Work and activities

WorkEventsLecturesMaking

Ideas and who I am

WritingWhat I'm thinking aboutProfile
Work you can bring me Get in touch

Between thought,
practice, and AI,
I make services.

Natsu (Takeshi Nagamatsu) | someone who enjoys everyday life, service designer & PM
日本語で読む
SCROLL

Imakara Honya

Every bookstore in Japan, on one map.
Wherever you are, see which bookstores are open now and what events are on.

Bookstores in Japan8,800and countingAs of October 28, 2026

From research to planning, design, development, data and operations.I do all of it myself, with AI.

  • Research
  • Planning
  • Design
  • Development
  • Building the data
  • Operations

Feel free to ask me for anything.

Open Imakara HonyaHow it came about
Imakara Honya screens

A SHORT FILMNatsu / Takeshi Nagamatsu

What I can do with you

What kinds of requests it starts from,
and how I work hands-on to give them shape.

7 SCENESABOUT 1 MIN

So far

Events I organized, talks I gave,
and things I made.

  • You want to start a new business or community, but haven't found the seed of a theme yet
  • You want a system that keeps running without strain, in a local initiative or a social welfare setting
  • You've done the research, but can't settle on “so, what do we do next?”
  • Requirements and specs won't come together, and development has stalled
  • You've brought in AI, but it doesn't mesh with the actual work and approval flows
  • You want people with different positions and interests to talk at the same table

Requests come in through many doors.

Take time: the field, observation, the team

When the shape isn’t clear yet, I go into the field, observe, talk with the people who use and run the service, and think it through slowly with the team. Deciding too fast loses the texture and possibilities that are there.

Decide and build what’s needed, fast

When what needs deciding is clear, I work back from the goal, settle requirements, specs and screens quickly, and test with a prototype. While development runs, I keep making calls together with engineers and designers.

I move back and forth between these two to fit the nature and stage of each project.

  • 01 Envision the service

    Understand people, their backgrounds, and the dynamics on the ground, and envision what is needed.

  • 02 Drive development and operations

    Firm up requirements and specs, and see them through so development and operations never lose their way.

  • 03 AI and the structure of work

    Design AI adoption that isn't ad hoc, fitted to workflows and organizational structure.

  • 04 Bring people together

    Design workshops and dialogue where people in different positions, such as residents, frontline staff, experts, and makers, come together to think.

From new businesses to everyday business systems, public and care settings, and local systems. I work on what happens on screen and also off it, in operations, dialogue, and community.

See the work you can bring me

PROFILE

Natsu (Takeshi Nagamatsu)

Natsu / Takeshi Nagamatsu

Enjoying everyday life / service designer & PM

I studied product design at university and service design in graduate school, and have been thinking about the role of design while working at a public-sector consultancy, a web production company, and a development company. Lately, alongside my practice, I also rethink services and research through phenomenology, anthropology, care, ethics, and pluralism.

20132015201720192021202320252027
  • Product design4 yrs
  • Service design4 yrs
  • Design thinking6 yrs
  • UX designUniversity & grad schoolPractice12.5 yrs
  • UX researchQualitativeQuantitative7 yrs
  • Web direction5.5 yrs
  • AI3 yrs
  • Father1 yr 7 mo
See profile

Even before it's been put into words,
or partway through a project already in motion.

What you're thinking about now,
where you're stuck:
I'd like to hear it.

Work you can bring me
WORK

Work

From new business launches to business systems, government websites, and AI services. Work where I've handled everything from research and requirements definition to development PM.

Domain-specific social network

# PdM# Experience design# Agile development

AI agent SaaS for developers

# Service design# UX quality management# AI agents

Pharmaceutical management system

# Business systems# Requirements definition# Development PM

Specification management for a business system

# Requirements definition# Specification management# Test design

Website for a government service

# Improvement & maintenance# Accessibility

Other DX and AX projects

# Operations design# Requirements definition

Other work I've been involved in: AI agent SaaS, a ticketing service, and more.

EVENTS

Events

Events I've organized, and events where I spoke or facilitated.

TEACH & GATHER

Lectures

Lectures, training sessions, and study groups I've led.

  1. 01LecturesIntroduction to service designUntangling the often-misunderstood idea of “service design”: how do you make a good service?

    Untangling the often-misunderstood idea of “service design”: how do you make a good service? What is service design in the first place? A lecture that systematically covers topics such as how UX design differs from service design.

    What I covered
    1. Part 1The worldview of “service design”
    2. Part 2How to map a “service” (methods)
    Read on noteIntroduction to service design
  2. 02Generative AI SchoolUX course for non-designersI taught UX to non-designers at the generative AI school run by AI influencer Motoki (@ai_syacho).

    I taught UX to non-designers at the generative AI school run by AI influencer Motoki (@ai_syacho). Many lectures lean toward surface-level exercises; this one gives you the backbone to think through UX on your own.

