Design: it’s a fundamental way for companies to understand their end users’ needs. Jyothish Nair understands this better than anyone. A VP and associate partner at McKinsey, Jyo has been helping clients create optimal physical, digital and spatial experiences for over two decades.

Sitting down with Lloyd and Mana Search Co-Founder Mimi Nguyen, Jyo tells us about his journey with McKinsey, whether it’s better to have four specialists or four jacks-of-all-trades, and why designers need to turn in work quickly while developing other skills. Plus, he digs into ethnography’s significance in crafting effective user experiences and shares how the Big Four consultancies are still succeeding without working on-site.

Check out Jyo’s graphic novel project here

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Episode Highlights:

07:13: How companies can use design to understand customers’ needs

15:13: Why Monzo succeeded and Pingit didn’t

20:00: Are small teams inherently better for fostering disruption?

25:00: Why designers need to strike a balance between iteration and other skills

33:20: Repercussions of scale: how designers can take on an adoption mindset

41:16: Ethnography and its importance in the design process

48:40: How design can help alleviate fears around COVID-19

54:45: How the Big Four are adjusting to remote working