About the studio
We design for behavior, not technology.
Fabric is a behavior design studio working at the seams between behavioral science, product, and AI. We believe the next decade of digital products will be judged less on what they offer, and more on what they cause people to do.
A short manifesto. Read it on the train.
Most product teams talk about users, but ship for features. That mismatch is where churn lives. Where dark patterns sneak in. Where good intentions decay into growth metrics that flatter the dashboard and erode the relationship.
Behavior design is the discipline of closing that gap deliberately. It draws from cognitive psychology, behavioral economics, design research, and old-fashioned craft. It treats behavior as the unit of work — the thing you decide on, design for, measure, and revise.
We are not a research agency that hands you a report. We are not an innovation theatre that produces post-its and slides. We work alongside product teams, hands on the wireframe, eyes on the data. We ship.
We treat data as a design material. Reading it, shaping it, and designing products around it is part of the craft — not a separate analytics step. The behavioral edge we bring lives in the loop between qualitative insight and the signal coming back from the product.
In conversation
What is behavior design?
A longer-form discussion with Fabric founder Ashwin Rajan on the Nodes of Design podcast — a deeper answer than the manifesto above.
He walks through how he defines behavior design, why behavior (not features) is the unit of work, and how the studio applies that lens to product, AI, and growth.
If the manifesto piqued your interest, this fills it in.
Nodes of Design #73 · ~50 min · Hosted by Tejj
Open in Apple Podcasts ↗Things we keep coming back to.
Behavior is the unit of work.
Not features, not flows. Decide which behavior should change, by how much, and for whom — then design accordingly.
Friction is a tool, not a problem.
Some friction protects users. Some erodes them. Telling them apart is most of the job.
Evidence over opinion.
We pair behavioral theory with field research. No nudges in a vacuum.
Transparency over trickery.
If you'd be embarrassed to explain a pattern to your users, don't ship it.
Data is a design material.
We interpret, synthesize, and design for data — so behavioral signal becomes product, not just a dashboard.
Three focus areas. Most engagements blend them.
AI & Agentic Behavior
Designing how people relate to AI systems — trust, agency, oversight — and how those systems behave back. From assistants to autonomous agents.
AI & Agentic Behavior →
Product & Growth Design
Embedding behavioral science into onboarding, retention, and conversion — without resorting to dark patterns or short-term tricks.
Product & Growth Design →
Behavior Design Upskilling
Teaching product, design, and research teams to think behaviorally — through workshops, cohorts, and embedded coaching.
Behavior Design Upskilling →We've worked with
Corporate
- Microsoft
- Oracle
- Dr. Reddy's / Studio 5B
- SOK Group Finland
- WSP
- Elisa
- Reima
Government / Non-Profit
- Icelandic Tourist Board
- City of Helsinki
- Sitra, the Finnish Innovation Fund
- VTT
- Visit Finland
- Fondia
- Helsinki XR Center
Startup / Incubator
- Jobilla
- Edacy
- The Shortcut, Helsinki
Have a behavior worth designing?
We work with teams who want behavioral science embedded into their product, not bolted on.