Suggestions
Seisho Manabe
Leading design — ex-IDEO & ex-frog
Seisho Manabe is an independent design director and freelance designer with over 20 years of experience in the field. He specializes in creating user-centric product experiences and developing compelling brand strategies. His background includes significant roles at prominent design consultancies such as IDEO and frog design, as well as leadership positions in startups, including a recent role as Chief Design Officer at the fintech startup Pliant.1
Professional Background
-
Freelance Designer: Seisho has been working independently, crafting design solutions that enhance brands and user experiences.
-
Past Roles:
- Chief Design Officer at Pliant: Focused on user experience and brand building for a digital company credit card solution.
- Head of Design at Azena: Led a design team in creating a platform with multiple products.
- Director at frog: Acted as a bridge between various disciplines within the team.
- IDEO Tokyo Studio: One of the founding members, involved in establishing the studio's presence in Japan.12
Expertise
Seisho Manabe's expertise encompasses a wide range of design disciplines, emphasizing human-centered design. He is skilled in product design, brand design, UX research, and building effective design teams and cultures within organizations. His work is characterized by a holistic approach that combines creativity with strategic thinking to solve complex design challenges.13
Highlights
As the year comes to an end, I'm reflecting on the year and projecting for the next exciting year to come ☀️.
Since 2021, I've been involved in evolving design at Pliant. This year, I have started a full-time engagement playing the role of CDO, and it's been an unforgettable journey 🧭.
We transformed ourselves with the new brand with Koto which reflects our core beliefs. We built a design team that released a new website and rebranded the products quickly, even if we were a very small team 🪄.
Pliant now has a solid brand that keeps evolving and a strong design team that brings immense impacts through craft and strategy 💪. Pedro Iwamoto, Nikolas Skrobek, Raphael Freire, Paul Watmough-Halim, Hai Ninh N., and Benjamin Reiß You guys all inspired me, and I can only thank you for your hard work to keep things happening 🙌. It has been a true joy to take a ride with you.
With this note, I will graduate from full-time engagement with Pliant at the end of the year 🎓. I will be moving back to a design advisory role and focusing on my own business.
Thank you to Malte Rau and Fabian Terner for letting me onboard such an incredible journey and allowing me off-board to focus on my own thing 🙏. I've never met any founders that are so humble, resilient, down to earth, and just lovely to work with. These qualities reflect all leadership members that are very talented and have a collaborative mindset 🫶.
I'm confident that Pliant will be very successful and will catalyse the paradigm shift in how companies manage payments and unleash our customers’ full potential 🚀.
I can only thank you all for the opportunity, and very happy that we crossed paths ☺️.
From January on, I will be available for exciting projects for product design, brand design, and design ops. Also available for an interim role for leading design teams. Feel free to reach out or recommend me if you know of good potential match ✨.
Happy holiday! 🍾
Standardising 15-mins city.
