"Soon after I had completed my MBA, as a obvious lost child trying to explore uncharted waters, I found myself at a product design group summit. Designers from the best universities were asking the most wayward questions - about technology, brands, experiences, customer support and buying urges.  This was probably my first ‘aha’ moment - they were actually trying to stir up emotions so that they could later solve problems in people's lives!

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No, I don't have any pedigree in design, but I realized even before I launched my business that design is more about experience than aesthetic. It is dangerous for business owners to assume design is only about how  something looks.

 It's really about emotions :  How do you want customers to feel? How do you want the whole experience to unfold? I think without that early attention to design, brands cannot fully make the impact that they set out to make. Companies that want to raise eyebrows need to ask: How can we bring design thinking into the highest and lowest levels of the organization?

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We tend to see these as very finite roles  - designer, artist, entrepreneur. But at the foundation, they're all the same thing:  creative problem solving. 

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Inspired by a studio in London, with this new website, we're also in a way relaunching The Cat's Pajamas with a brand new business model - the virtual collective model. As we start to emerge from the paralysis of corona and look ahead, there are sure to be more questions than answers. The best we can do is imagine our new reality and accept that the design industry along with other businesses, will see a post-pandemic persona and it's only sensible for us to join the evolution wave. The one that is going to be mostly virtual. 

 

Anything where design can make a difference and the other entrepreneurs aren’t yet exploring -  that's where the opportunity lies  - and that is what my team and I wish to capitalize early on."

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