At Icone Talks we talk about the importance of emotionally involving the user of a product with a message with which to identify.

Two designers face each other: Antonio Facco, a young and already successful professional, and his mentor, Giulio Cappellini, internationally renowned personality in the field of design and art director of Icone. The conversation takes place online, but the two are closer than ever, in fact they have known each other for more than ten years.

Product design today has a problem, recognized by many: it has bowed to the logic of the market and listens more to the call of consumerism than to the voices of the people.

“We are all a little bit victims of the constant exposure, of social media, of the continuous flow of stimuli: products, advertising, images… Everything is always better presented, disguised and constructed”, comments Antonio Facco, who adds: “The paradigm of design has changed, today it is important to work in multidisciplinary, transversal teams and try to control the project at 360°, bringing it on more complex structures starting from those already consolidated”.

Giulio Cappellini goes beyond the commercial need, with a vision that involves the users of design objects, the people: “For me, with design we must also try to make people smile and dream. In the creative process, empathy is therefore important”.
“I agree” – comments Antonio Facco – “To make a product meaningful it doesn’t have to be born from an advanced technology. It can also have a meaningful message. Empathy with the public, with the customer, with the company is the fundamental ingredient to make design”.
How does Antonio apply empathy to projects? “I try to tell something new, to empathize with that thought myself before bringing it to others. It’s an ingredient that’s always been there, it created Made in Italy, a process that started with the dialogue between entrepreneurs and designers.”

It’s about the entire conversation between Cappellini and Facco on IGTV @icone.luce