Interview with Kristian Bengtsson

By Kelly Goto

What is your name and what do you do?

My name is Kristian Bengtsson, which in Swedish means the "son" of "bengt". My title at the moment is Creative Director, but I've never been much for titles. Basically I try and define myself through the work I do at FutureLab. We're doing several projects for IKANO Banken (the online bank of IKEA) - small projects such as redesigning their navigational structure and using CSS to transform to a tableless environment. We recently got the Microsoft account and we're going to be work on launching the Expression Suite in Sweden.

I work on a combination of theoretical / abstract and "real" work. At the moment it's been more theoretical. I try and convince potential clients that what they are doing is wrong. When I get tired of doing that, I try and throw myself into a very concrete hands-on project. I spent days installing and getting to know WordPress and figuring out plug-ins and templates. It's one of those things when you have to 'get real' again. I love being up and out there - but also think that sometimes I need to get my hands dirty and feel what it's all about again.

The company I work for is FutureLab - which is a strategic communication agency. We base our work on meeting our client's business vision through communication. We don't really do production any more unless it is 'cutting edge' - where we can develop our skills and evolve as a company and can transfer this knowledge into the projects we work on. For FutureLab to work as a strategic agency we bridge the "knowing/doing" gap. We try to always do what we know we can be done - we don't want to lose a grip on production. I think it is the integration between doing and knowing what to do is the best part of real-life strategies.

That's what I see - that if you know traditional communication and you know how the technology and the internet works you can create synergy. I think that many of the advertising agencies or traditional bureaus work with surface and say technology should not hold back creativity - but they say this because they don't realize that technology can inspire and take their concepts further. Fear of technology holds people back.

Tell me what you think about being "stuck" and being "unstuck" and how do you feel now?

At the moment I feel "unstuck." I feel "stuck" when I'm in a situation where I know I have to learn skills I will never be really good at - and it kind of frustrates me. I feel a 'little stuck' but I know I will overcome it. It's like being responsible for the office. I want to be creative ALL of the time. But now I have to be responsible for four other people and the integration between two offices with different backgrounds. I have to bring in new projects and clients and also act as a project manager. I try and explain that these roles are hard for me and confusing for my co-workers, as it's not always clear what chair I'm sitting in - my role is really Creative Director. It's not often I feel stuck - although sometimes during projects I can see that the client is stuck and they are not willing to try see why. Sometimes when the team is stuck it's due to management decisions and it's not always easy to go to the management and tell them to change their way of thinking. Many people think we're just trying to sell more, but that's not why I do what I do. I feel stuck in situations where other people or teams are stuck.

What are some examples of being "unstuck" and how you feel currently?

Unstuck is pulling off stuff that you didn't know you could do before you started. I don't think we've been in a situation where we didn't pull it off. I often feel unstuck when I'm around other people who are trapped in structures or organizations and have to go through a lot of bureaucracy. They lose sight of what their purpose is within the organization, which happens all of the time. I feel both ways - stuck and unstuck because I know it can change.

How do you feel when you are unstuck?

• Like a chameleon. I feel at home in situations that are unexpected. I can adapt to the environment.
• I feel unstuck when there is no structure and I have to create it as I go along.
• I feel unstuck when working with people who are the opposite of me and totally different from how I work.
• I think developing a web application without a graphical user interface is being unstuck.
• I feel unstuck when I am happy.

I was so happy when I went to the Microsoft Designertopia event in London and the first 48 hours I slept for about 3 hours. We attended the event, had meetings and partied and then went back to Sweden and I worked all night on the presentation we had the next day. My co-worker, Johan and I did the presentation and we just synched - like improvisational theater. We just 'clicked' and they were amazed by our presentation. I feel unstuck then - just doing this little bit.

When I go on vacation and travel with my partner, Rebecca, it takes 3 or 4 days to stop thinking about work-related things. I start to think about other things and realize how much inspiration I get when not thinking about work. I try and focus on the present - not on what has happened or what is going to happen, but what is happening right now.

What does it mean to be "fearless" and how does it inspire you?

Fear is not just about standing in front of a huge train, but is also an everyday obstacle. If we can be aware of our fears, we can get beyond these obstacles. This might mean to put trust into people and their work. I've found that if I put trust in people, I get more back than I even expected. One thing I really liked that David Lynch said is "If you are in shallow water you get small fish. If you are in deeper water you can reach the fish that are powerful and abstract and beautiful." I think you have to reach far - and think abstract. I think it is good to put yourself into situations you are not familiar with. When you do just what you know, life gets boring. I thought I would be scared presenting in Austin and at MIX, getting up in front of all those people. But then I realized: what's the worse that could really happen? I would be nervous for a few minutes? I want to find more of these situations. I want to work with clients who are challenging and get it and want to take it further.

Why do you think your team is different?

