Expanded Synergy
UX Research — 01 June 2025 · 12min read
A design research thesis exploring how value, incentives, and reciprocity can shape better digital products for collective participation.
Abstract
Expanded Synergy explores how the way communities understand and assign value shapes the technologies used to organize collective life. Drawing from cybernetics, complexity science, governance models, and digital systems, the research examines how incentives can move beyond purely individual or transactional logic toward reciprocity and collective well-being. The thesis ultimately translates this research into Indra, a digital reciprocity network where participation and contribution become part of how people access support. Technology is treated not as the goal itself, but as a tool for designing more sustainable, trustworthy, and cooperative forms of social exchange.
The research was translated into a concrete product proposition: Indra, a reciprocity platform where people exchange knowledge, resources, skills, and practical support. Through competitive benchmarking, qualitative research, system modelling, and UX design, the thesis moves from a broad systemic question to a product model, interaction logic, and set of principles for designing digital communities around contribution and mutual support.