Dario Olivero is the Design Mentor at Arab Innovation Academy. In this interview, Olivero shares a bit about his career, the experience as a mentor and all you wanted to know about the world of design.

Dario Olivero, please introduce yourself!

I’m a design entrepreneur. “Live the dream, follow your passion” is my personal motto. I’ve turned my passion for design into reality. In my career as Design Director of the studios, I co-founded and lead DORODESIGN for car, product, and industrial design & TrueFlava web agency for digital communication. I spent my time across Italy, China and India thanks to our satellite studios. I am an expert in advanced design thinking and I love elegance #funkyelegance

Why do startups need design mentors?

Creativity and lateral thinking are the base of ideation and business development. As a Design mentor, I help the teams to boost their idea in shaping and creating unique output with experience and feasibility. The design is the freedom that allows your idea to go beyond boundaries and data. Discovering new possibilities and then finally turn them into successful businesses.

What is a question you should never ask a design mentor?

Never ask ”What color do you suggest for my idea?!” Please don’t be that guy!  Analyze your idea, your market, your user and the problem you are solving. It will make it easier to understand how to ”suit it up”.

Please suggest 5 great design tools for startups

Adobe XD *it’s free! Also Sketch, InVision or MarvelApp. And your brain of course, just remember to switch it on!  

Name some great designers to follow

I think it is worth to spend some time studying these two guys: – Massimo Vignelli and Dieter Rams. Starting with The Vignelli Canon and the Dieter Rams’ 10 principles of good design, where you will have a Déjà vu effect with apple products.

 

Wise words by AIA program team: 🤓

Design Mentors step into the game on Day 4 in the AIA program after you have formed your team, found a problem worth solving, talked to your potential customer and validated your solution. The essential task of the Design Mentor is guiding you in developing an effective and enjoyable UX/UI for your product. They will guide your team in creating a quality prototype for solution validation, building a convincing landing page for lead collection and lastly, making sure that your slides will stand out in the final pitch to the investors.

 

Check out all our awesome mentors: 

🇵🇹 EIA Portugal
🇶🇦 Arab Innovation Academy