I think the main difference between us and other companies is that we love what we do. We're constantly working on functioning better as a team. One of the things we have done is to take smaller projects with just two or three of us at a time. I'm not sure we're unstuck all of the time - but some of the time we are. One of the projects is helping Ikanobanken/IKEA with their CMS system and reviewing their old technology. They presented their information to us and we realized that they weren't using a CMS system. They were testing various solutions, but hadn't determined what they were going to use. Since the bank is exclusively online, we needed to help develop a solution theat would manage all of their internal transactions. They looked at our suggestions and finally came back to us and asked us if we could have the first installation completed within 30 days. I discussed it with my partner and we asked ourselves "do we really want to work 24/7 for the next 30 days?" We decided "yes" and started to work on a module a day, which was just crazy. We actually launched the first module within 30 days - and they've been using it ever since and it's been three years now.

Have you revised this at all? How did you pull this off in a month?

We began by looking at how their IT infrastructure worked. They really needed a design and development platform that completely separated the content and design. It ended up being more of a development framework rather than a pure CMS system. We always design with the theory that we don't know exactly what we're going to design tomorrow. So we try to develop a framework and a content management system that is flexible in the future.

We always start by creating our own guidelines and simple rules to follow. We have just a few stars to guide us through the process. Simplicity. Using dialogue to communicate in two steps or less. Things other people did wrong and we tried to make it better. We have this real simple iterative process: explore, think, create, act. We start with the context and then create the concept. When we're done with that we start to develop. When we're done developing - we implement.

Three of us were educated as interaction designers and one of us comes from a more technical background. We've kind of gone back and forth from the inside out and the outside in. We feel comfortable with the 1's and 0's and we know how to create an experience knowing what is possible. A user experience starts before the interface, with the brand or word of mouth, but gets hands-on with the web interface. It doesn't stop until you are down into the database. Being able to be really structured all the way through when it comes to architecture and infrastructure. Think about the early implementations of AJAX for example. They were basically terrible. There was really no structure, which happens easily when client-side people try to approach server-side elements. Today though it looks more promising as we start to see a lot of structure within AJAX use and implementation. I believe that new uses of technology shouldn't have to mean that we have to put many years of experience aside.

Ajax itself is not a revolution, but it started people thinking and educating themselves. Generally, people that have not been working on hard-core development lack structure. Many of these new non-models are for wiz-kids who are good at everything, but they do not have structure. We're good at creating this structure. We want to make it easy for ourselves and for others. Technical things are the most logical in the world. Most people don't take the time to listen but they should.

Tell me a bit about your ACTION SPACE methodology.

This is something we came up with at our old company Fivestarday. We realized we could not properly identify an issue with a client and decided instead to concentrate on the space around the issue. We could not quite figure out what the problem was and then decided to start over and build things for the individual instead of the organization. We realized part of the reason it wasn't working was because people didn't leave room for any mistakes. People need room to make errors. It is also about culture. We realized we needed to create new way of managing this structure. We realized we needed to change the organization's attitude. Most people didn't understand what Action Space meant. Our "Grid" is a web application framework. It's more about an action space attitude - it's not just about technology but it's about their culture and how they manage their teams, etc. We could produce a physical grid, but what good would this do for an organization that doesn't know how to take advantage of it and work with culture and attitude?

The action space grid is actually an old concept although today we're more interested in it as a metaphor or mental framework, instead of a technical framework. We don't label it as action spaces, but we integrate it into our everyday work. We've been talking about using it again with clients in an educational and evangelizing manner.

Why are you using the .NET platform?

We use the .NET platform because it allows us to do Enterprise-level thinking even if we are doing something small. So you can concentrate on what really matters which is the user experience on different levels and collaboration. The .NET platform allows us to work on a scalable level and prototype and build immediately. We can do things in two weeks or a month that would have taken months to build using old methods. But it's not just the platform we are on - it's the philosophy and approach we take. We can apply this using any platform.

I think of it like product design. If you don't know the materials you're working with - you cannot create effectively. I have a friend who designs rubber boots for a company called Tretorn. He knows how the material bends, how it folds together and how it works overall, so he is able to build something amazing. Then someone comes along and puts a pattern on top of it for the new season. That is not designing, that is just putting a pretty interface on top of something without knowing what lies beneath. If you are going to really design an experience, you need to understand the whole.

With XAML and the Vista platform - people are so far advanced in their thinking it's exponentially beyond what we are capable of understanding today. They have come up with an amazing design language and bridge the gap between designers and developers. However, they should not necessarily try and merge the two roles, but to create a practical role called 'the integrator'. This role is really needed if you are going to work with complex experiences (such as working with Expression Blend). The problem with some projects is that web designers have to hand over deliverables and documentation to the development team , which is problematic. The design and development gap is one of incompetence. If a designer creates a drop down box that cannot be integrated they are not educated in the right manner. Integration and communication needs to happen - and tools need to be built so the two can work seamlessly together.

If you can leave us with a few thoughts on how we can be UNSTUCK - what would they be?

If we are able to take our thinking and make it work in really tough situations, we've succeeded. It really doesn't matter if you have the right attitude but don't have the right technical platform - you cannot execute. The opposite is true - if you have the right technical platform, but the wrong attitude, nothing can be accomplished either. People need the right tools to get things done. Being unstuck in a hands-on situation means focusing on doing the right thing as well as doing things right. Learn to adapt. Try skateboarding for a day so you get an entirely different view of the city and see the differences between pavement and asphalt. Think solutions instead of problems. Have fun.