    What I covered
    1. Why it worksWhat UX design is in the first place
    2. OrganizationWhat organizations can do to improve UX
    3. Business strategyHow to align business strategy and design
  3. 03Organization · new gradsAI trainingAt my company, I've led AI training several times: for employees, for partner organizations, and a program for new graduates.

    At my company, I've led AI training several times: for employees, for partner organizations, and a program for new graduates.

    What I covered
    1. The big picture of the marketWhat AI services exist, and when AI is most useful
    2. Instructing AIUnderstanding instructions to AI as concepts rather than prompts
    3. AI agentsHow to think about AI agents and how to adopt them
    4. AI in operationsThinking through how to bring AI into work as a whole (AX)
    5. For new gradsBuilding the basic professional skills that matter in the age of AI
    RelatedTraining report (Wantedly)
  4. 04Study groupRethinking design and researchA study group I run inside my company.

    A study group I run inside my company. Stepping a little away from daily work, we reconsider research and design from academic and philosophical angles.

    What I covered
    1. QuestionHow should we do research and design?
    2. Understanding othersWhat does it mean to understand another person in the first place?
    3. Philosophical dialogue, SF prototyping, innovation of meaning, fieldwork
    4. Beyond design, I bring in ideas from phenomenology, cultural anthropology, service-dominant logic, and more
    RelatedAbout the study group (Wantedly)
  5. 05Study groupNegotiation study groupOnce you know negotiation studies, the study of how negotiation works, you stop getting pushed into unfavorable terms and stop taking on work you don't need to do.

    Once you know negotiation studies, the study of how negotiation works, you stop getting pushed into unfavorable terms and stop taking on work you don't need to do. I ran this training inside my company as part of our director education.

    Situations like these
    1. You're asked to move a deadline up, and you answer by just working overtime
    2. Asked “A or B?”, you pick one without considering C
    3. You go along with a two-option choice from AI the same way
    Read on noteLet's learn about “negotiation”!
MAKE

Making

Web apps, tools, and games I build with my own hands outside of work.

Illustration for Imakara Honya

Imakara Honya

A web app for finding bookstores you can visit right now, on a map of all of Japan.

Itoori screen

Itoori

A writing tool where the AI writer “Ito” researches, thinks, writes, then rereads and revises its own work.

Living Record screen
In development

Living Record

A record board that turns meetings into sticky notes and diagrams just by talking.

The Fate of the Star Crown screen
In development

The Fate of the Star Crown

A board game in which four houses fight over a shattered crown.

Claude skills I share

UI inventoryHave AI take stock of best practices before it builds a UIUI friction reviewScrutinize UIs that meet the spec but are still hard to use, from four anglesMNPKeep an app's state in a notation AI can easily read and write
WRITING

Writing

Articles I've written on note, picked for how close they are to my work.

Introduction to service design
What is “service design” in the age of AI?

# Service design
· about 15 min

A guide to using “Jev”
for UX designers

# AI
· about 15 min

A year of AI agent experience design:
basics and practice

# AI
· about 15 min

What is an
“AI-native organization”?

# Organization
· about 14 min

We say PdM, but shouldn't we commit to the service
or business rather than the product?

# PdM
· about 7 min

Is that research
actually helping?

# Research
· about 12 min
MORE
THOUGHT × PRACTICE × AI

Three circles

Thought, practice, and AI.
From these three perspectives, I think about how society and the world can flourish.

Thought × practicePractice informed by theoryHow do I turn what I understand into decisions on the ground?
Practice × AIServices with AI insideHow should work and organizations change with AI?
Thought × AIHuman understanding in the age of AIWhat is human understanding in the age of AI?
All threeHuman flourishing in the age of AIHow can people flourish in the age of AI?
PracticeNew business, UX, PMFrom concept to development and quality managementHow can we build good services and keep them running?
AIAI experience design and AXBuilding tools and building organizationsWhat can AI do, and how will it change us?
ThoughtRethinking design and researchThrough phenomenology, anthropology, and careHow do people understand others and make things?
Thought × practicePractice informed by theoryHow do I turn what I understand into decisions on the ground?
Practice × AIServices with AI insideHow should work and organizations change with AI?
Thought × AIHuman understanding in the age of AIWhat is human understanding in the age of AI?
All threeHuman flourishing in the age of AIHow can people flourish in the age of AI?
Practice

From new business concepts to requirements definition, development PM, and quality management. Also UX research, design, information architecture, and talent development

RecentHow can everyone come to understand service design?The big questionHow can we build good services and keep them running?

AI

Designing experiences with AI built in, and building tools for work. Also building AI-native organizations (AX)

RecentHow do you create an AI-native state?The big questionWhat can AI do, and how will it change us?

