"Better Product Design" at Kao Corporation | A11yTokyo Meetup February

Feb 27 @ 18:30 - 20:00 JST

Perspectives, Roles, and Design Process of Current In-house Designers.

Kao Corporation has had an internal creative department for nearly 100 years, where design development has been carried out in-house.

Over time, as they have identified societal trends and changes, their role has evolved, and since 2019, they have been required to develop designs in line with ESG.

They will introduce Kao's commitment to 'good design (monozukuri)’ with examples of universal design and environmentally friendly products, focusing on the perspectives, roles, and design processes of our current in-house designers.

Accessible, Hybrid, Multilingual Meetup

A11yTokyo Meetup is a unique meetup that features various genres of 'accessibility', conducted in a hybrid format of on-site and online broadcasting, primarily in Japanese and English.

Many foreigners participate in the on-site venue in Tokyo, building networks through socialization sessions. We use the voice recognition technology app 'UD Talk' to provide real-time captions, and its automatic translation feature allows for multi-language subtitle translation.

In past Tokyo venues, many Japanese and foreigners have participated. The post-session networking opportunity is a chance to build a global network! Additionally, people from various countries participate online from both within Japan and abroad.


Time Schedule
19:15 Venue Open
19:30 - 19:45 Introduction
19:45 - 20:30 Presentation, Q&A
20:30 - 21:00 Networking (For on-site participants)

Speaker Profile
Tomohisa Hirata
Creative Manager, Design Solutions Group, Product Design Creation Department, Creation Center, Kao Corporation
Joined Kao Corporation in 1994 (assigned to the Printing Center). In 2002, he was assigned to the Creation Center, where he took charge of product design. He has been working on the design of consumer product packaging and tools from a consumer perspective. He has been in his current position since July 2020.

Access to Venue
Location: Open Collaboration Hub LODGE (LINE Yahoo Co., Ltd., Kioicho Office)
Address: 17th Floor, Garden Terrace Kioicho, 1-3 Kioicho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo (directly connected to Nagatacho Station)
The detail is documented in How to Get to the Venue
An entry pass is required. Please fill in your name on the Google form, and it will be given to you at the 2nd-floor reception.
*Online participation is planned via a Zoom webinar. URL and other details will be provided in advance.

Venue: Although this meetup page says it is an online event, this is a hybrid event in Tokyo that is streamed on Zoom

Language: This session will be conducted in Japanese.

Captions: Provided by UD Talk. Automatic translation into various languages is also possible.

Sponsors
Thanks to LINE Yahoo for providing their venue.