"Anti-Design Thinking"—A Methodology to Avoid Being Led Astray by Imported Concepts—(Part 1)

What exactly does a "conceptor" do?

Kurashige: As you all know, Mr. Sakai made a huge impact with the pioneering title "Conceptor." Could you first tell us how you've approached your work, centered around concepts?

Sakai: Lately, when asked "What kind of business do you run?", I say, "In reality, it's probably a creative agency." To be more specific, my clients are the design centers of large corporations, and I create whatever they need. Moreover, what they need changes constantly as the times shift.

Kurashige: How do they change?

Sakai: From the 1980s to the 90s, the demand was for product design. But when the internet became widely available around 1995, and then the iPhone absorbed various hardware functions, the demand for physical product form disappeared. In other words, the era of "things" ended. So back then, I was teaching career empowerment and insight-building methods at universities.

Lately, I often advise companies on building creative teams. I also introduce talent I find interesting to companies. Additionally, I do design research, like compiling materials summarizing Japanese design perspectives for foreign manufacturers.

My most in-demand services now are growth hacking-related. This includes acting as an agent for companies that overhaul websites to boost traffic by 20-30% and increase profits by 10-20%, plus consulting on prototype development for startups. I'm also occasionally asked to mentor young creators.

What clients seek from me is to stimulate stagnant creativity, boost team motivation, and drive innovation.

Kurashige: Wow, your scope of work is incredibly diverse! Could you tell us a bit about the origin of your title, "Conceptor"?

Sakai: Actually, "Conceptor" isn't a title I created myself. Years ago, Yoshiro Hosono, the president of Stardust Promotion, asked me what kind of work I did because he wanted to get me on TV. When I replied, "I do concept work," he said, "That's too long. Let's call it 'Conceptor'."

The products I've provided concepts for range from Buddhist altars to automobiles. I've been involved in the development of four cars in the past. If I had been labeled a designer, I absolutely wouldn't have been able to participate in development. It was precisely because I occupied this ambiguous space as a "Conceptor" that we could clearly divide responsibilities: concepts were my domain, while design was handled by your company's design center.

For example, the concept I developed for Nissan Motor's "Be-1" – "Let's de-evolve design" – became the catalyst for introducing rounded forms into the global automotive market, which had previously only seen boxy cars. Olympus's automatic camera "O-product" adopted aluminum in a world of cameras made only from black plastic, launching a silver-designed camera into the market. This kind of "creating something from nothing" is the work of a conceptor.

Kurashina: When we met, I realized you weren't calling yourself a "conceptor" just to promote your own interests, and I thought, "This is someone I can trust."

Sakai: I appreciate that. If it were self-serving, I'd just be a fraud.

Kurashige: But there are a lot of those "fake" ones, right? Even among our generation and younger folks, there are people who put "Conceptor" on their business cards.

Sakai: I've seen plenty of those (laughs).

Kurashige: But Sakai-san is the original, so it's different. If someone really wants to call themselves a "Conceptor," they should apprentice under Sakai-san, build a track record, and then ask to "branch off under your name."

Trying to make money by putting "Conceptor" on your title without any real work behind it is unethical. Besides, if you're competing on creativity, it's better to use a title you created yourself, even if it's unconventional, rather than riding on someone else's coattails.

Sakai: True, I've developed all my tools and methods myself. But I also think that's because I've never worked for a company, so I never had the chance to utilize their established formats. If I'd joined a large corporation, I might have adopted their methods.

Innovation is born from "information × information"

Kurashige: Ultimately, if you're working with concepts and ideas, I want to say, "Let's build our own methods and tools."

We bring in people we think, "We need this person to achieve our goals" or "We want to work with this person," from both inside and outside the company, and work as a team. People like us, with a foundation in advertising, product, and spatial design experience, are quite rare. That's why we gradually started getting asked to do comprehensive production work.

Examples include the overall production for the "APEC JAPAN 2010" Summit, the revitalization strategy for the "Tokyo Motor Show" starting in 2011, the Japan presentation for the IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings (the world's largest international economic conference), and the industrial revival project for the "Saga Prefecture Arita Ware 400th Anniversary Initiative." Our job is to thoroughly grasp the background of each project, combine internal and external talent with client resources, and achieve the project's goals.

If I may be so bold, while the methods differ, I believe the category is very similar to what Mr. Sakai does. We say we are not a creative think tank, but an inspiration tank.

Sakai: What kind of members do you have?

Kurashige: Team B started with eight members and has now grown to 40. We have diverse backgrounds, like a world-renowned DJ and a short-short story writer. Everyone is a well-connected source who can provide primary information without needing to do the research themselves. Being around them is inspiring.

When I joined Dentsu Inc., I learned that innovation comes from "information × information." Working since then, I truly believe that's right, which led me to build a team skilled at gathering information across different genres. We then develop concepts from this gathered information and provide them not only to clients but to society.

What's particularly valued now is our original idea-generation methods. Take "10-Genre Simultaneous Brainstorming": we select 10 members from Team B and brainstorm across 10 genres at once, generating multi-perspective ideas in ultra-short timeframes. It's incredibly efficient. We also employ other original methods like "Short-Short Story Ideation," where we collectively write science fiction stories featuring the client's future products, and "Prototype for One," which starts by creating a product for just one person. With 30 original methods now, we assist those who want to create something new! B Team's vision is for each member to unleash their talents and creativity for the benefit of society. We call these information-gathering meetings "Potential Gathering," and Sakai-san has been attending them for seven consecutive months.

Sakai: I missed one meeting, so I regret not getting perfect attendance.

Kurashige: You're closer to perfect attendance than any other member. I feel a strong connection seeing how you work alongside people you love, almost like you're sparking a revolution.

Seeing each member of Team B standing on their own stage of passion, tackling new work, and achieving results brings me immense joy. It truly shows how efficient "love makes you good at something" can be.

※Continued in Part 2
You can also read the interview here on AdTae!
Planning & Production: Dentsu Live Inc. Creative Unit Creative Room 2, Aki Kanahara