The evolution of design: A conversation with Mark Curtis

In this episode of Catalyst, Tammy is joined by Mark Curtis, the co-founder of Fjord and a pioneer in the design, strategy and thought leadership space. Over three plus decades in media, mobile design and emerging tech, Mark’s had a front-row seat to nearly every major digital shift. He’s led research on how people change in response to technology. And he helps leaders and teams make sense of transformation and stay relevant.

Tammy and Mark discuss forcing functions for innovation, the truth behind “content is king” and whether AI agents make good family travel agents.

Highlights from the episode include:

• Content is king, but community is queen. Mark tells a mid-90s story about building an early online community for gay men. The lesson surprised people at the time: strong content helped, but what users wanted most was connection. That shift, from publishing to belonging, became a durable way to read what the internet was becoming.
• The supply chain is where hype goes to die. You can spin up an app, an agent or even a “new business” in a demo, but you still have to connect it to supply chains, customer service, governance and all the other unglamorous parts that make something real. That integration work is what slows the hype into reality.
• In the ever-evolving world of business, people want humans. Because AI lowers the barrier to creating things, differentiation becomes harder. People crave what feels unmistakably human, including backstory and trust cues, especially as more output becomes bland and machine-made.

Check out the full episode to learn more about Mark’s front-row seat to digital transformation and why he’s optimistic about design’s future despite the “long dark tea time of the soul” he went through worrying about it.

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Please note that the views expressed in this episode may not necessarily be those of NTT DATA.