externalizing competing priorities
Bluesky Ideation — Generate and organize breakthrough ideas using visual thinking
Deliverables:
Visual frameworks capturing strategic decisions
Documentation designed for ongoing reference
Action plans with clear ownership
Digital files ready for presentations and follow-up
Best for: Leadership teams, innovation groups, and product organizations that need everyone seeing the same picture before moving forward.
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Cross-Cultural Research & Community Engagement
Navigate cultural complexity with visual research that honors context.
Traditional cross-cultural research relies on surveys and frameworks that flatten cultural nuance. We use participatory visual methods to conduct research across cultural and linguistic contexts—creating space where diverse stakeholders can express insights in their own terms.
Our Approach:
Bilingual facilitation (English/Spanish) for Latin American markets and U.S. Latino communities
Culturally-adapted research design that accounts for power dynamics, communication norms, and local context
Visual co-creation that transcends language barriers
Community-centered engagement drawing on community organizing methodologies
Applications:
1. Cross-Cultural Product Research When your customers span multiple cultural contexts, surveys miss the nuance. We facilitate participatory research that reveals how cultural values shape product experience—without imposing Western frameworks.
2. Community Stakeholder Engagement (ESG/CSR) For companies with community impact commitments, we design engagement processes where community voices genuinely shape outcomes. Not extractive consultation—true participatory planning using visual methods that make complex trade-offs tangible.
3. Global Team Alignment When your team spans cultures, abstract strategy discussions amplify misunderstanding. We facilitate visual strategy sessions that create shared understanding across cultural and linguistic differences.
Deliverables:
Cross-cultural research synthesis with cultural context preserved
Visual frameworks that communicate across linguistic barriers
Community engagement documentation (bilingual when needed)
Stakeholder maps showing power dynamics and relationship networks
Best for:
Companies expanding into Latin American markets
Organizations with ESG commitments requiring authentic community engagement
Global teams needing alignment across cultural contexts
Social impact initiatives requiring participatory design
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Live Visual Notes
Make your meetings unforgettable.
Transform your next conference, workshop, or brainstorm into a visual experience. We create dynamic real-time illustrations that capture your ideas as they unfold—so your audience stays engaged, inspired, and aligned long after the event.
Deliverables include high-resolution visuals ready to share across decks, reports, and social media.
Best for: Conferences, leadership offsites, all-hands meetings, and workshops where you want ideas to stick and spread.
Your customers have the answers. Let's help them show you.
In 30 minutes, we'll explore your research challenge and determine if visual facilitation is the right fit.
About Coté
Hi! I'm Coté, a Chilean-American visual strategist and facilitator based in Chicago.
I combine a therapist's listening skills, a researcher's rigor, and an illustrator's craft to help teams unlock insights they didn't know they had.
My background spans organizational psychology, UX research, and community organizing, which helps me create space for stakeholders to express insights in their own terms and shape outcomes.
The magic happens when people draw together. Ideas that felt stuck suddenly become tangible. Teams that couldn't align suddenly see the same picture. Customers who said "the interface is confusing" suddenly show you the exact moment—and emotional state—where your product fails them.
I've worked with organizations from startups to Fortune 500 companies, always with the same goal: turn complexity into clarity, and clarity into action.
Let's help you gain momentum through visual collaboration.
Capture of Community Conversation
Sketchnote of an organization's model
Explainer Sketchnote
Creative Mornings Chicago
Client Convening for State of Sustainability
Its a wrap! Neighborhood Economics Team Chicago
Participatory Journey Mapping Session
Creative Mornings
Convening
Capture of Envisioning Workshop

