Helixa is a strategic design firm

The first step in developing a successful project is understanding the user and their needs. We gain empathy and knowledge by observing, engaging and listening to the user. By carrying out 360-degree research, connecting the dots, analysing the data and drawing on a pool of knowledge and experience, we are able to define the problem.

Once we have understood the problem, we concentrate on finding a solution and work as a team to brainstorm a number of creative solutions. Based on these ideas we build prototypes to visualise models, products and services, which we then test repeatedly with the original user group.

Testing allows us to review our creative solutions, and the failure of an idea provides us with valuable knowledge of what does and does not work, and why. Iteration is a fundamental part of the process; the more we prototype and test, the more we learn and narrow our focus on a solution.

This cyclical approach ensures the strategies and solutions we develop for clients are fluid and secure and able to adapt quickly and effectively to shifts in business, customer or market behaviour. This concept is imprinted in the very DNA of the company, as Helixa draws its name from the helix, a progressive, rising spiral.

Founded in 2007 by Isabelle George and Thomas Villeneuve, Helixa was inspired by their own extensive corporate experience and the need for a new approach to strategy in an ever-changing world. They have assembled a team of creative minds from an array of backgrounds and their Paris office is today a hub of innovative thinking.

“Design Thinking and its creative, human approach to finding solutions offers a new world of economic and social possibilities. By combining what is humanly desirable with what is technologically possible, a designer can create a new approach to business success for a company.”

The idea behind Helixa grew over the course of a number of trips to the US to monitor technological advances and new creative thinking. Isabelle and Thomas realised that many once-successful companies were falling by the wayside because of their inability to understand and react to the shifting landscape in which they were operating.

Traditional forms of strategy were failing, as companies could no longer rely on a rigid three-to-five-year approach. Paradigms established in culture and strategy in year one might be out of date or surpassed within months. How, then, might businesses differentiate themselves from their traditional competitors and fast-moving start-ups in an increasingly complicated landscape? Isabelle and Thomas recognised the need for a new approach to strategy and Helixa was born.