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Adrian Jankowiak
Director & Founder at Nairobi Design Week
Professional Background
Adrian Jankowiak is a dynamic designer and creative director whose career is characterized by his commitment to connecting people, ideas, organizations, and technologies. With a deep-seated belief that empathy, collaboration, and prototyping are essential tools for problem-solving across various scales, Jankowiak has made significant strides in the design world. His experience includes designing a diverse array of products, services, and creative campaigns that span multiple sectors, from new technologies and consumer electronics to toys, sanitation solutions, and furniture.
Jankowiak's work reflects a robust understanding of fast-moving industries and a dedicated approach to creativity that transcends geographical boundaries. His impressive portfolio encompasses work with numerous brands globally, showcasing both his versatility and his innovative mindset. The passion and dedication he brings to his projects have not only earned him recognition but have solidified his reputation as a thought leader in the design community.
Education and Achievements
Adrian's academic journey began at Trinity School of John Whitgift, where he completed his A-Levels and GCSEs, laying a strong foundation for his future endeavors. He then honed his design skills at Loughborough University, where he studied Industrial Design and Technology, as well as Design and Technology. This solid educational background equipped him with the knowledge and practical skills necessary to navigate a complex and ever-evolving industry landscape.
In 2015, Jankowiak took a monumental step forward by founding Nairobi Design Week, an initiative aimed at strengthening the Kenyan creative industry while providing a much-needed platform for East African talent to showcase their work both locally and internationally. Nairobi Design Week is not just an annual festival; it operates as an ongoing platform that channels African design onto the global stage. Noteworthy past projects include participation in the Refugees Pavilion at the prestigious London Design Biennale and collaborations with various European academic institutions, including partnerships with the British Council.
Key Contributions to the Design Community
Adrian Jankowiak's influence extends beyond mere design projects; he contributes to the growth and recognition of African design on a global scale. Through Nairobi Design Week, he has fostered a community that encourages innovation, creativity, and collaboration among designers and creative professionals. This initiative showcases the wealth of talent in East Africa, enhancing the visibility of African designers and inspiring the next generation of creatives.
His extensive professional background includes significant roles such as Creative Director at Greenlight Planet, Inc., where he led design strategies aimed at enhancing product usability and user experience. Additionally, his experience as a Human Centred Design Consultant at Water & Sanitation for the Urban Poor further highlights his commitment to applying design thinking to solve critical societal challenges. His roles as an Industrial Designer at Reckitt Benckiser and ReZonant Design, along with multiple freelance opportunities, further solidify his expertise and experience within the design community.
In addition to his impressive career accomplishments, Jankowiak is known for his prototyping approach and relentless pursuit of innovative design solutions that meet the needs of diverse users. His dedication to fostering a culture of empathy in design enables him to create products and services that resonate deeply with audiences.
Achievements
- Founding Nairobi Design Week: Instrumental in creating a platform that celebrates and promotes East African design on the world stage, showcasing the talent and creativity of local designers.
- Collaboration on International Projects: Successfully spearheaded projects such as the Refugees Pavilion at the London Design Biennale, establishing connections between African design and global audiences.
- Roles in Diverse Sectors: Extensive experience across various industries, including technology, consumer goods, and design consultancy, demonstrating a diverse skill set and adaptability in shifting markets.
- Educational Contributions: Engaged with numerous educational institutions to foster collaboration and exchange between East African and European design cultures, contributing to the growth of the design community.
- Design Innovations: Developed a range of impactful products and services that address real-world challenges faced in environments across the globe, enhancing quality of life and user experience.
Through his continuous efforts in nurturing talent and promoting African design, Adrian Jankowiak stands out as a designer and creative director who is not only making a mark in the industry but also paving the way for future generations of creatives in Africa and beyond. His commitment to connecting ideas and people is a beacon of inspiration, highlighting how design can play a crucial role in societal progress.
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Mesh works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Mesh offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
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Mesh is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Mesh is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Mesh as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Mesh offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Mesh takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Mesh encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Mesh work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Mesh is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
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Mesh offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Mesh offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Mesh for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Mesh accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Mesh offers extensive integration capabilities. Mesh introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Mesh supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Mesh also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
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Mesh makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Mesh's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Mesh is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Mesh stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Mesh excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Mesh is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Mesh offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Mesh's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Mesh has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Mesh offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Mesh focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Mesh also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Mesh offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
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Mesh is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Mesh's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Mesh has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Mesh a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Mesh's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Mesh's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Mesh has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Mesh's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Mesh as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Mesh eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.