"The opportunity to collaborate with designers from various fields has been invaluable."

Give us an insight into your role as Product Designer

My role as a Product Designer at Hitachi Vantara involves collecting requirements from stakeholders and developing the best possible product solution for our target audience and users. Using Design Thinking methodologies and working closely with product managers, engineers, and other stakeholders, I facilitate conversations and propose solutions while also narrowing priorities through vision glimpses and insightful questions. Currently I’m working on the Design System team, and for those who don’t know what a design system is, think of building blocks used on construction sites, and we call those blocks, components or patterns. Those are then used by other designers to create visually consistent solutions across all of our products at Hitachi Vantara. This approach enables us to work more efficiently while maintaining a consistent look and feel, not just within our business unit but also across other Hitachi entities like Global Logic and Hitachi Energy. Learn more about our Next Design System.

What your team does for our business and clients

As I am working in both Design Delivery (DD) and Design System (DS), I can see the impact our work has on our clients' businesses. We help define product pillars, fine-tune what really matters to the end-users, and use proven techniques and methods to support clients in the early stages of product creation. Our work helps to predict what's next and answer many unanswered questions, which ultimately saves time and resources in development.

At DS, we support Product Designers by doing system checks on their mock-ups and designs. This ensures that their solutions align with a set of best practices, ensuring that the stakeholders can visualize the product's final look and contents.

Our also connects with many different HV BUs, providing valuable knowledge that we incorporate into designing those same building blocks. Overall, our team's work adds value by enhancing the end-user's experience, reducing development time, and elevating our clients' products to meet the latest design standards.

Anything exciting you are working on

Currently I’m leading the component creation through collaborative efforts with two teams: UNEM under Hitachi Energy, and Hitachi GlobalLogic. Our co-creation mindset aims to incorporate the previous work of these teams into the Next Design System, which will make it even more relevant for new teams adopting it throughout Hitachi organizations. This is an exciting opportunity, and I am grateful to be part of it.

More about collaborating with other Hitachi Organizations

Our Design System team receives multiple requests for collaboration, system checks, and information designers want to share with us every day. We've even begun to activate exchange and ambassador programs where designers from other organizations work with us for several days or months. This exposure to our design process has enabled these designers to better adapt to DS work process, component creation and documentation. It was through this ambassador program that I got to know the DS work much better and ultimately led me to request to be part of their team.

Overall, this collaborative effort has been beneficial for both our team and the other organizations. By narrowing the silos between teams and aligning our company products' look and feel, we're fulfilling our motto of One Hitachi.

Design Days event aims to gather and engage designers from different Hitachi organizations from all over the world.

Advice for anyone considering a career in product design

First, successful design teams require an open mindset, a collaborative spirit, and a commitment to applying the Design Thinking process.

Secondly, it's worth noting that Hitachi Vantara offers an excellent working environment, with a wide variety of projects across various business sectors. One of the most valuable aspects of working at Hitachi is the opportunity to collaborate with other designers from various fields through workshops, meetings, and other channels. The insights and knowledge gained from such interactions have been in-valuable, especially for those with a passion for design like myself.