The Design Center of the Philippines is holding the first International Design Conference tomorrow, 22 September 2017 at The Eye, Green Sun – The Hotel in Makati City.
The conference will host the world’s top designers, business leaders, and rising stars in the business and creative sectors to talk about the importance of integrating human behavior into design process, the balance of usability and business constraints, as well as user experience and product function.
Take a look at the roster of speakers and their profiles.
Johan Persson
Founder and Creative Director of C’monde Studios Ltd
Johan Persson is a Swedish native with a 20-year track record of Innovation and Design Management in Europe, US, and China, with clients ranging from startups to Fortune 500s.
Johan is credited with being one of the early influencers to identify the challenge of a widening gorge between market insight and production output. He came to Hong Kong in 2004 as the Managing Director of a Joint-venture backed by two of the leading Scandinavian agencies – No Picnic and Veryday. The studio was positioned in Hong Kong at the doorstep to the world’s factory to bridge the gap.
In 2010 he founded C’monde Studios, a premier Innovation & Industrial Design Agency that draws benefits from a strategic location in Hong Kong, at the doorstep to the world’s factory. Using qualitative research tools from the Design Thinking process we drive consumer-driven innovation that creates and unearth game-changing opportunities for our clients.
The studio is serving an array of top-tier multinational clients such as Philips, Pepsi, Sony Ericsson, Jabra, Miele, Octopus Card and global design stars Karim Rashid to name a few.
Johan is a writer and a frequently-invited public speaker and lecturer on the subject of Design & Innovation for CIDA, Hong Kong BODW, Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HK TDC), Swedish Trade Federation, The Swedish Institute and a visiting lecturer at HK Polytechnic University.
Merlee Cruz-Jayme
Chairmom & Chief Creative Officer, Dentsu Jayme Syfu
Merlee is the first Filipino to be awarded: The Creative of the Year for Southeast Asia in the Campaign Asia Pacific Agency of the Year.
A business-minded creative, she has been recognized with The Creative Guild HALL OF FAME AWARD, the NYF Creative Achievement Award, and the CEO of the Year 2016 by the IABC Philippines.
Under her leadership, her one-year old integrated agency Dentsu Jayme Syfu has already been named the 2016 Creative Agency of the Year for the Philippines by Campaign Asia.
Being the only woman in ASIA’s top 20 creative directors (Campaign Brief Asia), Merlee has won many “firsts” for her country. Most notable ones include the Cannes Grand Prix for Mobile, a Grand CLIO, NYF Grand Award and the D&AD Yellow pencil. In fact, this year she became the first Filipino to be invited as D&AD’s jury President in London.
Her speaking engagements include “Changing the World through Media” at the IAA Global Leadership Forum in London, “Hard Sell and Heart Sell” at the AdStars Festivals in Busan, Korea, “Gender Equality” in advertising at the SPIKES ASIA in Singapore and the “World’s favorite target market: MOTHERS” at the Lions Health in Cannes, France.
One of CNN’s Leading Women, she’s a member of Gabriela-a feminist group, an advocate for #sistergood: helping women at work, an author of a handbook “Everyone Can Be Creative”, a mom to 4 beautiful girls, and an inspiration in breaking the glass ceiling in this mad men’s world.
Dan Formosa, Ph.D.
Dan is an expert in design and research. He holds degrees in product design, ergonomics and biomechanics, and consults with companies and organizations worldwide on design and innovation. To his credit are the design of breakthrough products and digital interfaces that accommodate the physical capabilities of a wide range of people, as well as design that influences behavior.
Among his design awards are the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award (accepted on behalf of Smart Design, a firm he co-founded) and IxDA’s first annual Interaction Design Award, in the “Disruptive” category, for the Ford Motor Company. His work is also included in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art.
In addition to personally consulting with companies Dan co-founded two collectives: Brainpool (focusing on evidence-based practices in design) and 4B (focusing on design for the world’s almost-4-billion females). He also co-founded the Masters in Branding program at the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in New York.
Dan co-authored and illustrated the best-selling book Baseball Field Guide, clearly explaining the rules of baseball, and writes from time to time for Premier Guitar magazine.
Natalia Bednarek
Brand Strategist, Sterling Brands
Natalia Bednarek is a Strategist at Sterling Brands in New York City. She works with global and national brands like GE, Anheuser-Busch, Pepperidge Farm, Hershey and others. Having a Masters degree in Branding, only 1 of 150 people to hold that degree, she is in a unique position to advise companies on their design and branding strategies. Natalia also holds a degree in Business Management, which allows her to provide companies with business insights and evaluate challenges with a holistic approach.
Gerson Abesamis
Gerson is an educator and designer who works at the intersections of creativity, media & technology, learning, and teacher development. He leads Habi Education Lab’s initiatives in learning experience design as the Co-founder and Executive Director. He also teaches college and graduate-level Educational Technology courses at UP Diliman. Previous work: Consultant for Materials Development and Teacher Training at the Commission on Higher Education, Computer Science Teacher at Philippine Science HS, UI and UX Designer at Pearson, and Web Project Manager at Harvard. He earned his BA in Film from UP Diliman and Master of Education in Technology, Innovation, and Education from Harvard University.
Charlie Clark
Charlie graduated with a degree in Marketing from Ediburgh University and has gained experience in the fashion and retail industry working with reputable retailers such as Topshop and Harrods.
