First tests

When you set out on a new entrepreneurial adventure, uncertainty is often your closest companion. There is no way to know for sure what will work and what won’t.

But uncertainty is something we’re used to. In another life, we are specialists in the Design Sprint, Google Ventures’ innovation method. In the end, all that uncertainty was simply an invitation to do what we do best: prototype and test, fast.

The Design Sprint: our secret weapon

The Design Sprint methodology is an intensive five-day approach that turns an idea into a tangible prototype. It relies on rapid iteration, intensive brainstorming and, above all, qualitative testing with real users. This is the method we chose to validate the Genius Loci concept.

Our first steps

From our very first conversations about Genius Loci, we were eager to test it. In our day-to-day work, we are constantly looking to put our ideas to the test quickly. So it felt only natural to build a Figma prototype right from the start.

The power of prototyping

Figma is our tool of choice. As designers, we know how important it is to give an idea shape, to make it tangible. That is exactly what we did with our first Genius Loci prototype. But the real power of the Design Sprint lies in gathering honest feedback from real clients and users, with no sugar-coating.

Qualitative testing: invaluable feedback

We didn’t just design a prototype. We put it into the hands of real users — that’s the key. Through qualitative testing, we were able to gather feedback directly from our target audience. It was a crucial step. These tests showed us not only what was working, but also what needed to be improved.

Drawing on our Design Sprint expertise, we quickly identified Genius Loci’s strengths and the areas to refine. Every piece of feedback, every criticism, guided our next iterations, letting us hone the concept until it was ready for the market.

Conclusion

The road to validating Genius Loci was not without its challenges. But armed with our Design Sprint expertise, we navigated them with confidence. For us, this adventure was further proof of the power of rapid prototyping and qualitative testing. Genius Loci isn’t just a product of our imagination — it’s the result of a proven methodology and feedback from real users.

Without that, we would never have found the courage to invest the time and money this adventure demanded.