Simona De Rosa
design researcher & strategist
derosimona@gmail.com https://flavors.me/derosimona M. +86 13072196617 (china) M. +44 7924591152 (intern.) 899, Huai Hai Central Road, 30, Level 4 200020, Shanghai , China 淮海中路899弄30号4楼, 200020, 上海
Simona De Rosa
design researcher & strategist
About me
Search. a good place to start
Design Researcher and Strategist with BA in Industrial Design at the Politecnico di Milano and a Double MA at Politecnico di Milano and Tongji University in Strategic Design. An enthusiastic and visionary individual who likes working both alone and in a group. A lifetime learner with an acute predisposition for collaborating with individuals from different cultural, social and working backgrounds, who does not shy away from challenge. An analytical observer, critical thinker and innovator who can creatively synthesize analysis and behaviour results.
By living in Shanghai, ready to absorb the obvious as well as the hidden, the stated and the unspoken, the ideal as well as the real.
Skills Data collecting and infographic Pre-collection activity, collection, findings
Semiotic reading and analysis Decoding signs, indications, likeness, analogies, metaphors, symbolisms, signification and communication in design products or services
Synthesis and translation of research findings and user insights into design strategies and guidelines
User scenario and storytelling Narrative description of type of users and the system, visual and verbal integrated interactions description
Work experience PG design & brand consulting - shanghai Director of strategy and research dep. March 2009 to present
Research + analysis, strategy generation + implementation, concept development * previous positions: researcher and strategist (1year), researcher intern (6 months)
trendwatching.com Spotter October 2009 to present
Notify new consumer trends, new business ideas, new insights
Master of Strategic Design, Poli.design - milan Lecturer January 2011 to present
Brand design and analysis, lectures and workshops
Poli.design - milan Design consultant for Panasonic Ltd. Japan and Trend Group April 2007 to March 2008
Design research, user scenario, conceptual modelling
Education Double MA in Design February 2009 to July 2010
Tongji University - Shanghai
MA in Product Service System October 2007 to July 2010
Politecnico di Milano, International Master
BA in Industrial Design October 2004 to July 2007
Politecnico di Milano
Computer skills Mac + Windows Adobe Acrobat, InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop Excellent knowledge
Modelling 3D Lightwave Good knowledge
Keynote, Power Point presentation Excellent knowledge
Language Italian Native
English Professional working proficiency
Mandarin Elementary proficiency
Selected works (2007/2011)
Research & strategy
Brand Morphology the genetic coding of brands
A research with a semiotic approach to the world of brands. Brand Morphology is a tool that aims to identify a classification system which allows a precise definition of the brand genome information. (DNA) For those concerned with brand system, ranging from professionals to amateurs, Brand Morphology is a guide to the multifaceted labyrinth of brand. It presents a functioning modelling of the system of brands. It analyses how the brand works and how the brand project is conceived. Output: tool book containing analysis methodology and one case demonstration.
Because of the brand system is extraordinarily diverse and changeable, brands cannot be taken into consideration and analysed throughout the whole of their complexity. It is necessary to divide the material and the information. According to the model theorized by the semiologist Andrea Semprini, the construction of a brand identity starts with a project that defines the brand strategy and suggests an horizon of relevant meaning respecting the target expectations. The brand identity is then split into several levels of depth a deep level consisting of a limited number of core values, the significance level, an intermediate level where the values are organized into stories and narratives (eg, seduction, threat, incentive, reward..), the narrative level; and a more superficial level in which values and narratives are enriched by the figures of the world (objects, shapes, colours, etc..), the discourse level.
ELEMENTS SCHEME
By the juxtaposition of all the elements pointed out during the analysis we can visualize.
M
T (light)
S
P = Au
(Au)
Retail innovation the new retail formats
An applied research for Trend Group, Italian company which produces systems and components for wall coating and flooring in mosaic and glass tesserae. Trend group’s intention is to explore the potentialities of an innovating concept of retail for the offer of a Trend Experience. The aim of this research program is to deepen and analyse cases of best practice referred to innovating services, processes of involving users in innovation, retail experience. From the understanding of the current situation, the research process moves to a forecasting section, with trend cards with evidences and it ends up with 6 visions for new retail format. Output: the material includes 3 sections report synthesized in 60 cards: analytical cards, trend cards, and an additional conclusive section with 6 visions. Enclosed also infographic and synoptical tables.
