Aqworks

AQ is a digital product design and research studio with locations in Tokyo and Paris, founded in 2004 by Chris Palmieri and Eiko Nagase. The studio's focus is designing products for Japan from a grounded understanding of local people and culture, working alongside client teams to continuously plan, design, and test releases that meet the specific demands of that market.

Services center on UX research, UX audits, and design discovery, along with a Japan Immersion offering that brings outside teams closer to the local context before they design for it. Tomomi Sasaki serves as project director and partner, while Michi Migita and Yumi Houmura work as UX researchers, with Migita's practice centered on fieldwork.

Project work spans several sectors. AQ helped a Finnish marine technology company shape its first product through research, concepting, and design, resulting in a situational awareness system aimed at safer seafaring. For ASICS, the studio supported the design and growth of a flagship digital product over six years. With Mercari, AQ worked with the design team to understand the experience of users with visual and motor impairments, informing how the product could better serve them.