Rooftop Design Talks presents:

Convergent Design and Connected Future, Mariano Cucchi

The convergence of multiple and new disciplines will be critical to shaping future experiences and designing the new expressions of intelligent products and services on the rise of connected things.

At the core of these project challenges, frog leverages the concept of convergent design, a philosophy and a practice that integrates the design of physical, digital and services to shape holistic customer experiences that are user-centred, meaningful and coherent in terms of brand and business models.

Looking forward to the future, connectedness allows designers to think beyond the standards of good UX design and imaging new expressions and behaviours that connected products could have as smart, miniaturized technologies, the usage of AI and the generation of data to delight customers in new ways, influence their actions and bridge real-life and virtual experiences.

Going Beyond Sustainability with frog, Kara Pecknold

If a digital transformation has defined how we live and work over the last ten years, then regenerative transformation will define the next ten.

As companies aim to meet new regulations and customer expectations, there are many opportunities to realise better products and services and create more dynamic, sustainable and adaptive systems for them to live within. This isn't a one-step approach but rather requires long-term, systems-oriented thinking. Since we don't have much time to turn things around, we are actively asking how business and design can contribute more positively to a 'Next Economy.' frog defines sustainability as the social, environmental and climate impact that a company can make in supporting people and the planet. As a creative consultancy, we are working with our clients to help them transition to a 'next economy - one that goes beyond business as usual and aims to be regenerative in support of a sustainable future.

About the speakers:

Mariano Cucchi is a design leader, manager and deeply creative hands-on doer with more than 20 years of experience in consulting clients on new product development projects, physical experience design and connected ecosystems. His project portfolio extends from consumer electronics to new mobility solutions, to industrial machines to pharma/medical devices, from embracing the potential of the connected age, to innovation that finds its roots in deep human factor analysis and design research. He is highly passionate about designing innovative product strategies, new architectures and design language systems that are meaningful for the user, express the brand values and become catalysts of a holistic user experience. Today, his design aspiration is to make physical and digital artefacts converge into a unified experience where every touchpoint, interaction and service logic is choreographed to become memorable and provide positive emotions. His curiosity is to learn new things and understand the ‘whys’ driving him every day and keeps him highly motivated to embrace new challenges and envision a better-designed future.

Kara Pecknold is an Executive Design Director and global lead for sustainability at frog. She is passionate about the dynamic opportunities for impact found at the intersection of people, planet, services and systems. With a graduate degree in design and over 15 years of experience, she has supported her clients to build better futures through design research, team and org activation, product and service design and new ventures. Born and raised in Canada’s Pacific Northwest, she now finds herself enjoying nature and the shared table in Germany where she also leads the frog’s creative team.