The planning of shopping areas as places where people live a shopping experience implies the search for more and more innovative and appealing communication languages , capable of making the act of buying a unique moment where the pleasure of the experience creates an emotional bond with the product. In this general trend of retail design in the last years, some experiments have reached such a high level of planning that the experience is so deep and involving to come to lose the features of a business transaction and it takes the shape of a real tranche de vie.
The Optimal experience The consumer is asked not to buy a product but to take part into cultural events, to respond to artistic stimuli and emotional impulses. Occasions of new relationships originate from the love for the product shared by user and producer: the user is asked to flood into sales points to share an opportunity of entertainment, a personal enrichment where the experience to be lived becomes global, multisensorial and psychologically gratifying. The consumer chooses to converge to ‘stores’ with the same mood as going to the cinema or the theatre, taking the opportunity of ‘living’ and experiencing his favourite product. The shopping experience achieves a higher connotation, transcending the mere action of buying. It becomes an experience of emotional reciprocity between producer and consumer, what Csik-szentmihalyi (1990) defines as flow and takes place the emotional exchange fundamental to turn the shopping experience into optimal experience.
China’s blank brand (suggestions)
“China’s blank brand” is a research carried out for the Master Thesis and it is mainly divided in 4 parts. Starting from the first part of deep understanding on how China as country is perceived internally and by people abroad, Part 2 aims to find a national framework capable of containing China’s rapid rate of change and the resulting combination of a complex reality and an uncertain future. Part 3 investigates the category of the “Blank Brands” from a morphological point of view. As breakthrough point, Part 4 focuses on a writing of a set of guidelines for a brand building strategy for a model of the special category of Blank Brand. Blank Brand is suggested here as a solution (platform) for a new brand vision for China’s consumer products. Output: research book with 6 study cases, strategy guidelines book.
China’s greatest strategic threat today is its national image. Being one of the most powerful emerging countries, China is undoubtedly the crossing point of enormous commercial interests. Tactical challenges such as the quality of foreign direct investment that the country attracts, the willingness of other nations to provide technological and educational aid, and the spread of Chinese businesses into international markets all claim a better definition of national image.
How China is perceived by other nations, and underlying reality that perception reflects, will determine the future of Chinese development and reform. China’s problem is more complex than whether or not its national image is “good” or “bad”, but hinges on a more difficult puzzle: China’s image of herself and other nations’ views of her are out of alignment.
Blank brands are brands onto which we can project our hopes and dreams and desires in the same way you would project an image onto a movie screen. In essence, the very “whiteness� of these brands means that we market them to ourselves; we make them mean something unique.
We sell them to ourselves as opposed to having them sold to us by others. And because we define them for ourselves, our attachment to these white brands is much stronger than to brand forced upon us.
What’s in your bag analysing young consumers in China
What’s in your bag is a research aiming at analysing consumer insights and trends taking place in Mainland China, with a particular focus on the field of stationary. The peculiar aim of “What’s in your bag” is to identify, collect and have an understanding of the current real situation about: lifestyle, habits and personalities of the new young Chinese. A specific target of young people were asked to take photos of the real contents of their bags. or pockets (in case of boys), with no filters or alterations. The target was based on a sample of young Chinese boys and girls attending High School or University aged between 16 and 22 years old. Output: a printed collection of analytic cards of 90 cases study and a presentation book with infographics.
Concept development
EDI sustainable public transportation
“Edi� is project which consists in a reorganization of the Public Transportation in Milan in occasion of the Expo of 2015. The object of the project was to create a system that is, on one hand more sustainable and on the other more appealing to a larger public in order to offer a viable, useful and attractive alternative to private cars. Edi is a project which demonstrates how design can influence human behaviour. Output: research book, user scenario and product service system design.
