frog: How Does Design Change the City?

What is a product and services design consulting practice? How does it work? How is it evolving to address emerging urban challenges? What ultimately drives design discovery in its commercial, technical or poetic aspects? The creative director of frog’s Seattle studio Scott Nazarian, whose lecture opens the summer programme-2012, will address these questions. 

In his lecture, Scott will illustrate the company’s multi-disciplinary perspective, in which interactive design, architecture and information technology work towards «smart urban environments», using the example of frog’s collaboration with OMA/AMO.

A philosopher and media designer by training, Scott has been working at frog since 2007. He started as a self-described «HCI-generalist» in the San Francisco office and then moved to Seattle to lead the creative team there. 

Scott considers his greatest achievement the ability to remain open to change and uncertainty. «Every design project I have worked on has demanded a high tolerance for ambiguity across both material media and communication; great concepts and solutions are only discovered by pushing through this fog». 

Created in 1969, frog is now legendary in the design world. Among its accomplishments are the design of Apple’s first ever portable computer, Sony Trinitron TV, and Lufthansa’s brand. Now frog works with the world’s leading companies, such as Disney, GE, HP, Microsoft, MTV, Siemens, and many others. More than 1,500 specialists work in frog’s 13 studios around the world.