Skift Video: Designing the Future of Work, Life, and Travel

This sponsored content was created in collaboration with a Skift partner.

In this video conversation from Skift's Design The Future event we hear from Damien Perrot, Global SVP of Design at Accor about the role of design in society's evolution.

In this video:

• Elevating the role of design in travel: Most industry leaders view design as the last step of a project – an aesthetic look or functional component – when it should actually be placed at the start to guide the overall strategy. "A designer is not just an artist. A designer is designing something in order to make it profitable, to be functional ... and to create an experience and an emotion. We need to consider the designer as a real asset for the project."
• The future is hybrid: In the last decade, Accor has been keen to build or acquire brands and services that benefit their customers in their local cities when they're not traveling. The pandemic has accelerated the convergence of work, life, and entertainment and the need for hospitality brands to think of locals as customers and give them the services they need within a 10-minute walk of their home.
• It's a good time for big ideas and creative visionaries: Designers have a tendency to be viewed as lofty idealists ahead of their time. But with the acceleration of society's evolution, visionaries with big ideas and tactical know-how are being seen as problem solvers ready to design the next era.
• Finding inspiration and collaborators everywhere: Perrot breaks down Accor's collaborative design process – the brand often looks to non-travel brands like Apple, Devialet, Heineken, and Dyson for inspiration.

Watch all of Skift's Design The Future sessions on-demand here. 

More content from Accor can be found on Skift.