DAMIEN
DESIGN TEAM LEADER AT DECATHLON | NABAIJI

Meet Damien, design team leader at DECATHLON | NABAIJI.
Find out how his role creates synergy within the design team.

Can you explain your job to us in a few words?

My role is to manage the design team at NABAIJI. By that I mean that I build the design identity of our products to ensure a consistent, exclusive and sustainable product offer. I build and lead the design project as a whole. I am also responsible for supporting my team members in their career progression and skills acquisition.

Design strategies are drawn up with the brand manager and the teams. We work together to answer the question: where do we want to go and what are we going to do to make sure we get there? For example, when I first joined NABAIJI, we were very focused on a design aimed at beginner swimmers. Later, the objective was to gradually seek out swimmers who were more committed and more advanced in their sport. We therefore reviewed our strategy to try to make the design of our products match this target.

If you were away from work, what would the consequences be?

We have drawn up the design strategies and they have been fully integrated. My team are guided daily by these strategies and they refer to them. So they know what to do and they are autonomous. In the short term, if we imagine that we were working on a single collection, I can safely say that my team would be autonomous enough so that there would not be a huge impact if I was not there. On the other hand, if we were talking in the longer term, there would be a big loss of overall product coherence, in particular due to the loss of a birds-eye view on the stylistic direction. There would also be a significant loss of information on the strategies that are developed within the design division.

If we look at the product development phase as a whole, at which point do you get involved?

I'm involved at almost every stage: from the launch, collection reviews, choosing the products to be developed, all the way to design approval. My main role, however, remains in the early stages, during collection launches, and in developing the strategy, sport and design of our products.

What are your key performance indicators?

I am motivated by several indicators:
- The progression of something called "net promoter score". This is how our products are perceived, internally and externally. It's a score where people give an overall rating and answer the question: "Is the design a contributing factor in recommending the product? Does the product look good enough and work well enough for them to recommend it?"
- The percentage of environmental impact reduction and the percentage of eco-designed products.

Which teams do you interact with in your job on a daily basis?

Outside of my team, I interact with pretty much everyone! In my team, currently, there are eight of us, with six full-time designers, one on a placement and me. The other professions that I work with the most are the Technical Department, User Leaders and the Communication team.

What do you think are the three qualities you need to have to do this job?

Creativity! This is key for a profession based on design. Secondly, I would say reflection and forecasting. And lastly, empathy, because when you are designing products for people, you have to have empathy for them, which means being able to put yourself in their shoes. This is what will allow you to come up with solutions to the users' needs.

What do you love about your job and what got you to where you are today?

Each project is a new challenge! It's never the same, that's what's cool about this job. To give you an example, you might design a pair of glasses one day and then next year, you will redesign them: it won't be the same; the design won't be approached in the same way. What I also especially like is defining user segments and then defining the stylistic and functional uses.

There are three main steps in the design process: explore, create and do. People often have more affinity for one aspect in particular, but personally I love all three!

"Each project is a new challenge!"

What is your fondest memory at NABAIJI?

The first memory that springs to mind was in 2017 during a team victory for our innovation: B-FAST swimming goggles. We came second on the DECATHLON "Innovation Awards" podium and won a French innovation prize called "le label du design". That kind of product hadn't won an award like it in more than 10 years! It was a very happy memory, we did a fantastic presentation and we had lots of very positive feedback.

A second memory that I've just thought of was in 2018, during an event called "swim camp". We filled the entire car park in front of our offices for the event to showcase our products. Four huge rooms allowed us to stage the stylistic directions of the products. The goal was to immerse the viewer in the stories we wanted to tell about our products. This allowed us to showcase a side of the design that is not usually seen and to highlight everything that goes on behind the design of the product. We show the viewer how the collections came into being!