Design Systems: Enabling Scalable and Future-Proof Products - Tiago Estrada - S3 Ep. 6

Joining us today is Tiago Estrada, a multitalented guest and the Director of Experience Design at Kenvue. With an impressive track record of nearly 25 years in product design for renowned brands like Citibank, Amex, and Ferrari, Tiago brings extensive expertise in AI Conversational Interfaces and global e-commerce. As a design ninja, he excels in Omni & multi-channel retail, and his fluency in Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian, and English adds to his diverse skill set.

Discussion Points -

• What are the key moments in your career, and where are you right now? How has the journey been for you? 2:38
• Let's talk about the entrepreneurial parts of product design, and how you see it with the current scenarios. 2:56
• Can you elaborate on the significance of conversational interfaces or conversational UI? 4:27
• One of the clients that you worked for one of the companies that you've been associated with was Ferrari. So can you tell us anything about your experience working with a brand, which is globally renowned for luxury? 5:28
• Given the evolving dynamics of the industry, where machine learning and AI have become omnipresent, how do you plan to leverage ML recommendation engines to drive business growth in the context of product design for e-commerce sites? 7:25
• To what extent do you believe design systems have become crucial in establishing or scaling up design operations within agencies, departments, and the industry as a whole? 9:07
• Rapid fire round 13:36
• How can design systems be enhanced to become a global language and effectively contribute to addressing significant societal issues? 19:00
• Do you believe designers can initiate an open-source project that establishes a universally accepted design system, starting from scratch and aiming to create a globally embraced standard? 22:28
• What advice would you like to give to anybody who is starting as a product professional in the industry? 24:25

Show notes -

• I started my career early working in e-commerce, but I was more interested in the data side of things.
• Because designers sit closer to customers and users, they have that advantage in understanding and anticipating those so-called customer needs.
• You see a lot of attempts in terms of coming up with interfaces that simulate that type of simplicity that exists in a conversation. Just think of breathing, think of the silence and moments, those are very difficult things to translate in terms of technology.
• In terms of personalization, it's not just you know, about providing data to customers, it's about providing data too.
• I was astonished to know that Ferrari allows for that deeper customization, they do white gloves kind of customization where your car is taken out of the assembly line and then goes through an authentic, white glove type of step by step customization and obviously, it’s super expensive.
• Most of the brands that I have worked with don't realize what design systems are all about, what are the new components that you're going to build? What are the new experiences that you're going to build? Because if you're going to scale within two or three years, so will the interfaces.
• It always astonishes me that we're not at that point yet, where there are no more universal canons and universal standards for design.
• That's a very interesting idea, for example, if I invite designers to contribute, it would allow us to devise a universal design system that caters to various ethnic groups and geographies.
• Looking into the discipline of design with a strong sociological input, research is vital. Know your users, and know who you are making the particular application for. It's the most important.

Links -

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tiagolimaestrada/

Company website:https://www.kenvue.com/

Portfolio/ website: https://www.estradaportfolio.com/new-page