Interview of Hartmut Esslinger, by Wendy Ju, November 2006

Hartmut Esslinger is the founder and CEO of Frog Design, a consulting firm headquartered in Palo Alto. Frog is historically famous for its iconic designs of such landmark products as the Apple IIc and the Next Cube. In recent years, Frog has expanded beyond industrial design to incorporate brand, digital, and user-interface design, as well as strategic consulting.

JU: What first drew you to design?

ESSLINGER: At age four, I started to design automobiles—which was quite easy in the Germany of 1948. I grew up in a tiny farm village, and so it was by cars that I was inspired. It was just natural; if I had lived by the ocean, it would have been boats....design is design—you just do it. I was also inspired by my parents, who started a fashion store. I admired the girls, the dresses, and Paris. So I was also close to business. The hardest thing to design is a business. That's my experience taken from Frog.

JU: What inspires you in your work?

ESSLINGER: Well, music has been an inspiration. In fact, it is a liberation; I listen to it all the time. We can't close our ears, so it's very mind opening.

When I was 12, I got my own radio and that changed my life because it got me turned on to the blues. My mother often says, "The day we got Hartmut that radio was the end of our peace." I have always loved the classics, like Beethoven and all that, but the blues are something else entirely.

I actually got my first professional assignment playing blues piano at this kind of burlesque bar. Growing up in the '50s, as I did, that was the real music—Chuck Berry, Ray Charles....It was so different, so amazing, so emotional. I've tried to incorporate that feeling of innovation and emotion into the work we do in design.

JU: To which qualities of design are you most sensitive?

ESSLINGER: First of all, I care about absolute professionalism. One aspect of that professionalism is that good design references design history. A good design is coded in historically relevant semantics—symbolism. In other words, the designer is telling a new 'story' with familiar visuals. This may sound a bit exotic, but design is an elite profession and can't be diminished. Each time a new project starts, the challenge is to define a new adventure against the successes of the past.

JU: What's the secret to connecting specific emotional responses with visual form?

ESSLINGER: The only secret is to love it, to be original, and to have the courage to do it. Many designers (or their bosses) are ashamed of living and showing their true feelings, and they start to manipulate their responses; they hide their desires. This leads to safe, dishonest design. But a good design never lies: If a conceptual-visual appeal is authentic, it will reach the hearts and minds of those who care.

JU: You, educated in Germany, currently emphasize universalism among designers at Frog. What do you feel is the ideal education for a designer?

ESSLINGER: A cultural education always starts with a talented, curious, and diligent student. Then one gains experience from the violent opposition of fearful and conservative minds, and that battle must be won again and again. Therefore, I recommend that designers also study business and technology with all their energy. I recommend my students to read business news to the last detail, as money is the real battleground.

JU: What challenges do you face today in your firm?

ESSLINGER: Starting Frog was something I did without actually planning to. At the start, I was motivated by the wish for creative and emotional independence, and by the desire not to compromise on delivering the very best we designers can do. The challenge, back then and now, is to attract, mentor, and promote the best creative people and—equally important—to work with the best clients. Not only those who are 'design established,' but also those who want to become world class.

JU: How would you describe the culture at Frog Design? How is that culture cultivated and maintained?

ESSLINGER: At Frog, the 'creatives'—who can include people doing digital design, interaction design, engineering, industrial design, business, and strategy—become heroes when they fulfill their duties to make our clients successful through cultural and humanistic means. Creative work isn't about playing nice. It's not romantic; it's hard, sometimes brutal, work. It's important not to be conventional or complacent. In order to maintain a high-performance spirit, we always strive for respectful honesty and ethical excellence. And naturally, it's vital that we run a good and profitable business, but this is the result of the practice above.

Personally, I always try to listen to our youngest designers, as they are our future.

JU: What upcoming developments in design are most vital to you?

ESSLINGER: Ultimately, we designers must do more to humanize industry. This mission means that we need to better understand and care for the factors that influence design, such as business strategy; ecology/energy/resource conservation; culture; and philosophy. But most importantly, we have to care for our souls; form follows emotion.

Copyright 2006 Ambidextrous Magazine, Inc.