How IKEA Retail (Ingka Group) Built their Global Design Team: Timothy Embretson, Global VP of Experience Design

How do you go from leading a design team of 10 to a global group of 300 in just a few years? In this episode, we talk with Timothy Embretson, VP of Experience Design at Inca Group, IKEA’s largest franchisee.

Timothy shares his journey of scaling a design team across multiple continents and navigating IKEA's largest digital transformation in its 80-year history. He discusses the importance of being proactive, empathetic, and building teams that reflect diverse perspectives—vital ingredients for fostering innovation. If you’re looking for insights on leadership, team-building, and the future of human-centric design, this episode is for you.

Listen now on Humans First and subscribe for more insights into design, strategy, and leadership.

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To learn more about Visual Logic’s Humans First approach, visit vlgux.com.

Since 1988, Visual Logic has been a trusted User Experience partner for leading companies–helping guide product strategy, and designing stand out user interfaces & customer experiences. Our process helps simplify complex products and leads to elegant, easy-to-use solutions that your customers & end-users will love.

Getting to simple is hard. We’ll help you build & launch with confidence.

For more Humans First, visit: www.visuallogicux.com/podcast

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Keywords: Design leadership, team-building, scaling teams, proactive design, empathy in design, human-centric technology, diversity and inclusion, digital transformation, IKEA design, inclusive design.