She developed an in-depth understanding of trend forecasting during her time at Stylesight and has spent the last 3 years working with clients, helping them to expand their knowledge of trends and demonstrate how they can implement them into their business.
Developing and presenting presentations for a wide range of companies across EMEA, such as Tesco, Arcadia, ASOS and Kurt Geiger, Charlie demonstrates the power of WGSN by building powerful connections with customers, inspiring and helping them to translate forecasted trends into confirmation for their product development and buying decisions.
Dindo Marzan
Managing Director of Hatch, the Digital Transformation (DX) group of Voyager Innovations, Inc.
Dindo Marzan is the Managing Director of Hatch, the Digital Transformation (DX) group of Voyager Innovations, Inc. (Voyager) that works with companies and organizations to enable excellent digital customer engagement. Leveraging the platforms and capabilities of Voyager and PLDT, Dindo drives the company’s business ventures on Lead Generation, Marketing & Advertising, Customer Value Enhancement, CX Automation, and API Enablement.
A graduate of University of the Philippines, Dindo has over 13 years product development experience in the fields of IT, telecommunications, advertising, and broadcast media. He’s very knowledgeable in strategic and operational management, and has full exposure to marketing and brand communications with expertise in digital media.
Before he joined Voyager, Mr. Marzan was a Digital Consultant in Australia helping start-ups and SMBs on their digital strategy and online marketing. While in Melbourne, he pursued his graduate studies at RMIT University. His passion for innovation pushed him to come back to the Philippines to be part of the digital unit of PLDT, Inc., the largest telecommunications and digital services company in the country.
Prior to Dindo’s Melbourne stint, he held senior positions at ABS-CBN Corporation, the largest media conglomerate in the Philippines. As its Digital Strategy Head and later on Head of Digital Lifestyle, he was instrumental in the company’s digital transformation as well as in the creation of Choose Philippines and ABS-CBNmobile. He also handled the content operations of iWant TV, iWant Stars, and iWant Txt.
In his early years in the corporate world, Dindo has gained extensive experience in product management and marketing at Globe Telecom handling broadband solutions for businesses and unlimited voice services for consumers. He got his first taste of new innovation and business development at Mozcom, the Philippines’ First Internet Service.
Sam Alapan
Sam Alapan. Art Director, Copywriter and an indispensable creative has a penchant for challenging the ordinary. In the last two decades, Sam found himself understanding the business of Graphic Design, Direct Marketing, Public Relations and the intricacies of Advertising by learning from professionals who excelled in their field. He stayed in the Advertising for many years, executing strategic manifestos ranging from the stalwart medium of print, television, radio and non-traditional media, extending his knowledge to include the upstart medium of digital.
In the midst of a changing landscape, he believes that the choice of medium is dictated by purpose, content and context. With the dawning advancement in technology obscuring these diverse states, it now becomes increasingly important to keep the content intact without compromising the message especially when it needs to be translated into different mediums of approach.
The message is clear. There are a multitude of ways to send the message and diverse strategies to deliver it with efficiency, without sacrificing its intent.
Eden Dayrit
Eden Dayrit is a chemical engineer by profession who worked for semiconductor companies for 3 years. She was poised to finish her master’s degree in Electronics Engineering under the Department of Science and Technology’s scholarship.
When suddenly, entrepreneurship called. She quit her job and dropped out of her master’s thesis and started a career in real estate investing.
She later on became a real estate Broker, Appraiser and Lecturer.
She owns RE/MAX TRP REALTY, a real estate brokerage company in Ayala Alabang.
She is also a partner and a property specialist of CITIHUB, a social enterprise started in 2011, building container van dormitories serving the housing requirements of minimum wage earners in Metro Manila. Current sites include Mandaluyong, Sta. Mesa, Cainta and Balintawak. Their target is to grow 9 sites per year starting 2018.
Concurrently, she is a professor, teaching real estate brokerage and appraisal at De La Salle University-College of St. Benilde and University of the Philippines-Open University.
Abigail Cabanilla
Abi is a seeker with a profound burden for the current state and health of our world. She believes that we can shape the future we deserve.
Her practice in the fields of Environmental Science, Community-Based Resource Management, and Experience Design exposed her to the key importance of listening and empathizing with the needs and values of people. Engaging individuals and communities to adopt a lifestyle of sustainability and become agents in the promotion of social equity weigh the heaviest in her life purpose and work. Having worked in the academe, particularly in the area of design and sustainability, presented her with the opportunity to cross-pollinate various disciplines, involve students and faculty, and facilitate collaboration and co-creation with communities and their very real challenges. Abi took the lead in the establishment of the Hub of Innovation For Inclusion (HIFI) of the College of Saint Benilde, where she is the Director.
Abi is also Co-Founder, Chief Experience Designer and Sustainability Driver at KindMind, an experience design laboratory that helps organizations grow by creating brand moments for their users. Abi is a regular speaker and facilitator of human-centered innovation among universities, corporate partners, and non-government organizations.
Abi is 2017 Fellow at the UnSchool of Disruptive Design, attended the Experience Design program at Kaospilot in Denmark, Management of Innovations from Stanford University, and holds degrees in Economics and Environmental Science from the University of the Philippines.
