A DESIGNING MIND
“I found out I was a designer the whole time—I just didn’t
know it.” The design program, he said, was the perfect launch
pad to further his education and career.
“Every class I’ve ever taken—every type of design or
photography or art class—I have applied across many projects,”
he said. “What I got out of the program was a foundational
design education.”
After graduation, Kuncl went to graduate school at the
ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, Calif. It was the
West Coast that introduced him to interactive design. The
iPhone was being unveiled at the time, and the need for
interactive designers was exploding.
Being a designer in the technology field, Kuncl explained,
requires not only generating ideas, but also designing,
prototyping, and forecasting the futures of apps, products, and
technologies that could become lucrative ventures.
This means Kuncl is always looking at the horizon. “We
were charged with looking toward the future,” Kuncl said of
working at T-Mobile and Samsung. “We were inventing what
was coming out three years from now.”
At Uber, Kuncl focused on developing user experiences,
especially at large places and events, such as airports, the
Olympics, and Coachella.
“Design has become a huge business need,” Kuncl said.
“Design is what can put your product over the edge. That’s
what sets you apart from your competitor.”
He is now helping others to put this design thinking into
practice and taking ideas from concept to reality. He is a co-
founder of Prototyping Superhero Workshop, which teaches
inventors of all backgrounds how to get ideas out of one’s
head, off paper, and into a hands-on model.
“Sometimes, people confuse design and art,” Kuncl said.
“Design is not just what it looks like, but how it works …
and the best design is something that barely looks like it was
designed at all.”
16 |
VENTURES/SUMMER 2019
SU
“I'M AN ADVOCATE
FOR THE CUSTOMER,
DESIGN TALENT, AND
TEAM CULTURE.”