What is Artificial? The Artificial was a boutique UX agency from 2013–2018 before founder Shannon E. Thomas decided to refocus. Two years later, Artificial Design is still providing design services, and Artificial Publishing has launched Shannon's first book.

Want more history? Here's a timeline:

2020

April 30th

Artificial Publishing releases The Practical Guide to Experience Design.

2019

October 14th

Artificial Design begins collaboration with Asellion.

June 17th

Artificial Design works with an unnameable client to explore the future of their travel platform.

2018

August 30th

The Artificial rebrands as Artificial Design, the freelancing studio of Shannon E. Thomas.

August 17th

Artificial Design begins collaboration with Deutsche Bahn.

July 27th

The Artificial shuts down the studio, saying goodbye after five good years.

June 25th

The Artificial starts on her last client project, for Philips Sonicare.

April 3rd

The Artificial publishes 36 Days of Type collaborative illustrations.

March 7th

The Artificial starts work on the Roader App for their connected camera.

March 7th

The Artificial starts work on Corrio Brand Storytelling.

2017

December 21st

The Artificial starts work on the Philips Avent uGrow parenting platform experience.

December 5th

The Artificial sends her second Sinterklaas book to clients and friends.

September 18th

Manjari Sahu joins the team.

July 1st

Kamila Piątkowska joins the team.

June 19th

Nathalie de Graaf joins the team.

April 24th

The Artificial starts work on the connected experience for VanMoof’s Smart Bike.

April 19th

The Artificial attends Resonate together (again).

2016

December 5th

The Artificial sends her first Sinterklaas book to clients and friends.

November 15th

The Artificial starts work on the Vaventis Fresh-R Smart Home Dashboard.

October 3rd

Natalia Bourges joins the team.

September 12th

Katinka Berghuis begins her internship.

August 1st

The Artificial starts work on the Philips FaceSmart connected experience.

June 21st

The Artificial celebrates three years with the Madison Ave aan de Herengracht summer party.

January 8th

The Artificial starts a weekly tradition of mixing and documenting Friday Cocktails.

2015

August 20th

The Artificial hosts the Classy or Fabulous summer party to show off her new office.

May 27th

The Artificial attends OFFF together in Barcelona.

May 1st

The Artificial moves to the Herengracht.

April 7th

The Artificial starts work on Philips Sonicare in The Sims FreePlay.

April 7th

Ariane Garoff joins the team.

April 3rd

The Artificial does Reasonate together in Belgrade.

March 18th

The Artificial starts work on the Philips Sonicare Breath Analyzer experience.

2014

November 3rd

Susana Passinhas joins the team.

September 11th

to [icon] launches with a party.

March 14th

The Artificial begins work with Monolith.

March 3rd

Carol Liao moves from LA to join the team.

2013

November 25th

The Artificial starts work on the uGrow Smart Baby Monitor.

October 14th

Hans Gerwitz joins the studio.

September 5th

The Artificial starts work on 3D Systems Professional Tools.

August 12th

The Artificial starts work with 3D Systems on Consumer Tools.

August 1st

Jo Szczepanska joins the team. The next day, we move into the garage on Houtmankade.

June 16th

The Artificial starts her first official project, an app with a knowledge sharing startup.

April 4th

The company registers as Shannon E. Thomas VOF. Immediately, we begin collaborating with our friends at Zigzag.