Milkshake, DMTV (Design Milk TV)’s first weekly series, shakes up the traditional interview format by asking designers, creatives, educators and industry professionals to select interview questions at random from their favorite bowl or vessel. During their candid discussions, you’ll not only gain a peek into their personal homeware collections, but also valuable insights into their work, life and passions.
This week’s Milkshake guest is François Nguyen, Design Director at frog. François is based in Brooklyn and oversees the industrial design practice across frog North America. His career spans nearly two decades working with clients such as Apple, Google, Amazon, and Facebook. He was even the lead designer for the original Beats Studio headphones for Dr. Dre during his time at Ammunition. In this interview, François discusses frog’s unique workplace culture, the challenges industrial designers will face in the next 5-10 years and his passion for music. Watch the episode:
While overseeing industrial design at frog, François has led the design process for a variety of products that push the boundaries of what consumer products can be. Tetra, for example, is a concept tabletop dishwasher designed for Heatworks that helps users conserve water and actually make use of the often desired but under appreciated appliance.
Tetra was a result of frog’s “Technology Interpretation” process, which leverages the technologies of their clients to go above and beyond on project briefs, developing new product categories and unexpected end user experiences.
François, who is no stranger to audio design, also led the recent development of UNUM, an audio concept that aims to make the experience of listening to headphones less isolating. Their open, circular design encases the ear without completely blocking it off, thus showing onlookers that the user can still hear and be spoken to.
View François’ DMTV Milkshake episode above, then check out the rest of the series here.