conversations matter...

Convo is a qualitative research and strategy firm based in Mumbai and San Francisco.

Our practice is built on a deep understanding of human behavior and nuancing of cultural context. Our projects facilitate meaningful conversations for our clients, around observations and insights, inspiring innovation, design solutions and change. 

services

Our approach brings together the skills of our researchers and interpreters, with the latest technology, in immersive learning environments. All projects are designed to enable deep new insights and tangible learning experiences for our clients. We cover most languages in India, and work with close associates when in other parts of the world.
k

qualitative research

ethnography, diary studies – online and physical, interviews in-home or in-business or remote or in labs, focus groups, meet n greets, intercepts

UX research

usability labs, mobile labs urban and rural, outdoors and indoors, multi-camera studies with sleds and face cams, live-streaming

immersion programs

learning journeys, immersion weeks including real-life activities and experiences and multi-tracks, large leadership team programs, multi-country programs

workshops

participatory design workshops, facilitation, debriefs, personas, storytelling, scenarios, future search

interpretation

high quality simultaneous interpreters, cultural navigators, multi-language  capability, cognitive testing and checks, transcripts

recruitment

crucial for project success, recruitment is a key focal area. keeping it real, keeping it honest, multi-checks, trained partners, high researcher involvement
immerse | co-create | breakthrough

projects

ethnography

do you see what I see?

leadership immersions

touching lives, shaping change

UX research

designing relevant solutions

landscapes & scenarios

shaping the future

accessibility & social impact

disabilities, accessibility, and technology

attitudes, behaviors, values

segmentation, user journeys, use cases

participatory design

co-creating with clients & users

conversations about trust

technology, individuals, privacy, society

language dialogues

great interpreters inspire insights

our team

Our practitioners have backgrounds in psychology, sociology, anthropology, business management, software development, technology, design and film-making. We’re well traveled with an international clientele and have worked and delivered projects around the world. We are specialists in India; understanding emerging markets and change within a global context.

Dina Dastur Mehta

founder | ethnographer 

Stuart Henshall

founder | strategist | technologist 

Shubhangi Athalye

ethnographer | UX researcher 

Smriti Kaul 

ethnographer | UX researcher

Irene Unger 

ethnographer | UX researcher

Aparna Ray

ethnographer | UX researcher

Vidya Ganesh

ethnographer | UX researcher 

Prajakta Kulkarni

ethnographer | UX researcher 

Ashish Alex

ethnographer | UX researcher 

Munira Mulla

interpreter 

India | Bangladesh | USA | Japan 

FAQ – frequently asked questions

Which countries does Convo work in?

We work globally with offices in Mumbai and San Francisco. Most of our team is based in India and works across most regions and languages. Many projects have multiple researchers and Interpreters involved and we are seldom limited by language, location, facility or equipment requirements. Many of our research team have worked and executed projects across the globe, including Bangladesh, USA, Japan, and other countries.

What type of briefing do you need?
Start by telling us about your research objectives and what you hope to learn. We want to hear your program design ideas (number and type of units, days field etc.) and initial thoughts on the target audience. We will want to know dates and will also ask you about the team traveling. We’ll help you plan your plan and layout a proposed calendar. Your reporting requirements and timing will help us further lock down the details. Typically when teams are visiting we handle all the logistics during the day and will work with you to plan other aspects of your trip to keep the team on task and happy!
Who should attend?
Multidisciplinary teams typically get the most out of an immersion. Most of our clients are flying into India from overseas and a typical team size is about 8, although we’ve worked with teams up to 80 people with multiple concurrent streams in the field. There are often practical reasons for keeping the team size smaller. These include “team dynamics”, managing debriefs, and how many can go in-home, fit in a lab etc. Often we mix streams running concurrent lab sessions while sending another team in-home and rotating and inserting different types of visits and locations based on the research needs.
What is your usability lab setup?
We’ve developed our own kit for mobile UX work. We use it in both lab settings and take it quickly on-site – in-home, on business premise even into “dark” rural villages etc. All sessions are captured on two or more cameras, typically with both local language and translation simultaneously. Files are all time-stamped and uploaded overnight and sent for transcription. In most cases we can arrange some form of live streaming for remote research needs.

There is nothing quite like going to a location, understanding the context in which the mobile device is being used while still being able to see what the respondent is seeing without crowding them or looking over a shoulder.

What's a participatory design workshop?
Workshops take many formats. Some of our most successful long term projects have begun with field research including diaries (online too) and in-home interviews. We may also meet experts as part of the lead-up. Over time we’ve learnt respondents become very vested and interested in new product efforts. When we can bring the respondent group into a venue (example at the end of a week) along with the research team we find in four hours magic can happen. We’ve worked programs like this in-country and across multiple countries on subjects as diverse as baby products, autonomous vehicles, design for the unconnected etc. These strategic conversations are often the most gratifying projects of all.

contact us

Offices: Mumbai | San Francisco

Please introduce yourself! How can we help?

6 + 14 =

partners in research and strategy