AQ

AQ is a digital product design and research studio with offices in Tokyo and Paris, and a further base in Yatsugatake. It acts as an embedded design team for companies launching or growing products in Japan, grounding its work in research into local users and culture. Projects run from early user research through prototyping to finished app and web designs.

What AQ offers

• User research — qualitative studies, including home and office interviews, into how people in Japan think and behave.
• Product design — planning, designing and testing releases of apps and web services alongside a client's own team.
• Prototyping and validation — low-fidelity prototypes tested with users to find the right product to build.
• Design reviews — audits of design, usability and copy, with cultural context and an action plan.
• Accessibility work — research with users who have visual and motor impairments.
• Design systems — shared systems serving several products at once.

Who it works with

Its case studies include ASICS, for which it shaped a runners' digital product over six years, Mercari, the Japanese edition of Medium, and a Finnish marine technology firm using Japan as a launch market.

Key facts

• Offices: Tokyo and Paris, with a base in Yatsugatake
• Focus market: Japan
• Events: organises and contributes to design events in Tokyo and elsewhere