For those of you who don't know, Thursday was Bike to Work Day. Every year thousands of Bay Area commuters ditch their cars, bus passes, and walking shoes to zoom down the streets commuting in massive pelotons to work. As they often ride to work anyway, the Cooper team joined the festivities, riding in style, sporting machines for speed, function, and fashion.

Here in San Francisco the sun is shining, the sky is clear and we are already looking forward to this summer. But we're not just looking forward to more good weather; we can't wait to welcome summer interns.

What better place to apply what you've been learning than in the collaborative Cooper environment? We don't have wireframe monkeys here, you and your ideas and input will be applied on real projects for real products.

Our internship program is a 10-week paid position in San Francisco for current undergrad, graduate, or recently graduated students. We're looking for both interaction and visual designers who have a mix of self-motivation, design skills, open-mindedness, curiosity, empathy, and thirst for knowledge.

As an intern, you'll get a chance to take part in user research, strategy creation, concept explorations, and detailed design. Along the way, mentors will guide you through project work and help you reach larger career goals. We'll make sure you're set to roll up your sleeves and get involved, and that you get as much as you can out of your experience at Cooper.

Sound like something for you? Send a résumé along with a letter stating your internship
goals and portfolio samples (PDF or link to your website) by March 15th to internship@cooper.com.

Last week, I joined entrepeneur Enrique Allen and designer Leslie Ziegler at Kaiser, where we spoke to doctors from their internal innovation program. We hoped to inspire them as well as to illustrate how design could be used inside Kaiser to improve processes and overall care.

I referred to two case studies—Cooper's work on the Practice Fusion iPad-based EMR, and a visioning project around the patient clinic experience. In these, I illustrated how we identify problems, generate ideas, and drive decision-making during detailed design.

Both case studies highlighted ways in which multidisciplinary teams can make progress by using cheap prototypes that are quickly iterated. In the case of the Practice Fusion app, we used paper prototypes to test and evolve everything from content organization to animation. We did not need to get permission of a hospital IT staff or work with an engineer; we simply needed a new piece of paper and a Sharpie. Prototyping a service starts in a similar manner. Using storyboards and cartoons, we were able to generate and evaluate myriad patient journeys without making costly process and staffing changes.

Many of the questions during the Q&A were symptomatic of a large organization that is beholden to fluctuating regulation. One attendee asked how to get front-line staff on board when they're already suffering from change fatigue. This will require both communication and empowerment. At Cooper U we teach the value of a radiator wall (a wall showing the progress and decisions of a project) in rallying a team and communicating with an organization; this kind of tool could help establish a sense of consistency and direction amid large-scale changes.

All of Kaiser's departments were represented at our talk, from general practitioners to specialists. All are charged with improve patient care and overall quality. I appreciated the opportunity to bring some lessons from my experience in healthcare and design, and I'm looking forward to seeing what they tackle next.

There is a lot to be thankful for during this past Thanksgiving: friends, family, and a little more control over Facebook privacy.

Cooperistas traveled near and far, but many ended their holiday weekend at Alan & Sue Cooper's "monkey ranch" where we discussed the merits of good soil for farming, space for metal work, and alternative modes of transportation.

While we skipped out on all the Black Friday sales, had we attended, we might have used Google's new indoor maps to navigate the labyrinthian malls. Check out their video explanation below.

Congratulations to our friends (and client) at 100Plus for securing their new round of funding. We are having a great time collaborating with them and can't wait to show everyone what we've been working on. You know, when the time is right.