A new agency has launched to bring bold creative thinking to the design of digital product experiences. John Roescher, CEO and founder of Handsome; Jennifer Allen, Handsome COO and former managing director at R/GA; and Pablo Marques, Handsome’s chief creative and design officer and former ecd at Elephant and Possible, have launched digital product design agency Raw Materials.
Left to right: Chief Creative and Design Officer Pablo Marques, Chief Operating Officer Jennifer Allen and CEO John Roescher.
Raw Materials launches with several global clients, including Peacock, JPMorgan Chase and Meta.
“Looking around at where we’ve come over the last decade in the world of innovation and design, I can’t help but feel uninspired. The biggest strategy, by far, has become one of optimization and scaling sameness. The world’s smartest and most talented creatives and problem solvers focused on garnering clicks and polishing the status quo.” said Roescher in a statement. “In this environment, the real risk brands face is not trying anything new and drowning in the sea of sameness.”
Roescher said that Raw Materials was conceived as a partner for brands seeking creativity at the forefront of product design to unleash novel ideas that help them succeed by standing out and breaking rules.
Raw Materials has already made over 30 new hires in recent months, spanning a wide range of strategy, design, technology and creative roles.
“The route to success lies in helping our clients explore and take chances with the confidence that comes from pushing our ’rigor and romance’-based approach into everything we do at every step. And to make that possible, we need to lead by example,” said Allen in a statement.
Allen added that Raw Materials is rethinking everything about the creative agency model, including talent, letting people work wherever they feel the most creative in what they call the “Raw Talent Network.”
“Our big goal is to champion creativity as the central pillar of designing great products,” said Marques in a statement. “Some amazing creative brains out there are currently shackled by rigid design methodologies, stifling true innovative ideas and fresh thinking. One of our key tenets is finding these people and giving them a home here with us, both talent and clients, and help them do their freshest and most innovative thinking yet, in an environment that is being custom-built to approach things this way.”