The pulse that moves the system: design as a transformative force

Sketchin for me has always been a pioneering laboratory. We have faced challenges that the market had not yet considered, and when it does, it is often two years late. It is in our nature to be ahead and explore before all the others.

Today, the world of consulting has changed, technologies have taken the place of traditional approaches that would lead to generic and standardised solutions. Now, to really make a difference, an approach that can interpret complexity is needed and we have learned how to do it starting from what people experience. This is what makes us different: transforming what exists into experiences that were not there before.

We can do this in extremely complex contexts, where processes, people, business objectives, regulations ad artificial intelligence are intertwined. This complexity does not scare us, rather it pushes us to take the role of orchestrators of complexity, to define how people interact with and through technology, and to build experiences that are relevant and transformative.

Over time, our challenge has changed. From being a website pioneer to having to design relational infrastructures, products and enabling services. It is no longer enough to create something beautiful or functional: we must be able to break the inertia, the force that blocks organisations and complex systems. If you do not break it, you cannot grow – and in the current socio-economic context, growth is everything.

In order to break this inertia, as a design leader, we must be all-encompassing, in the sense of being a guide and foretelling where the world is going, taking responsibility for interpreting new technologies and translating them into understandable, useful and meaningful experiences. We need an eye capable of reading the cultural, social and symbolic contexts in which these technologies fit. Each deign choice has an impact that goes beyond functionality: it influences behaviours, shapes habits and builds new expectations. This is the field in which we move, where design mediates between what technology makes possible and what people are ready to experience. It must chart new paths and open up new time horizons. This is also the underlying principle of our DOT design process.

This is where Sketchin does its best. We are extremely effective when we help clients focus on the real challenge, making it so clear that it can be seen for oneself. We unpack it, break it down into steps and construct the big picture. It is never a single project that solves problems, but the orchestration of multiple projects. Designing this orchestration is, itself, a project.

With our clients, we work on visions that look two or three years ahead. There are no longer any boundaries between physical and digital: every project is now a hybrid. Our job is to go into the details, in the moments and situations, because that is where the magic happens. The butterfly effect: a small intervention done well – a “wingbeat”, an atom set in motion in a single touchpoint – can trigger a profound change in the entire ecosystem, and consequently its target market.

A global presence thus becomes crucial. It is not just about opening studios in different cities; it is a way of ensuring that our vision translates into real experiences relevant to different markets. Every culture, every country has its own dynamics, challenges and sensitivities. But if we really want to be orchestrators of complexity we must be on the ground, close to clients, their teams, partners and users.

That is why we are investing in strengthening our presence in the UK, USA, Middle East and China. Global presence is not only a strategic asset, it is an assumption of responsibility to be able to look at the whole with a unified vision, but also to design the details – the above-stated “wingbeat” – that makes the difference locally. It is a continuous dance between centre and periphery, between vision and implementation. We are there, in the middle of this dance, keeping the rhythm.

Special thanks go to customers like Lenovo, who have given us confidence back when this approach was still just an idea. They were the first to believe in it, to understand that a new way of working was needed. Now, we make it available to everyone, from public administration to clients in emerging markets or those looking to expand on a global scale.

Sketchin is not alone in this journey. We are part of BIP Red, the Creative Technology Studio of BIP Group, which allows us to push our design capabilities even further. Working in BIP Red means facing challenges with an integrated approach, up to market launch, where design itneracts with technological development, the adoption of new technologies and cultural evolution. We are thus able to build solutions deeply rooted in the contexts in which they operate, capable of enabling real and systemic changes.

Of course, among the technologies being adopted is artificial intelligence. For us, AI is an accelerator that does not replace designers, but enhances them, relieving them from those tasks that took away time and did not generate strategic value. Now we can focus on what really matters. Visualising experiences, designing strategies, turning visions into reality effectively. Even with a single artifact that can effectively transmit our thoughts.

AI has become part of our daily lives. It has led us to designing vertical experiences where it is pivotal, such as the retail industry or home banking, where the adoption of agentive technologies will depend on banks’ data policies. Some clients still see it as far away, but AI is here now. It is important to understand this, or risk falling behind.

I remember when Luca Mascaro took UX and UI to the highest levels at a time where they were still new. Today, with Marco Tamburlini, we take the responsibility of redefining what it means to design in this market. We are in a new era. Those who prevailed with the rationales of the past may not last.

Our projects serve to set a system in motion, to build the conditions for our clients’ growth. So yes, my call is for those who want to trust, those who want to build, to really change, to explore. Sketchin is ready to do it.