Agent of design - Interview with red dot winner Alberto Villarreal

Alberto Villarreal is a five time red dot award winner. At the red dot award: design concept, he received red dot awards for "Bright Walk" in 2005, for "Habit Forming" with Lunar Design in 2007 and for "MX-LIBRIS" in 2008. His helmet design "Cascuz" won a red dot: best of the best in 2006. In 2009, he won the red dot award in the red dot award: product design for "SanDisk ImageMate Readers". Recently, we caught up with him on new developments.

red dot: In 2009, you started your own design studio, AGENT. What prompted you to establish your own studio?
Alberto Villarreal: For several years I have lived outside my home country (in Sweden, Germany, Italy and the USA). After some time I wanted to come back to Mexico and participate in the local design community.

I also wanted my own voice to be heard in the design world. I worked for some internationally renowned design studios but at some point I felt the need to have an outlet of my own for the many ideas I had in mind.

Michel Rojkind, my partner, and I had been in touch for some years and we had exchanged our ideas. Finally, in summer 2009 we decided to start a company together (AGENT) with a focus on product development so that we could put our own perspectives into practice.

red dot: What are the projects that are mainly worked on at AGENT?
Alberto Villarreal: We're working on a number of different projects for completely different industries: technology, travel, sports, culture. Some go back to our own initiatives and some works are developed on request or invitation. All projects are tackled with a “disruptive innovation” strategy.

red dot: Can you tell us something about the latest projects you are working on?
Alberto Villarreal: We designed the CTRUS football, which is intended to perform completely new ball functions by assisting the referees at professional soccer matches. CTRUS can do without air (it bounces due to the mechanical properties of the material). This provides for a transparent shell that reveals the coloured light inside. Electronic components ensure that the light changes its colour depending on the relative position of the ball on the pitch, for instance when it crosses the goal line or when it goes out of play.

In the course of history the soccer ball design has not changed so far. Innovations only took place with regard to the properties of the surface or the way it is stitched together. Nothing was done, however, to improve the support of the game. With CTRUS we have succeeded in doing so.

CTRUS is also designed for different markets. Beside a high-tech version for professional games we also think about a simplified version, for example for street soccer (but still without an air-inflated bladder) so that we can offer a long-lasting product to people who cannot afford a new ball every year.

red dot: Describe AGENT's design philosophy.
Alberto Villarreal: AGENT’s philosophy in a nutshell: “Seeing things differently”.
(This is why our logo is an abstract eye, because we believe that by our approach we see things in a different way. Things might be visible for everyone, but through our lens (the HYB method) we are able to identify opportunities, which other people don’t see.)

red dot: When you start a new project, what inspires you?
Alberto Villarreal: At AGENT we have a multidisciplinary team that we bring together according to the respective task. We are constantly looking for inspirational stimuli everywhere, and we try to introduce interesting features and components of different sources to fuel our creativity. We call this “active awareness”. We collaborate with our team members thus ensuring that we are all active AGENTS and that our brains stay in an everlasting creative mood.

red dot: How many of your projects are client-driven and how many of them result from personal motivation or research issues?
Alberto Villarreal: When we created AGENT it was with the intention of having at least 50% of our projects rooted in our own initiative, as this is our business model. We would like to stick to this model to make sure that our voice is heard in the world of design and that we are an attractive and creative asset to our clients.

Find out more about CTRUS at AGENT's website www.destroyafteruse.com

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