Shanghai, February 10th, 2017

Ten-year-old agency Innomative, defines itself as dedicated to delivering creative solutions at the intersection of marketing and technology, but talking to its Creative Director TengChuen Swee, we discovered their ambitions are greater than that. With a strong hold on the Chinese market, the company has offices in Shanghai, Hong Kong and also Germany. However its reach goes beyond these offices counting with over 40 Digital and Data Specialists across the world.

Innomative’s digital and data marketing solutions also includes social marketing and conversion marketing to help its clients boost sales and conversion rates.

Swee, Creative Director and Partner at Innomative says “Through our deep understanding of the digital consumer we are continuously expanding and working towards our goal to achieve the greatest customer satisfaction.”

With a democratic approach to creativity Swee and his team are working to bring back the human touch to ‘digital communication.’

“Fifteen years ago, while I was studying digital media in London, I went to an exhibition and presentation by Yugop Nakamura and John Maeda. They had a great impact on me,” confesses Swee “Both gurus inspired me and showed me that technology can be alive. They explained that interacting and coding could be a way of aesthetic expression. Then I found my opportunity in an advertising agency working as designer and developer in Hong Kong after I graduated.”

Can you describe your agency in three words?

Creative; Innovative; Fun

In your opinion, what ingredients are key to create a successful UX design?

From my personal point-of-view, team collaboration and constant communication are the key factors that bring us closer to success. We encourage all team members to express any ideas they have, everyone can be of use; everyone can and should share their opinions. We spend a lot of time discussing, and even arguing about our opinions, but in the end we have a common goal and this is what pulls us together.

How do you work out your design taking into account your target audience or users?

Most of the time our work is not just about designs, but also about communication. Our designs bear in mind the fact that we are humans talking to humans – this is very important.

We want our digital solutions to talk like a human being, like a friend. For example, if you didn’t want something, you would never simply say to your friend “Cancel” but instead you might say “No Thanks” followed with and explanation of why not.

Sadly, the medium has changed the way we express ourselves, and we want to bring back the human touch in our communication.

Which are the most important web tools that you use?

Firefox & Add-Ons, Safari & Extension, Chrome & Plug-Ins

Can you tell us about a project you worked on and that was especially successful?

It has always been a great experience working on the QorosQloud project, a telematics connected car services for Qoros car owners. I worked with QorosQloud as an Experience Team Lead for over two years. My team explored and spend most of its time researching what was the best communication strategy to connect with the brand’s customers. The conclusion was one single experience; the best way to talk to the customers was as a friend, avoiding having a robotic conversation between the brand and its customers.

How do you imagine the UX concept to work in the future?

More humanization in technology and devices. It’s time to bring back the real human communication.

Are there online publications, professionals, industry leaders you follow?

Ars Electronica Festival in Linz, Austria.

Please list a few of your favourite digital brands

Apple, Arduino, Google

What piece of advice would you give a recent grad looking to work in digital marketing?

What has worked for me might not for others, so I hesitate to advise. However, I remember when I was a fresh grad, I used to tell myself that I should learn one skill from every person I met. So if I meet 100 people, then I could learn 100 skills. This might sound a bit ridiculously and is not 100% possible – and in fact it is not always feasible. But, if you meet new people are able to learn from them great, if you also acquire a new skill even better!

What do you like doing in your free time?

I like to observe and explore things on my free time, from people watching to brewing stovetop espressos, watching extra-terrestrial movies or setting up raspberry pi experiments, sometimes MAME OS X. But mostly I like to spend any time I have playing with my two kids. I like listening to my seven-year-old son playing the piano, and playing LEGO with my four-year-old son. To my wife and I anytime we can spend with our family is extremely precious.

By Geny Caloisi.
genyc@topinteractiveagencies.com

Learn more about Innomative

Follow Innomative on social media:

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Follow TengChuen Swee on social media:

LinkedIn

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