Mexico City, July 8th, 2020

After spending some time in Silicon Valley, designer and entrepreneur Luis López returned to Mexico and started 23 Design in 2015. The agency designed strategies, tactics and artifacts to help clients from around the world to create value, reach more people and become profitable.

But this year was the time for a change, as in March 23 Design joined frog , the leading global design and strategy firm. 23 Design became the seed of the first full-service frog studio in Latin America. It will be a global platform for designers in the region, a place to cultivate their careers and reach new heights.

In an interview with TIA, Luis described his career path and what drove him to create 23 Design and eventually join forces with frog. He also described the business scene in Latin America and the upcoming challenges for the team.

What makes Mexico City special?

Mexico City is a city that has grown through the resiliency and resourcefulness of our people. You can feel that in every corner, conversation and idea coming out of it. On top of that, the vibrancy and diversity of the people, flavors, colors and thoughts are invigorating.

The growth of the startup scene has infused our city with ambitious entrepreneurs, shifts in workplace culture and a general sense of connectedness and progress. The design practice has evolved along with the country as well. Mexico has always been recognized for its artisans and the cleverness of Mexican industrial designers, but the transformation in the way companies grow has opened the door to “newer” design disciplines: user experience design, design research, interaction design, service design and even organizational design.

All of these shifts make Mexico City an exciting place to work, and it’s a perfect moment in time to make one’s mark in design.

Can you briefly explain your career path to date?

After spending time in Silicon Valley as a co-founder of a startup, I came back to Mexico to help other companies with what I had learned. That led me to consult for some of the first startups in the city. Soon enough, I realized that what I wanted to achieve was not going to be a one-person job.

I started 23 Design in early 2015 and it quickly grew from a living room operation into a fully fleshed out team of talented misfits that shared a rebellious vision about the value of design, a passion to improve the way people experience everyday products and services, and a fearless pursuit to grow.

When did you realize you wanted to join the frog team?

23 Design had its best year in 2019. We worked with well-established companies like Nike and Facebook and with disruptive startups like Justo and Bitso, which are leading their industries. We had an aggressive growth plan for 2020, and we weren’t planning to sell our business, merge or join a group.

Then, we met frog. From our first conversations, it felt like a match made in heaven. Our views, goals, process, cultures and passions overlapped almost identically. Naturally, we reconsidered our plans and started imagining a future together. After working through dates, details and change management strategies, we walked our team through the vision and the new possibilities: excitement erupted.

What was the shift from moving 23 Design’s team to frog’s new studio like?

While we’re still working on the new studio space, we are operating at full capacity since the beginning of the year. We feel both challenged and at home. Our goal with this new studio is to create an elevated standard for the practice of design and innovation in Mexico and throughout Latin America – to become a platform for local talent to excel globally and to improve the quality of the services our people use every day. This is both an exciting adventure for everyone and a big responsibility.

When growing business across LATAM, what’s the biggest challenge you find?

Companies are starting to realize that offering a good customer experience is no longer something nice to have, that designers bring real value to the business and that the creative mindset is even more valuable than following traditional “best practices.”

An indicator that I’ve been following for a couple of years now is venture capital investment and startup growth in the region – because startups are a good indicator of opportunities in the market and gaps in the industries, sparking a need by incumbents to catch up and innovate.

In 2019 alone, Mexico saw about US$ 5 billion in investments in venture capital for startups. The trend suggests that this will keep growing exponentially.

Well-established companies need to innovate more than ever. This, along with companies’ pressing needs to become digital, diversify their offerings and differentiate in crowded spaces, make Latin America a greenfield for frog. The challenge is finding those who are hungry enough to try unexplored territories and dare to lead through design.

Please describe the communication style with the team and the agency’s culture

Our culture is a culture of collaboration. We’re a hyperconnected team, sharing knowledge across studios, working across disciplines. We thrive on transparency, radical candor, continuous feedback, empathy and openness… both internally at frog and with our clients. You can always count on frogs to help you figure things out.

To which upcoming initiatives are you particularly excited about?

The growth of our team! We’ve seen a huge amount of interest in frog in the past months from designers, strategists and technologists across Latin America. We are reviewing applications as fast as we can, and our talent team is doing the impossible to get to know as many of them as possible. Our team will always be a work in progress, but I’m really excited to see how it’s taking shape.

Name something that surprises you about yourself

I currently lead frog’s Mexico City studio as both a Design Director and General Manager. This means I work with our teams on client programs as much as with frog’s leadership, finance and operations. A few years ago I would have never imagined myself combining both. This may change as we grow, but in the meantime, MS Excel has become my best friend.

Ambition or talent: which matters more to success?

Talent is a byproduct of education + practice.
Ambition is a byproduct of purpose + drive.
You need a combination of both.
Ambition without the proper tools goes nowhere, and talent without ambition is a waste.

Who was or still is your mentor?

Folks at frog have become instant mentors to me. I’ve found support in Mack Thomas and Bret Janak from our Austin studio and from Craig Ayers, Lisa Sopher, Angi Cohn, Lindsey Ducroz, Jona Moore, Timothy Morey (who found me in frog’s exploration of Latin America), Anthony Pannozzo (our Chief Design Officer for North America and Asia) and so many others.

I also go to Víctor M. González (Ph.D., M.Sc.) for career advice often, as well as friends that help me with a different point of view and coach me in my leadership journey. For example, Ángel Sahagún, founder of Albo, a former client to 23 Design, and Pato Bichara, who founded Collective Academy, where I have the pleasure to teach Design and Innovation Strategies.

Thanks Lulo!

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