Thought

Rethinking the practice of research and design through phenomenology, anthropology, and care

RecentWhat is quality in design and research?The big questionHow do people understand others and make things?

Work you can bring me

THOUGHT INTO PRACTICE

I've sorted the work you can bring to me into four areas. The service can take any form: a shop or service counter, an app or website.

01Envision the service

Understand people, their backgrounds, and the dynamics, and envision what is needed.

Shops and service counters, care settings, local spaces, apps and the web. The service can take any form. If it has no form yet, I go into the field, listen, and try things on a small scale to find out what to make. If what needs deciding is already clear, I work backward from there.

In practiceFrom research to requirements and screen structureDomain-specific social network / PdM, UX design
04Bring people together

Bring people in different positions together to think things through, in dialogue and community.

Workshops where residents, frontline people, experts, and makers can talk at the same table. Also training, study groups, and philosophical dialogue sessions. I design them so each person can keep going in their own role after it ends.

In practiceWorkshops, training, study groupsLectures & training / Rethinking design and research
THINKING

What I'm thinking about

Three things I'm thinking about now, chosen from what I've written on note.

Skip this section
01 / 03

Scattershot AI efficiency misses the point; what matters is whether it leads to quality and results

People discuss bringing AI into UX design and research, but I rarely see anyone talk about quality. You can measure how many minutes something took to make, but whether it was good for the people using it stays unknown until someone checks.

  1. You can follow the right steps and hit the metrics and still make something that doesn't taste good
  2. Even if analysis drops from 2 hours to 5 minutes, if approval takes 3 days, the outcome doesn't change
  3. Unless the makers taste it themselves, quality doesn't even come up
What I'm thinking about now
  1. What is quality in design and research?
Read on noteLooking back on Alterna UX
What “how many minutes it took” doesn’t tell you. Human: takes time. AI: quick. Does it taste good? Process evaluation: was it made with the right steps? Metric evaluation: did it meet the metrics? Qualitative evaluation: did the maker taste it themselves? You can follow the right steps and meet the metrics and still make something that doesn’t taste good
02 / 03

How can we get more people to understand “service design”?

Much of the work called service design in design practice stays within screens and journey maps. From the business side it looks narrow; from the designer's side, the textbook version doesn't connect to their daily work. Caught between the two, the term “service design” seems to have lost its place.

  1. An easy-to-use app doesn't guarantee that someone who wants to make a transfer gets it done
  2. A service becomes a service only when value is created and keeps circulating
  3. Operations and pricing structures off the screen are part of what gets designed too
What I'm thinking about now
  1. How can everyone come to understand service design?
Read on noteIntroduction to service design
Even for the same “bank,” there are three questions. Product UX: are the ATM and app easy to use? Service UX: how do you want to transfer money? Service design: does it have value in the first place, and can it keep running? Operations and pricing outside the screen are also objects of design
03 / 03

An AI-native organization puts AI on the org chart; it isn't an extension of DX

If AI cuts analysis from 2 hours to 5 minutes but approval still takes 3 days, it means little. So I reposition AI from partner to actor.

  1. Adding AI as a fast tool leaves the slow parts of the organization as they are
  2. Giving AI a role means redrawing permissions, evaluation, and decision-making flows too
What I'm thinking about now
  1. How do you create an AI-native state?
Read on noteAI-native organization
AI, from tool to member of the organization. Tool: acts only when a person instructs it. Partner: acts autonomously, but people set the goals. Actor: has a role within the organization. Even if analysis goes from 2 hours to 5 minutes, results won’t change if approval takes 3 days
PROFILE

Profile

What I've studied, and where I've worked.

Natsu (Takeshi Nagamatsu)

Takeshi NagamatsuNatsu / someone who enjoys everyday life, service designer & PM

I studied product design at university and service design in graduate school, then worked at a public-sector consultancy and a web production company. I'm now a group leader in the UX & Direction Office at NIJIBOX Co., Ltd.

In my work, the core is service design for new businesses, along with UX improvement for existing services and business systems from requirements definition through development PM. I also take on public work such as government services, and create workshops where people in different positions come together to think. On my own, I write and speak about service design, research in the age of AI, and how design relates to philosophy and anthropology. At home, I enjoy everyday life with my wife and our child.

Background

2023.11 –NIJIBOX Co., Ltd.Group leader in the UX & Direction Office. Service design, UX improvement, PM for business system development, quality management, driving AI adoption, and management. Built the UX part of NIJIBOX College
2022.07 – 2023.10LIG Inc.UX design for requirements definition and the development phase. Consumer services and business systems
– 2019.03Graduate School of Media DesignService design and UX. My master's research was a social network for sharing impressions of art
Work requests welcome,
and invitations to think things through together.
Contact me on X ↗
↑ Top Inquiry
Top