#15 | Brett Lovelady | Driving design entrepreneurship
“It’s going to be more and more important to the human advocate in the process. (…) There is a role we play as designers because we are initiating and catalysing.”
Brett on the importance and responsibility designers have in the process to drive both negative or positive outcomes for the final user.
In the newest episode, I got the honour to sit together Brett Lovelady, Founder & CEO of ASTRO Studios in San Francisco. Brett is one of the world's top design leaders by directing some of the world’s most culturally relevant programs, helping clients generate over $60+ billion in new revenue worldwide and advocating for design in many influential situations. He shares his perspectives on the intersection of design and business, learning from his experience founding startups like ASTRO Gaming, Minus-8 Watch and serving as a VP to frog and Lunar. We dive into:
his experience of driving design entrepreneurship, founding many startups including Astro Gaming which was acquired to Skullcandy and most recently Logitech
how and why design is driving new initiatives and start-up ventures, by being in the catalysing and initiating role to drive a common vision for all stakeholders
how to learn by every project and business venture initiative as a design team to drive impact
how design practise and community developed in Silicon Valley, looking back at the 25 years of ASTRO Studios
the future of design and the growing responsibility we share to drive the right behaviours, habits and outcomes on the intersection of technology and humanity - and why designers have to be the “human advocate” in the process
the important link between design and branding - and how this helps to set design solutions in context
We sat together at the recent IDC, International Design Conference in Chicago. The next IDC will happen 2020 in Seattle. For more information about it head here: https://www.internationaldesignconference.com
About Brett Lovelady:
Brett founded ASTRO Studios in 1994, as a design driven company that empowers designers and strives to capture the value of design in the product, brand, experience and company creation process. By developing a culture that attracts some of the world’s best talent and clients, Brett and ASTRO have helped reshape the design industry.
ASTRO blends design, technology and lifestyle insights into a wide range of innovative, culture defining products, brands & companies. In the past 20 years, Brett has become one of America's top design leaders by directing some of the world’s most culturally relevant programs, helping clients generate over $60+ billion in new revenue worldwide and advocating for design in many influential situations.
Brett & ASTRO have won 2 Design of the Decade Awards from BusinessWeek / IDSA and been nominated 7 time for Cooper Hewitt National Design Award, along with numerous international industry, business, manufacturing and product & brand design awards. Additionally, Brett & team have mentored in a range of accelerators including R/GA Ventures Accelerators, Highway One by PCH International, Techstars and Intel.
In 2007, Brett spun-off ASTRO Gaming Inc. from ASTRO Studios extending the ASTRO design brand into hi-performance video gaming. In 2011 the venture capital backed ASTRO Gaming achieved #13 on the INC. 500 fastest growing companies list, then was acquired by Skullcandy Inc., (NASDAQ: SKUL). In 2016 Skullcandy & ASTRO Gaming were taken private by Mill Road Capital, then in July of 2017, ASTRO Gaming was sold for $85M to Logitech (NASDAQ: LOGI). Today ASTRO Gaming is a recognized leader in the global eSports arena.
From 2011-2013, Brett helped build the ASTRO Gaming brand within the Skullcandy by introducing the brand to retail partners Best Buy & Game Stop while continuing to work, lead and expand the brand’s position, helping to increase sales to over $40M+.
Brett has spoken around the world at universities like Art Center, Stanford, Cincinnati, BYU, etc., companies like Philips, Nike, HP, P&G and organizations like IDSA, IDC, DMI, AIGA, CES & more. Also, Brett has been a guest writer for Fast Company, & contributor to many media outlets.
Brett has worked on hundreds of products and brands, from Fortune 100 clients to start-ups, to launching his own brands. Currently he continues to start new fires at ASTRO Studios, sporadically blogs, tweets and speaks about design.
About IDSA:
“For over fifty years, IDSA has worked to advance the practice of industrial design through education, information, community and advocacy. Our roots stretch to the beginning of the profession and our members are, and have been, some the most celebrated industrial designers of all time. However, being a part of this community means you are joining something bigger than any one individual. Your participation helps strengthen the industrial design profession as a whole and contributes to the boundless impact of design within business, culture and society.”
Learn more at https://www.idsa.org
About ASTRO Studios:
“Astro lives in the heart of San Francisco's SoMa district and on the fringe of Silicon Valley. We embrace a design approach that blends the lifestyle and culture of California as well as the interconnectivity of technology and turn brands and products into relevant, people-focused results.
For the past 25 years, we have helped clients and partners transform markets, collaborated with founders to co-create new companies, as well as launched, funded, and fueled a few of our own.
We turn design thinking into design empowerment and establish a creative habitat for our employees and clients to have the tools to be successful.”
Learn more at https://www.astrostudios.com