Design is never just about what users see. It is also about the economic forces they are made to live inside. Read the full blog on the recent talk with Simon Gough at the Extended Pack Collective. epicjournal.design/design-is…

Strategic design is not about designing the product. It is about designing the conditions in which better products become possible. Read the full blog on the recent talk with Simon Gough at the Extended Pack Collective. epicjournal.design/design-is…

This week, Extended Pack Collective hosted Simon Gough, co-founder of Design and Economics, for a deeply insightful members-only conversation on the intersection of design, economics, strategy, and systems thinking. Simon expanded the role of design beyond interfaces, products, and services. The conversation led into the larger forces that shape design decisions — business priorities, economic structures, organisational silos, value creation, metrics, ROI, ethics, and the future role of designers inside companies and societies. A few notes from the session: 1. Design is not just a response to constraints. It can also question who created those constraints. 2. ROI may be the wrong question when design is meant to be the operating DNA of an organisation. 3. Metrics can measure activity, but they often miss the real story of value. 4. Strategic design is not just about designing better products. It is about designing better conditions for better decisions. Design needs to move closer to the economics of business, not to become less human, but to become more influential. A big thank you to Simon for bringing such clarity, generosity, and depth to the conversation. Grateful to everyone in the EPC Members who joined, asked thoughtful questions, and made the session richer. #ExtendedPackCollective #EPC #DesignLeadership #StrategicDesign #DesignAndEconomics #ProductDesign #ServiceDesign #DesignStrategy

Should a strong design culture need designers in every room? epicjournal.design/should-a-…

What does design leadership really demand today? epicjournal.design/what-desi…

EPC Unscripted: Behavioural understanding of the Indian consumer. @ExtendedPack hosted an Unscripted session on understanding the Indian consumer beyond stereotypes. With leaders from Amazon, Flipkart and 1990 Research Labs, we explored how trust, aspiration, culture, and context shape product decisions in India. The following is a 10-point documentation of the session. epicjournal.design/epc-unscr…

Last weekend, Designscape by @ExtendedPack Collective brought together designers and design leaders in Coorg for four days of reflection, dialogue, and connection. We stepped away from routine to focus on what matters most: Design. Leadership. Growth. Trust. Responsibility. We listened. We debated. We learned from each other. There were also moments that mattered just as much — shared meals, coffee conversations, stories, laughter, and time to connect beyond titles and roles. Thank you to every leader who shaped these conversations with candour and generosity. Biju Damodharan - Director of Design at Amazon Debayan Mukherjee - Head of Design at Samsung Electronics Madhumita Gupta - Director of Product Design at Honeywell Bikash Jyoti Biswas - Head of Design at Ather Energy Sameer Bhiwani - Director of Design at Target Monica Deshpande - Experience Design Director at Wells Fargo Thank you to all other participants who brought curiosity, energy, and perspective to the room. We return with clearer minds, stronger bonds, and higher standards for the work ahead. #Designscape2026 #Leadership #DesignCulture #ExtendedPackCollective

The @ExtendedPack Collective recently hosted Design Dialogues in Bangalore, and it was encouraging to see so many thoughtful designers and leaders from different organisations come together for a more serious, generous, and honest kind of conversation. Across the session, we touched on some of the questions that matter deeply to the practice of design today — the balance between storytelling and data, how stronger designers frame problems, how trust and influence are built, what leadership without control can look like, how critique can become more constructive, how design works better with product and engineering, and where to draw the line between useful persuasion and manipulation, especially in the age of AI. The quality of the gathering was incredible — thoughtful questions, open participation, and a genuine willingness to engage with complexity instead of rushing towards acceptable answers. That is exactly the kind of space we want EPC to continue building. A heartfelt thank you to all our speakers for bringing depth, candour, and lived perspective to the discussions. And thank you to every designer and manager who joined us and helped make the gathering so rich through your presence, questions, and participation. Satish Patil Shreeya Malpani Shantanu Kulkarni Sandeep Karmarkar Abhay Vyas Utkarsh Biradar Sonam Sengar This was a meaningful start, and we are excited to keep building more such spaces through the Extended Pack Collective. If you are keen on engaging with the collective, please follow our annual calendar on Luma (link in the comments). #ExtendedPackCollective #EPCDesignDialogues #DesignLeadership #DesignCommunity #ProductDesign #UXDesign #DesignCraft #DesignManagement #Leadership

All of this was thanks to @mohity_design’s great curation of experiences both in the London Design Festival and the countryside handpicked locations that he has gathered over the years in Cotswold!! @ExtendedPack is showing us more than just design!

The tier 2 little boy in me in losing his shit! 📍Costswolds, UK

Studio SoFarSoGood w @ExtendedPack Have never seen and felt so many interesting materials in my life. One of the liveliest studios I’ve seen.

