About Us

What We Do

Data and Perspectives that Drive Your Business Forward

Research

Strategy

Communication

Our personalized, grass-roots approach goes beyond typical market research analytics by leveraging our extensive knowledge of the industry. What makes us different is our creative approach in gathering information; capturing the feedback of industry professionals and employees, then translating that feedback into actionable data. We provide our clients with a high-level view of themselves through the eyes of their constituents by conducting focus groups, market surveys, insight interviews and exploration sessions. Our goal is to help you gather information and feedback that allows you to make better business decisions.

  • Focus Groups
  • Surveys
  • Competitive Analysis
  • Research Studies
  • Product Concept Validation
  • Insight Interviews

Research and information gathering is only one piece of the puzzle. We work closely with our customers to help them use the information gathered to develop strategies that drive their business forward. Whether it’s new product development, defining a niche for competitive growth, or other business strategies, our team of specialists work to make it happen. We draw on our many years of experience and deep industry knowledge, while leveraging market research to create customized, creative strategies that make great companies better. We don’t just develop strategy in a vacuum though, we are creative facilitators that engage, teach, and inspire your people along the way.

We are enthusiasts of the design industry with insatiable curiosity; continuously reading, researching and writing about the latest trends and their impacts.  Our non-stop approach to summarizing, digesting, and sharing information is driven by one goal; to elevate the industry as a whole.  Moving another step beyond research and strategy, we help our customers develop tactical tools to execute their strategy by creating Continuing Education Units (CEU’s), hosting trainings, and facilitating industry trends workshops.  We leverage our unique perspective to help our clients develop relevant and impactful dialogues with their target markets.  We listen, understand, and translate your strategic goals into communications and training that that will garner the attention of your constituents.

People are seeing results.

A lot of people like to think they know what is driving change in the way we work. ThinkLab actually does. ThinkLab takes meticulous research and turns it into something actionable. Its group of talented pros has the unique ability to see trends on the horizon — before they actually arrive. They are thorough, engaging and smart. The content they create helps the industry understand what’s happening in our evolving world and we are proud to partner with them.

Rob Kirkbride editor-in-chief Business of Furniture and Workplaces magazines

We just completed our first three CEU presentations. People who didn’t even need CEU credits came out just to hear the content! We are taking this show on the road and it’s going to generate new business and relationships for Source from a different angle. Thank you, ThinkLab, for creating such a positive tool for us.

Bethany Parks Source International, National Sales Manager

The ThinkLab team has an amazing grasp of the complexities of the office furnishings market. Through direct research, ThinkLab helped us to understand the challenges we face with our sales strategy and gave us direction in addressing these challenges.

Phil Polishook DeskMakers CEO

ThinkLab is my go-to source for research projects on various workplace topics. The teams knowledge of our industry & connections within it make my projects go more smoothly, which helps KI produce unique, impactful output in a timely manner.

Jonathan Webb KI Vice President of Sales, Marketing & Workplace Strategy

We have worked with ThinkLab on several unique projects, the most impactful was the creation of a CEU course for our sales team. We found ThinkLab to be creative, open minded, and extremely focused on creating a truly meaningful product that helped us easily articulate our key messages to the market.

Kyle Verplank LightCorp General Manager

I’ve enjoyed working the with ThinkLab. They are first-rate professionals with a keen understanding of the office furniture industry dynamics. The meetings facilitated by ThinkLab through their vast network of design industry contacts has proven to be invaluable to me in developing a new business strategy.

Todd Folkert BOLD Furniture CEO

ThinkLab has completed several projects for us to date. ThinkLab brings an invaluable breadth of experience, they are quick to understand your objectives, and deliver high quality results. I have been immensely pleased with the projects completed for us both in content and timing. ThinkLab has become a great asset to our team.

Sheri Cuccarese Nucraft VP Marketing & Product Development

As a direct result of ThinkLab’s market research, as well as insights into broader marketplace dynamics, the BIFMA Board of Directors was able to quickly come to consensus regarding future strategic direction for the organization during a recent strategy session.

Tom Reardon BIFMA Executive Director

When CBRE Furniture Advisory Services wanted to start a game-changing discussion, we decided to partner with ThinkLab. They leveraged their broad industry perspective to skillfully facilitate a process that inspired us to dig deeper and think bigger. We would not have accomplished our goals without this talented and passionate team.

Julie Deignan Director CBRE Furniture Advisory Services

Meet the Team

ThinkLab is Researching the World of Design

ThinkLab is the research division of Interior Design Media. We are a diverse group united by our expertise in, and love for the world of design. Immersed in this industry, we have daily insight into the challenges of both the architects and designers, and the consumers who hire them. We leverage these insights along with varied market research techniques to uncover relevant trends and opportunities that connect back to brand and business goals in a thought-provoking, creative, and actionable way.

