Work Design Re-designed with Workplace Designer Antonio Iadarola

This pandemic has challenged the notion of work and the workplace as we know it. Was the pre-pandemic workplace ideal? In my opinion, it wasn’t. But hate it or love it, it was familiar and safe for many. 

This podcast clocks in at around 26 minutes. You can also listen to it on iTunes, stream on Google Podcasts, or Spotify or grab the RSS feed in your player of choice. So grab a cup of tea, open your window to let some fresh air in, and let Antonio and I keep you company.

Yet, much like the hospitality sector, which we deep-dived into last week, the design industry, in particular, that part that relies on the freelancer/gig economy, was deeply affected.

"The model of our industry is essentially based on the premise that it only works when everything is fine," says today’s guest Antonio Iadarola.

Antonio is a fellow Italian workplace designer, strategist, and researcher based in NYC who envisions work environments as meaningful platforms for organizations and communities.

He's an Associate Professor in Design at Beijing Institute of Technology and the co-founder of Studio Wé, a practice focused on the co-design of work environments working on projects in the financial, startup, consumer goods, and public sectors.

Gathering insights from 10 years as a co-design consultant, he’s also developing the Work-Design Framework, a design approach for organizations that integrates strategic, service, speculative, and spatial design thinking aimed at developing future-proof experiences of work processes and spaces.

“I’ve heard from a lot of talented friends in the last two weeks that are all losing their jobs. They go from being fairly successful creative professionals to being in very difficult situations. The model of our industry is essentially based on the premise that it only works when everything is fine. I think that we’re not resilient, and I think that’s a moment when we can rethink this resiliency.”

Antonio Iadarola Key Takeaways

You'll learn:

How the idea of co-design and collaboration is changing since we can’t gather in person anymore

How to nurture the notion that the workplace = community when we are physically distancing ourselves from others

Why this is an opportunity to pause and rethink the way the design industry works and build resiliency

The role of designers in improving digital experiences

The misconceptions about the work of work designers and creative professionals in general and what could change in the interaction with clients

[mc4wp_form id="25727"] What is your biggest takeaway from this conversation on work design?

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