At the London Design Festival w @ExtendedPack Kaafi sundar 🥹

Perfect weather. A giant tree for shade. The aroma of fresh croissants, sandwiches, and a perfect cup of SUBKO coffee. Add 30 designers and leaders. And, squeeze in 9 sessions in 90 minutes. That was our morning as we hosted our first EPC Socials Design Meet-up by @ExtendedPack Collective. And yes, it was as intense and rich as it sounds. We swapped ideas, debated, laughed, and learned more in an hour and a half than most all-day conferences manage. Massive thanks to Amit Chowdhury and Bikash Biswas for the energy, stamina, and stories. Here are the 10 big takeaways for the design community: 1. Lock the vision early: A strong product story and form before specs keeps everyone aligned. 2. Differentiate on purpose: Be aspirational, not just “good enough.” 3. Own more of the stack: Speed and flexibility come from control. 4. Design for the long game: Think in decades, not launch days. 5. Let real behaviour lead: Design for how people actually use things. 6. Hire for mindset: Curiosity beats tool mastery. 7. Collaborate from the start: Shape the problem, not just the solution. 8. Track and adapt: Keep an eye on shifting perceptions. 9. Balance now and next: Incremental and disruptive ideas both matter. 10. Expand your toolkit: Speak design, business, and engineering fluently. These learnings are just the tip of the iceberg. Stay tuned for the detailed ones on EPIC Design Journal very soon (Link in the comments). It’s incredible what can happen when you put curious people in the same space (and keep them well-fed). #ExtendedPackCollective #EPCSocials #Wolffkraft

Excited to host Amit Chowdhury, India Design Leader at Adobe, at our next EPC Socials! With a storied career across Adobe, Samsung, Microsoft, and Google, Amit has been at the forefront of building iconic products and shaping some of the strongest design cultures in India. Join us for a morning of candid stories, creative sparks, and exceptional SUBKO coffee, hosted by @ExtendedPack Collective. Saturday, 9th August 2025: 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM Let’s meet, think, laugh, and learn — the EPC way. Limited seats. RSVP here. lu.ma/epcsocials #EPCSocials #DesignLeadership #AdobeDesign #CreativeCommunity #DesignMeetup #ExtendedPackCollective #Wolffkraft

Last night, we gathered design leaders from the US and Europe as part of the @ExtendedPack Collective to discuss the evolving landscape of design leadership. Key takeaways included the mindset shift from designer to leader, where we emphasized the importance of ambition, empowering teams, and learning to navigate chaos with resilience. We also explored the BEST framework for leadership transitions, highlighting the power of gratitude and self-talk in overcoming challenges. The group also touched on integrating design with business thinking, stressing that design should be seen as a core driver of business success. Emerging leaders were encouraged to embrace both creative and strategic responsibilities, preparing them for a future that requires balance between innovation and practical outcomes. Finally, we touched on how personal experiences shape leadership styles, emphasising empathy and understanding over individual taste, and how these values should be embraced by future design leaders. Thank you to all the design leaders who joined us last night. Excited for the continued discussions leading up to the London Design Festival 2025! #DesignLeadership #ExtendedPackCollective #EmpoweringDesigners #BusinessAndDesign #LeadershipDevelopment #MoonshotAssembly2025 #LondonDesignFestival2025

Bangalore Designers, You're Invited. lu.ma/epcsocials Join a rare gathering of global and local design minds at the @ExtendedPack Collective (EPC) Open Meet-up. We’re bringing together designers from across disciplines for a morning of meaningful conversations, shared curiosity, and unexpected connections — all over exceptional SUBKO coffee. Whether you're a product designer, visual storyteller, strategist, or just design-curious, this space is for you. Limited seats. RSVP soon to be part of it. Let’s meet, think, laugh, and learn — the EPC way.

This morning, we hosted our first mixer for The Moonshot Assembly, a conference alternative by @ExtendedPack Collective, at the @Wolffkraft studio in Bangalore. We had a very enriching discussion. We explored what it truly means to lead in design today and tomorrow—from transparency and collective thinking to letting go, building with patience, mentoring with intent, embracing ambiguity, and leading with imagination and generosity (not credit). We saw firsthand the richness of leadership styles across some of the most respected design teams. This is just the beginning. Insights from this and other upcoming mixers will be shaped into a shared narrative and presented at the London Design Festival 2025. Stay tuned for the announcement of the date and venue in London. If you're a Design Leader helping shape product teams and culture, feel free to reach out. You may get an invitation to the next mixer. A big thank you to the leaders who took the time to slow down and engage in a deep, thoughtful conversation with the pack. Your openness and reflection made the dialogue truly meaningful. Anurag Bartare - Dashtoon Sunit Sharma - Condé Nast Naveen Mamgain - Rapido Ishan Upadhyay - Uni Cards Asis Panda - PayU Vatsal Chaoji - Ex-Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited #MoonshotAssembly #DesignLeadership #ExtendedPackCollective #LondonDesignFestival2025

We hosted the EPC Dialogues 03 yesterday. Designers from 9 organisations joined the session to reflect on the invisible, work behind design, the evolving shape of their careers, and the ongoing trade-off between impact and mastery. epicjournal.design/silence-t…