[…] The nature of an object can have a fundamental aesthetic connotation that is either immanent or transcendent, in differing degrees of each. It is immanent when its identity is based on signs and values that are intrinsically connected to the nature of the object. It is transcendent when its identity is projected onto the scale of the subjective notions of the person who created it or the person who will use it. Industrial design instead is always been characterized by formal and functional solutions of an intrinsically immanent nature [model], while [the transcendence] tends to represent and respond to [lifestyle] of the creators or users of the product itself. […]
from: Clino T. Castelli, Sustainable Aestethics for the Hitachi Eco-Identity Valuative Report
The holistic nature of what constitutes a brand can be seen as a biological ecosystem. A multichannel network of connections and interactions. A simultaneous presence on various platforms, to create a consistent experience across touchpoints, applications, and devices, with interconnecting narratives and messages that move from one tool to another.
We have been telling stories for centuries. We find it easier to remember information that is structured by means of a causal connection. Companies tell us their “brand story”. Unlike books with lineair plots, brand stories evolve over time and are (visually) expressed through many channels. Wherever people encounter a piece of the narrative they should be able to enter the story’s flow and experience the brand through it.
As designers we have the unenvious task of handling the unknown situations, be it a product, a service/system, or an experience. Even though “innovation” has its roots deeply embedded for several thousand years, we as human beings are incrementally innovating to solve problems in our day-to-day living, societal issues, environmental and political challenges, all with a unified goal of “creating a better world”. The key focus areas are urgency and impact, sustainability, and user experience.
The industrial revolution initiated an exponential acceleration of technological developments, societal transformations, geopolitical drivers and global economies.
Today we acknowledge that this exponential acceleration confronts the world with unprecedented challenges that demand for a reframing of our idea of progress, sustainability of our life, economies and ecosystem.
We all in the world need to act at all levels to revert many of the developments in progress, reframe the idea of a desirable future and respond to the urgency of climate change and scarce resources.
We need to improve innovation processes and adopt more preventive strategies for a safer and responsible sustainable future.
“We are a physical platform of collaboration that is enriched every day by the projects, competences and relations among people” (Franco Guidi)
What is the most precious thing in Lombardini22? It surely is the human relations that are key for our community and the mutual connection that there are among people. The community is great and there is a beautiful system where every single person generates new connections that increase the level of complexity in our work. This requires a sophisticated management model or maybe several models because there is not only the need to follow one single managerial style but actually there needs to be the possibility of creating a variety of styles that enhance the differences and facilitate the dialogue among “different worlds”. This is the organization that we are aiming to build in Lombardini22: a model for which there is no instruction booklet but a feature on where to build shared paths.
In this global, technological and digital world in which we live, the way companies drive innovation needs to change, in order to remain competitive and succeed. This impacts the entire culture of the organization, the role of design and the one of other business functions, the ways of working and the ways of thinking. We need a human-centric approach to everything we do: from refocusing all our efforts to satisfy people needs and wants (not consumers, not customers, “people!”), all the way to identifying and growing the best talents to drive these efforts. From people to people. People in love with people. Designers may call it “design 2.0”. The business world calls it “human-centered innovation”.
