About

The origin of the WX design discipline
and the intention behind this website.

“The design of the new workplace experience has the potential to become for the experience economy what the assembly line was to industrialization.”

–Gruber, de Leon, George, and Thompson/ Managing by Design

WX Design: Origins

The philosophy behind the discipline of WX design is simple. Innovative outputs are more likely to come from happy, healthy employees– so it’s good business practice to give those employees an office that enables them to do their best work.

Whether you call this period in history the “knowledge economy”, the “information age”, or the “experience economy”, innovation is the new standard by which we measure global competitiveness. This lies in stark contrast with the industrial age’s focus on cost effective mass production, and explains why prioritizing the employee experience is a rapidly gaining momentum as a strategy to attract, develop and retain top talent.

Mission

MANY EMPLOYERS ARE SLOW TO ADOPT WX DESIGN SOLUTIONS BECAUSE:

They are not convinced of the importance
Credible data is difficult to find, and is often more theoretical than actionable
They lack dedicated resources (budget, team, time)

I believe that companies of all sizes, in all industries, with budgets of any shape or size have the right to access this information. This website is aims to level the playing field and enable immediate, effective action.

The mission of WXdesign.co is to improve the lives of people at work by simplifying and centralizing evidence-based recommendations for workplace experience design.

Why? Because building more resilient companies where employees thrive will result in widespread economic and social benefit.

Team & Approach

I created this site, and coined the term “WX design” to describe an emerging field I’m excited about. I’m currently looking for career opportunities to leverage my communications, business development, and account management expertise at a company that cares about improving the lives of people at work.

Alyson McPhee

Founder

I hope you’ll find the WXdesign.co site to be a helpful independent resource! You can read my full bio here.

Method

I reviewed over 150 scientific studies, reports, and articles on the subject, and selected four principal sources to base the recommendations on. (See Resources for more on the specific publications chosen.)

These sources were chosen because they are reputable and the information reported is based on data from studies with large sample sizes, covering multiple industries and countries and relevant to physical office design. No proprietary research was conducted in the making of this site and I have no affiliations with any of the sources listed.

I recorded patterns and discrepancies between these four sources and synthesized information about employees’ top priorities, combined with actual workplace performance, to generate digestible, actionable recommendations. I was conscious of avoiding unsubstantiated and sensationalistic claims, and paid attention to the motives and funding mechanisms of each source.

Contact

If you’d like to contribute to the website in any way, or you simply want to chat about WX design, I’d love to hear from you!

hello@wxdesign.co

@wxdesignco