“DxB is like – An ocean full of opportunities!”

Andreas Kauerhof, Team Leader / ARRK|P+Z Engineering GmbH

DxB – What is your experience?

In my career as an Industrial Designer and Consultant I always understood business as a natural challenger to design.  In the best case clients accept designers as partners that help to get a new perspective on their product or service. In the worst case business restricts designers and their creativity.

My experience with positive design-business relation were the cases when we could make clients understand that design is not about making things look nice but more about an holistic approach to the customer’s experience.

DxB – What drives innovation?

Innovation is about understanding the right things through the right people. I believe that companies that start with the customer’s experience first and then work backwards to technology are the most successful ones. Innovation is about understanding the customer’s needs and how products add value to their lives. After this process is done properly, implementing the right technology is quite easy.

To get the right insights one needs the right team. My most successful projects were driven by the heteregenous nature of the teams. Discussing with people that I don’t necessarily like or share the same ideology with has always been more productive and led to more innovative ideas.

DxB – What is the future?

Today, technology is not enough differentiate from competitors. As highly sophisticated technology is available for relative low prices companies need to find other ways to convince customers. I think that design and business already have to collaborate closer to understand future customers and markets.