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Core Team

Amanda Schneider

President

Amanda Schneider

President

Amanda Schneider, LEED AP, MBA is a researcher, writer and founder of ThinkLab. Amanda is a strategic thinker with a strong background including industrial design, market research, product management, sales, and strategic launch practices with a breadth of companies within the interiors industry. Amanda’s creative process stems from her education in Industrial Design from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, while her natural business sense is augmented by her MBA from the University of Iowa. She is passionate about studying the latest workplace trends to make meaningful connections for the industry and regularly blogs about them in various industry publications. When she’s not busy working in her suburban Chicago office or visiting clients, you can find her trail running at freakishly early hours of the morning, dreaming about that book she’ll write someday, or ambushing her secret stash of dark chocolate and red wine.

Olga Odeide

Business Development

Olga Odeide

Business Development

Olga Odeide, LEED AP, is an interior designer and strategist who thrives at building successful long-term partnerships with clients. Olga started her career in electrical and computer engineering with her degree from Clemson University. Her success in this field involved her in a large-scale commercial campus makeover that sparked her love of interior design. With an interior design degree from the Art Institute of Charleston, Olga brings the perfect balance of tactical thinking and creative strategy to her new-business development role. Olga is outgoing, energetic, and committed to best-in-class client engagement and solutions—a natural fit for ThinkLab! She gets fired up when presented with a marketing problem or is asked by clients to find new ways to engage and connect with their target audiences. An on-the-go city dweller, Olga is a seasoned traveler, repeat TEDx attendee, and fitness instructor who enjoys the vibrant Washington, D.C., community in which she resides.

Erica Waayenberg

Marketing

Erica Waayenberg

Marketing

Erica Waayenberg, LEED AP, is an interior designer, marketer, and a strategy-minded problem solver. Erica embraces design thinking with a career that has encompassed interior design, sales, strategic program development, marketing management, and consulting within the design world. Erica’s enthusiasm for design and how we connect to our surroundings was fostered in her education in interior design from Michigan State University. She is passionate about the creative process, authentic marketing, the built environment, and connecting people with inspired and thoughtful design. To her role at ThinkLab, Erica brings a well-rounded industry perspective paired with eagerness to inform and inspire industry members of all types through research-based insights. Outside of her office, Erica loves to travel, be outdoors, dive into messy creative play with her boys, and savor great conversation with friends and family over coffee or a French 75.

Allison Roon

Project Manager & Creative Direction

Allison Roon

Project Manager & Creative Direction

Allison Roon is an interior designer, marketing strategist, and storyteller. With deep roots in the contract furniture industry, Allison offers unique insight to what makes spaces and stories meaningful, and how they can be used to engage an audience and impact change. Allison has her BA in Interior Design from Kendall College of Art and Design, and went on to get her Masters in Adult and Higher Education from Grand Valley State University. With a background as Director of Design, Marketing & Product Management, Allison has an incredible ability to create meaningful conversations around the future of work and workplace, and draw out information and conclusions from client discussions that lead to high level product and market strategy decisions. Her energy is contagious, and communication style engaging. Aside from work, Allison loves sneaking out for a run with the dog along West Michigan’s lakeshore, meandering through a greenhouse, and scouring Zillow in case the next fixer upper catches her eye.

Giselle Walsh

Project Manager, CEU Development & Training

Giselle Walsh, Project Manager

CEU Development & Training

Giselle Walsh is a corporate trainer, sustainability guru, and avid researcher. With 20 years of experience in the commercial wallcovering industry, what makes her an exceptional asset as a consultant is her innate ability to communicate technical details to an audience conversationally and a contagious enthusiasm that engages her audience to learn. One great example of this was partnering with BIFMA to take on the monumental task of creating a CEU, “Demystifying Furniture’s Role in Sustainability” in an effort to explain the interrelations of all the different rating systems in a simple, understandable way and train the presenters to master the content as well. Giselle’s background in sales leadership makes her an intellectual asset for CEU training and presentations just like this one. She has her BS in Business Administration from Culver-Stockton College and loves to cook, read, and volunteers her time running ZeroLandfill Chicago, a volunteer organization committed to saving design samples from landfill.

Katie Shaykin

Writer

Katie Shaykin

Writer

Katie Shaykin is a writer, social media strategist, and communications consultant. Katie specializes in blog, byline, white paper and press release creation, in addition to her extensive experience in digital marketing including website content creation, social media, and SEO analytics. Katie earned her BS in integrated marketing communications from Illinois State University. Her experience in a multitude of industries including two Fortune 500 companies, gives her a results driven mindset for her clients marketing initiatives. Katie’s passion is listening to her clients story and translating that narrative into a powerful message that connects them to their target audience. Outside of her passion for the written word, Katie loves to cook and can often be found trying new recipes with her three small sous chefs in her suburban Illinois home.

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