We all heard about the energy crisis, but what does it really mean? In simple terms it means that we are using more energy than the world can provide us, we are consuming the resources of the planet in such a rate that they will soon run out. So, what can be done to stop this? One very good thing that is being done is finding new ways of creating energy from renewable sources, using the sun, the wind and water resources... But today we know that even this is not enough, we must also find a way to change our daily habits. Ever since the industrial revolution our cities, our economies, our lifestyles are all based on the assumption that energy is an unlimited resource, even the price we pay for energy does not represent its real value it is in most cases subsidised by our governments or by the exploitation of other nations. Today we know that these assumptions are wrong, our current behaviours are burning out the planet physically, culturally and morally. But what can we do about it?
Milano Expo 2015 offers an interesting opportunity for a change in the world of mobility, the events in the previous years have led to a deep internalization of the ecological crisis, sustainable lifestyles are no longer an expensive commodity of the few but an essential reality for the masses.
“Edi� aims to give consciousness to the consumption of energy in mobility. It changes the way we perceive transportation, movement is linked directly to energy, and the cost taken in consideration is that for the environment.
Edi helps you move in a more energy efficient way, it does so by giving you information and choice, choice of a wide range of transportation options that can answer your every need and information on the relative consumption of energy of each of these transportation means.
According to the eco-philosophy Edi is a zero impact project and requires no products and no change to existing infrastructures.
Life circle organic intimacy
Life Circle is a project of research, concept and brand development for a new organic textile brand in China. After a phase of research (desk research, on field research and quantitative survey) and its synthesis the project moves to a brand positioning and some guidelines for brand new concept development. Life Circle is an Organic Clothing Brand with a difference. Healthy body. Healthier mind. “Feel Good� about what you wear (closest to your skin). As sustainable as possible - process and product. Intimacy and closeness. Building a relationship. Emphasizing sensitivity of skin to toxic materials. Output: research book and findings, concept presentation with conceptual modelling and visual poem.
Intimacy is a psychological concept describing the intimate relationship between people in a relationship. Intimacy generally refers to the feeling of being in a close personal association and belonging together. It is a familiar and very close affective connection with another as a result of a bond that is formed through knowledge and experience of the other. Genuine intimacy in human relationship requires dialogue,transparency, vulnerability and reciprocity.
Intimacy within Life Circle corresponds to an intimate relationship between the skin and the fabric. Creating different levels of intimacy the whole collection of Life Circle is organized according to nearness of the fabric to the skin.
Rèn mÚ design for social innovation and sustainability
Chongming Island - Xin Qiao Village - Shanghai The objective is to design a product-servicesystem platform materialised in a synergic network of Service Centres, supporting the everyday life of a new creative entrepreneurial community in Chongming Island (China). The work has been developed with a research on site (4 days observation and interviews), the construction of a micro panorama 3d which shows the idea (problem solving, diffused hospitality), and the set up of an exhibition during the Design Week in Shanghai. (October 2009) Output: research book, micro panorama 3D, exhibition material and panels.
This new entrepreneurial community offers solutions for hospitality, production and trading in different areas; conceived around principles of sustainability, demediation and collaboration. All solutions are created as bridges between the periurban territory of the Island and the city of Shanghai, so as to preserve and qualify the agricultural vocation of Chongming and to serve the city with rural based products and experiences.
Valorize the local skills and traditions of Xian Qiao villagers without putting them at risk of being neglected or transformed. Draw advantage from natural resources not by adding permanent infrastructures but rather by utilizing the present ones. Encourage the refurbishment and renovation of the past constructions instead of building brand new ones. Stimulate the interaction and the cooperation between villagers and tourists by living together and sharing daily activities.
DIFFUSED HOSPITALITY In Xian Qiao village many buildings had been left empty and/or abandoned due to emigration, REN MU © introduces a service based on the concept of “diffused hospitality”, where local families give accommodation to tourists. This allows the local population to become actively involved in tourist activities using pre-existing local resources.
Simona De Rosa
design researcher & strategist derosimona@gmail.com https://flavors.me/derosimona