Pedro Sanin
Product Designer
Pedro is the co-founder of Blaster Design Studio, and a professor of industrial design at Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana and EAFIT University. He graduated with honors at Politecnico di Milano in Italy, worked at an industrial design studio in Amsterdam, and has led over 50 projects in interior, industrial, and service design.
Medellin, Colombia
Get to know Pedro Sanin
You’ve worked all over Europe, but you love being back in Colombia. Why?
Colombia has totally transformed in the last 10 or 15 years. There's a lot of opportunities for young people to improve our society. In San Francisco, perhaps, innovation is like rain on a wet floor. But in Colombia, there are incredible changes happening in business, tourism, restaurants, art, music, and design. There are opportunities everywhere: I created my own company at 26; I’m teaching at two universities at age 31.
What does your design process look like?
I call my style “experience-driven design." I focus on user experience before designing the product itself. That's the opposite of what you're taught at many design schools. Everyone says they're user-centered, but it's really the product that's getting most of the spotlight— not too much thought on how it impacts people’s lives. To me, that's completely illogical. I focus first on the impact, and that shows me what products and services I need to create.
What’s a real-world example of experience-driven design?
We were asked to design an ice cream shop, so we started by visiting shops to observe. We noticed that children weren’t tall enough to see the flavors, and their parents were struggling to lift them up. Why is that? It’s because the shops were designed by adults in offices. We solved it by designing jungle gym bars that kids could climb to get a look. It’s cheap, it’s simple, and it allows the kids to play and solve the problem for themselves.
What’s your design philosophy?
I try to be conscious of my impact on the world. Designers have the tools to transform the world, but also to harm it. We should create products that are sustainable, not ones that people want to replace after just a few months. I want to design things that people love, and that they become attached to.
Your parents are both doctors. What did they say when you became a designer?
They liked it. My dad said something that stuck with me: “You get the best part of people’s lives. You see their dreams, their plans for a new house, or their future products for their company.” That’s the opposite of the sickness he sees as a physician. He’s right; I love helping people realize their dreams.
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