In the last 20 years the field of user centric & user experience design has matured at an astounding pace and developed to become extremely effective to solve tactical design challenges, however the scale and connected nature of the problems that we as humankind face on a daily basis begs for us to step up our game as creative professionals and become better at identifying, articulating and aligning “Good challenges” with organizational needs. I would like to share how at Volvo Cars we have set very ambitious product & sustainability goals as a company to dive into the challenges of strategic problem framing & design.
Jorge Furuya is the Head of Car User Experience Design at Volvo Cars, where he leads a team that defines the evolution of personal transportation, with a strong emphasis on safety, sustainability, and delight for people. He was born in Mexico City to a multicultural family of immigrants. Previously, he has occupied design leadership positions at Amazon in the Alexa team, and at Samsung Research America. He was part of the Android design team that first crafted material design and Android Automotive. Before that, he designed mobile experiences for HTC and Sony Ericsson during the late 2000s. Jorge is happier when working on projects that transcend hardware and software, but rather focus on understanding people’s needs and desires. He believes in integrating technology into products, but in a way that empowers their users, and becomes invisible yet delightful.