{"id":881906,"date":"2026-03-19T14:41:22","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T18:41:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/?p=881906"},"modified":"2026-03-24T15:17:44","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T19:17:44","slug":"make-collaboration-count-design-for-people-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/research\/articles\/topics\/design\/make-collaboration-count-design-for-people-ai\/","title":{"rendered":"Make Collaboration Count: Design for People + AI"},"content":{"rendered":"

AI is changing the pattern of work. We spend more time with assistants and agents on screens. The rhythm of the day now alternates between digital creation and in\u2011person synthesis. When people do come together, those human moments matter most \u2014 they\u2019re where teams build shared context, stress\u2011test ideas and make decisions. The challenge for organizations is to design spaces that are integrated with technology, enabling people to quickly transition from solo and human-agent work to high-value, face-to-face collaboration \u2014 and make those moments count.<\/p>\n

By deeply understanding how we work best with others, we can create environments that enhance collaboration. It\u2019s essential to acknowledge that our work with others takes a variety of forms. Three collaboration types \u2014 informative, evaluative and generative \u2014 each need something different from the workplace. Teams switch among distinct modes, each with different cognitive demands, social dynamics and tech requirements.<\/p>\n

1) Informative Collaboration<\/strong><\/h3>\n

What it is:<\/strong> Sharing or broadcasting context, updates or knowledge so everyone can stay aligned \u2014 the briefings, reviews and training moments that keep a fast\u2011moving organization in sync.<\/p>\n

Why it\u2019s different:<\/strong> The priority is clarity and reach, not debate. People need to see and hear well, to access content later and to participate equitably, whether they\u2019re on site or remote.<\/p>\n

What helps:<\/strong> Rooms that prioritize sightlines, reliable audio, and straightforward content capture; camera framing and lighting optimized for faces and screens; easy recording and AI summarization, ensuring information remains accessible for asynchronous follow-up.<\/p>\n

.<\/span>
\n\"\"
\n.<\/span><\/p>\n

2) Evaluative Collaboration<\/strong><\/h3>\n

What it is:<\/strong> Comparing options, testing assumptions, making choices \u2014 the checkpoint where human judgment matters most.<\/p>\n

Why it\u2019s different:<\/strong> This mode benefits from balanced visibility of people and content, as well as tools that surface tradeoffs (such as side-by-side views, multi-source content and annotation). It also requires psychological safety \u2014 a setting that signals focus, fairness, and shared accountability.<\/p>\n

What helps:<\/strong> Spaces that reduce cognitive load: controlled acoustics, adjustable lighting to minimize screen glare, shared and personal displays for simultaneous views, plus AI tools that sort evidence, detect patterns and capture decisions without hijacking attention.
\n.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
\n.<\/span><\/p>\n

3) Generative Collaboration<\/strong><\/h3>\n

What it is:<\/strong> Creating new ideas, artifacts or prototypes together \u2014 from concept sprints to co\u2011writing.<\/p>\n

Why it\u2019s different:<\/strong> Generative work thrives on movement, messiness and iteration. People need to externalize their thinking (using whiteboards<\/a>, sticky surfaces, or large shared digital displays), experiment with AI as a partner, and shift quickly between divergent and convergent thinking.<\/p>\n

What helps:<\/strong> Fluid furniture, writable walls, large interactive displays, plus easy analog-to-digital capture, so nothing gets lost when teams toggle between hands-on making and AI-supported synthesis.<\/p>\n

.<\/span>
\n\"\"
\n.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why Integration Matters \u2014 Technology + Space as One Experience<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the AI era, performance depends on seamless integration. Camera angles, microphone arrays, cable management and power access are not extras; they\u2019re enablers of trust and speed. Steelcase designers emphasize integrating furniture, acoustics, camera positioning and lighting \u2014 because collaboration with AI and remote colleagues fails when people can\u2019t be seen or heard.<\/p>\n

This all needs to happen within an ecosystem that flexes as teams shift modes across the day. Community-Based Design<\/a>, a Steelcase approach to the workplace that draws on urban planning principles, provides a pragmatic blueprint to support various collaboration types. It treats the workplace like a thriving community with diverse, mixed\u2011use \u201cdistricts\u201d that respond to change while fostering relationships. Communities are both places we inhabit and relationships we build; Community\u2011Based Design addresses both. In practice, this means planning a range of spaces and technologies that are intentionally patterned across a floor plan \u2014 from city-center hubs for information sharing to quieter neighborhoods for evaluative work, to maker-style studios and project rooms for generative collaboration \u2014 each with the right technology and sensory conditions built in.<\/p>\n

Community\u2011Based Design also integrates technology and space by design rather than by retrofit. When districts are conceived with camera sightlines, acoustic comfort, power and data access, and content capture in mind, teams move faster with fewer obstacles.<\/p>\n

