Dr Fiona Maciver

Dr Fiona Maciver I'm a Brand & Experience Strategist, helping design-conscious brand grow by thinking different and acting distinctively

I'm a Creative Strategist inspiring businesses to also think creatively

I empower businesses to tune into their audience and market, in turn drive growth, longevity and success:

★ Steering global clients (Meta, Ford, Lululemon) to identify and create future opportunity
★ Empowering brands tune into market and audience
★ Guiding businesses, employees, creatives and students to tap into - and scal

e - imagination
★ PhD in design strategy
★ Held design research positions at some of the world’s most creative businesses (Apple, Facebook, Fjord)
★ Visiting tutor at Central Saint Martins
★ Published in design and creativity journals and books
★ Spoken at design conferences globally
★ Reviewer for The Design Journal and the Design Management Institute

Aesthetics matter to businesses.In fact, they're everything. They determine whether you exist.I’ve walked along Windmill...
24/03/2025

Aesthetics matter to businesses.

In fact, they're everything. They determine whether you exist.

I’ve walked along Windmill Street 6351 times in the past eight years.

I know all the businesses on the street - barber, denim menswear, Japanese restaurant, spa.

This morning I saw something new. Cafe Metro Express.

Never seen it before in my life.

I’m an observant type. I notice details. And I love a proper caff.

Just googled it. Been there since 2017.

So why on earth is my recollection so poor?

Because aesthetics are everything. Here's how they work -
- People feel something about your brand
- You stand out
- People remember
- They come back
- And they pay more

And if people don’t notice? You sadly don’t exist.

Poor Cafe Metro Express bears that cost.

My beady eye notices what works for some businesses. What doesn’t for others.

Guiding businesses to become more desirable makes me tick. I love what I do.

So I write about this research and insight.

Business leaders and entrepreneurs need to know what will make them desirable in their world.

If that resonates, please share with your world.

Let’s make the world more beautiful.

Have an excellent week.

How to build a brand that stays relevant.Hint - it takes creativity + business thinking.This year, Disneyland turns 70. ...
04/03/2025

How to build a brand that stays relevant.

Hint - it takes creativity + business thinking.

This year, Disneyland turns 70. A global brand that grosses $28bn.

And built from an idea.

I think of Walt Disney as the original creative thinker cm entrepreneur.

His gift was mixing creativity with his astute head for business. A killer combo.

He recognised that for an idea to be world-beating, it must connect artefacts with emotions.

In the early 1950s, he spotted a gap.

Legend has it that, as a young Dad, Walt took his kids to the play park on Saturdays. He sat at the edge with the other parents while the children played.

"How can everyone have fun together?"

The seeds of the first theme park were sown.

His genius?

Creatively spotting the opportunity.

Then practically actioning his vision.

It's how he created a 70 year legacy.

Pretty impressive, huh?

What's your favourite heritage brand?

28/02/2025

How to use OpenAI’s deep research strategically -

Tl;dr - You need to understand how AI works and be realistic about its capabilities to get a decent result.

OpenAI rolled out its deep research tool to Plus users this week, so I gave it a test run.

As someone who spent four years constructing a doctorate, and has researched professionally, I felt queasy at the thought of this tool.

My verdict?

Deep Research offers a starting point for further investigation and reading. It augments the learning process. But there are serious limitations.

Here’s how businesses should be thinking about maximising it -

1) Use it as a jumping off point - Reports offer high level overviews. Used well, it can give building blocks for putting together a broader piece of work

2) It’s key to clearly define the parameters of your topic - The user needs to set up a very specific research scenario. Deep Research’s clarification questions are helpful in doing that, but you also need to understand the topic to do that well. It returned my report within 10 minutes composed of the headings I specified in my brief

3) Be absolutely clear about its limitations - AI can’t produce a point of view. Reports are formulaic because AI can’t synthesise in any meaningful way. It’s never going to produce an original perspective

4) Results need to be checked - Sources are extremely hit and miss. It uses unreliable references - for example, any organisation termed an ‘institute’ is deemed trustworthy. It offered me some very questionable references

5) Humans need to drive the tech - The tech shouldn’t drive us. We need to become trained about AI, and its shortcomings, to synthesise our own results

My key takeaway - Exercise caution. Paradoxically, you need to understand a topic to be able to define a problem and discern a quality, reliable output. Even with GPT, it’s impossible to parse everything.

I’m more excited about using AI strategically across a business system, than for bounded tasks like Deep Research.

Have you given it a test run? Thoughts?

My first iPod. 3rd Gen, 20GB, 2004. A beautiful product that changed my life. iPod is a masterclass in how enduring bran...
31/12/2024

My first iPod. 3rd Gen, 20GB, 2004.

A beautiful product that changed my life.

iPod is a masterclass in how enduring brands create meaning. I identified a set of principles about designing multi-layered brand experiences. Ones that establish real and enduring connection with people.

Click 'READ' in bio.

Piet Mondrian knew the power of negative space. In a world deafened by noise, it's the gaps between the words where the ...
03/12/2024

Piet Mondrian knew the power of negative space.

In a world deafened by noise, it's the gaps between the words where the most valuable insight lies.

That's where you reveal the most unique, the most bold, unpredictable, unfathomable, beguiling ideas.

Information is everywhere. But insight is rare.

New post - hit 'READ' in bio

https://www.maciverinc.com/insights/information-is-everywhere-insight-is-rare

New article. How to stay creative in challenging spaces.Hit 'Read' in bio.Image: Untitled (You Make Me), Christopher Woo...
29/11/2024

New article. How to stay creative in challenging spaces.

Hit 'Read' in bio.

Image: Untitled (You Make Me), Christopher Wool (1997)

We are all designers.And we can do good.“Everyone designs who devises courses of action aimed at changing existing situa...
30/10/2024

We are all designers.

And we can do good.

“Everyone designs who devises courses of action aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones” - Herbert Simon, 1969

organisations are better equipped to seize future opportunities. Agree?
07/10/2024

organisations are better equipped to seize future opportunities. Agree?

I LOVE going to workEvery morning I step into my office at Mortimer House in Fitzrovia, I feel a tremendous sense of ins...
04/10/2024

I LOVE going to work

Every morning I step into my office at Mortimer House in Fitzrovia, I feel a tremendous sense of inspiration, possibility, discovery, calm … a confidence that I can achieve anything

It’s a beautiful place to be and work

What do you like about your workplace?


Address

London

Telephone

+442076314762

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Dr Fiona Maciver posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Dr Fiona Maciver:

Shortcuts

Share

Category