016. Joe Macleod: Designing the End

TODAY’S GUEST Joe Macleod was Global Head of Design for the legendary Design agency and game studio UsTwo, and is a veteran with decades of experience across service, digital and product sectors. In recent years, he became fascinated with the problem of designing good ending experiences and is the founder of what he calls “the worlds first customer ending business.” It’s not what you think - no customers get killed in the process. Instead, Joe is focused on giving customers a positive, meaningful, and socially responsible end of relationship experience. His first book, titled Ends - is a look into the importance of thinking about offboarding - from sustainability and recycling, through data and privacy, to retiring old products and tools, and finds the roots of our collective repression of the end of cycle problem in our fear of death, and the rise of mass market capitalism. . EPISODE SUMMARY In this conversation we discuss: [2:18] Covid situation in Stockholm [5:41] Growing up in the UK as a child with dyslexia, developing a sense of independence. [9:55] Early involvement in graphics, very early HTML and digital design work, and interaction design. [13:13] Getting involved with Mobile early at Orange and Nokia. [15:02] Observing the rise and fall of Nokia [16:57] Joining legendary digital agency UsTwo [26:06] The Off-Boarding Problem [32:11] Getting Interested in Endings [38:18] The Western Avoidance of Death [41:07] A Chance to Reflect [46:18] The Move Away from Endings [51:11] Why is it important? [58:19] The Narrative Importance of Ending [59:18] The Ends Book, and the 2nd Book [1:14:29] Why the Focus on Endings?   EPISODE LINKS Joe's Links 🌍 Joe Macleod's Blog @ Medium 📔 Ends. The Book 🌍 AnEnd.com - The Business 📣 Twitter: @mrmacleod Other Things Discussed 🌍 UsTwo Agency ⛳️ Monument Valley Game 🌍 WAP - Wireless Application Protocol (1999) ABOUT US Remake Podcast: Visit us: RemakePod.org 🙏🏻 Rate the show on iTunes 🙏🏻 Support us! Join the Podcast Member community 💌 Share your thoughts: [email protected] 👉 Listen or Subscribe to the show: Apple Podcasts・Google Podcasts・RadioPublic・Overcast・Stitcher・PocketCasts・Castro・SoundCloud・Spotify・YouTube・Deezer Remake Labs:  RemakeLabs.com・Medium・LinkedIn・Community・Twitter・Facebook・Instagram Eran Dror:  EranDror.com・LinkedIn・Twitter・Medium

Om Podcasten

Remake is a podcast about Design, Systems, and Society. And I'm Eran Dror, a product designer and researcher of eastern religions. In each episode I interview someone who’s trying to change our lives for the better in some meaningful way, whether through a new product, new venture, or new way of looking at the world, and I try to understand how they came to it, what makes them tick, and what we all can learn from them. I truly believe Design is strategic, that it goes to the core, that it's at the root of what it means to be human. In this show we explore an expansive view of design, and cover Systems Thinking, Social Innovation, Secular spirituality, and the future.