The payoff is resilience. As the AI supercycle accelerates, organizations that invest in community will be able to adapt more quickly. They\u2019ll align swiftly through information collaboration, make better decisions through evaluative collaboration and innovate more through generative collaboration. Community-Based Design builds the connective tissue that helps people feel part of something bigger, even as attention shifts between digital assistants and human colleagues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re spending more time on screens and working with AI counterparts. When people come together, those human moments need to count. Discover how understanding three key collaboration types can help individuals achieve more together and with AI. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37261,"featured_media":881939,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"topic":[47680],"class_list":["post-881906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","topic-design"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDesigning for Workplace Collaboration in the AI Age | Steelcase<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As AI changes the way we work, it changes the ways people collaborate. Learn more about different types of collaboration and how to design spaces that support them.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/research\/articles\/topics\/design\/make-collaboration-count-design-for-people-ai\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Designing for Workplace Collaboration in the AI Age | Steelcase\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As AI changes the way we work, it changes the ways people collaborate. Learn more about different types of collaboration and how to design spaces that support them.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/research\/articles\/topics\/design\/make-collaboration-count-design-for-people-ai\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Steelcase\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-19T18:41:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-24T19:17:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/images.steelcase.com\/image\/upload\/c_fill,dpr_auto,q_70,h_600,w_1200\/v1763653824\/24-0238123_16x9.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gema Perez\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gema Perez\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Designing for Workplace Collaboration in the AI Age | Steelcase","description":"As AI changes the way we work, it changes the ways people collaborate. Learn more about different types of collaboration and how to design spaces that support them.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/research\/articles\/topics\/design\/make-collaboration-count-design-for-people-ai\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Designing for Workplace Collaboration in the AI Age | Steelcase","og_description":"As AI changes the way we work, it changes the ways people collaborate. Learn more about different types of collaboration and how to design spaces that support them.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/research\/articles\/topics\/design\/make-collaboration-count-design-for-people-ai\/","og_site_name":"Steelcase","article_published_time":"2026-03-19T18:41:22+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-03-24T19:17:44+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":600,"url":"https:\/\/images.steelcase.com\/image\/upload\/c_fill,dpr_auto,q_70,h_600,w_1200\/v1763653824\/24-0238123_16x9.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Gema Perez","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Gema Perez","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/research\/articles\/topics\/design\/make-collaboration-count-design-for-people-ai\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/research\/articles\/topics\/design\/make-collaboration-count-design-for-people-ai\/"},"author":{"name":"Gema Perez","@id":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/#\/schema\/person\/494e3c13cba2b472b7a797655f0f9ea9"},"headline":"Make Collaboration Count: Design for People + AI","datePublished":"2026-03-19T18:41:22+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-24T19:17:44+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/research\/articles\/topics\/design\/make-collaboration-count-design-for-people-ai\/"},"wordCount":722,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/research\/articles\/topics\/design\/make-collaboration-count-design-for-people-ai\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/images.steelcase.com\/image\/upload\/v1763653824\/24-0238123_16x9.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/research\/articles\/topics\/design\/make-collaboration-count-design-for-people-ai\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/research\/articles\/topics\/design\/make-collaboration-count-design-for-people-ai\/","url":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/research\/articles\/topics\/design\/make-collaboration-count-design-for-people-ai\/","name":"Designing for Workplace Collaboration in the AI Age | Steelcase","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/research\/articles\/topics\/design\/make-collaboration-count-design-for-people-ai\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/research\/articles\/topics\/design\/make-collaboration-count-design-for-people-ai\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/images.steelcase.com\/image\/upload\/v1763653824\/24-0238123_16x9.jpg","datePublished":"2026-03-19T18:41:22+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-24T19:17:44+00:00","description":"As AI changes the way we work, it changes the ways people collaborate. Learn more about different types of collaboration and how to design spaces that support them.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/research\/articles\/topics\/design\/make-collaboration-count-design-for-people-ai\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/research\/articles\/topics\/design\/make-collaboration-count-design-for-people-ai\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/research\/articles\/topics\/design\/make-collaboration-count-design-for-people-ai\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/images.steelcase.com\/image\/upload\/v1763653824\/24-0238123_16x9.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/images.steelcase.com\/image\/upload\/v1763653824\/24-0238123_16x9.jpg","width":2048,"height":1152},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/research\/articles\/topics\/design\/make-collaboration-count-design-for-people-ai\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Make Collaboration Count: Design for People + AI"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/","name":"Steelcase","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/#organization","name":"Steelcase","url":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/images.steelcase.com\/image\/upload\/v1531399627\/sc_core_424_sm-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/images.steelcase.com\/image\/upload\/v1531399627\/sc_core_424_sm-1.jpg","width":331,"height":87,"caption":"Steelcase"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/#\/schema\/person\/494e3c13cba2b472b7a797655f0f9ea9","name":"Gema Perez","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ed5d03d0a6e1a53f658d47fbf0c4cc79?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ed5d03d0a6e1a53f658d47fbf0c4cc79?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Gema Perez"},"url":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/research\/articles\/author\/gperez4steelcase-com\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/restapi\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881906"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/restapi\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/restapi\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/restapi\/wp\/v2\/users\/37261"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/restapi\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=881906"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/restapi\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881906\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":882106,"href":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/restapi\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881906\/revisions\/882106"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/restapi\/wp\/v2\/media\/881939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/restapi\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=881906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/restapi\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=881906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}