Impossible Minds: Nádia Carmo
Tags: Creativity, Design, Startup, Designer, Innovation

Our Impossible Minds series profiles the individuals who are building new possibilities for the future across technology, design and culture. This time we talked with Nádia Carmo, our Head of Design for Bond Touch, who is passionate about how people relate to each other and thinks that the greatest challenge is to balance the inspirational side of the brand with the product’s ambition.

What do you enjoy about your role at Impossible?

As Creative Director it’s fascinating to collaborate with such a diverse group of people. My weekly routine shifts from creative thinking to problem-solving. Our goal is to connect people through emotion while interacting with the digital and physical worlds. Across all touchpoints, the experience should be enjoyable, relatable, and consistent. We use empathy and creativity to achieve this, allowing us to experience richer human connections.

What problem are you solving now?

People and relationships are always at the centre of everything we do, every problem we solve, and every story we tell. At the moment our attention is on our mobile app. How can we make it more engaging? On the personal level, it’s been a challenge to creatively direct the team while remote for so long, to assure they keep motivated and happy.

What are you passionate about?

Regarding the brand’s mission, I feel passionate about how people relate to each other. I think it’s inspiring to think we are connecting the world through healthier, happier relationships.

What do you want to create next?

I’m excited to participate and create our sustainable view strategy, which will entail multi-team collaboration from logistics to packaging design, and also mental health experts. We follow Impossible’s Planet Centric Design approach, which aligns our business, people, culture and production for a better planet and more humane existence.

What kind of future do you want?

Regarding the brand, I envision becoming an inspiring realm of interactions in which our audience, customers, and partners can identify with us and follow us everywhere. Regarding the product, I hope we achieve the lead reference space in emotional wearables, connecting people around the world through something so important as the significance of the touch.

What would you say are the biggest challenges to achieving that future?

I think the biggest challenge is to balance the inspirational side of the brand and the product’s ambition. Nowadays, both are needed. We live in a reactive, instantaneous world, which the brand can engage with and participate in, but also we have the opportunity to add value to people’s lives and make a difference through physicality and digital interaction.

Tell us a story

I have a few stories I could tell, but this one still amazes me eventoday. Back in September 2006, a friend and I were returning from our Europe Interrail. We caught the afternoon train in Irun, Spain. We got into our bunk beds and everything was great. Later that evening, at approximately midnight, when everyone was already sleeping, we were abruptly woken by the conductor. He woke me first, then my friend. He said in very stressed Spanish that our tickets were incorrect, that they were only valid until the Spanish border, and we could not continue to Lisbon. We talked back and forward with this ticket man, try to find a solution. We didn’t have any money with us, we had spent it all on dinner. There didn’t seem to be any solution. We could not get out while they were changing the locomotives and we were not allowed to pay in Lisbon after arriving. After a while of trying to negotiate with the conductor, a man in his mid-40s appeared from nowhere and paid the missing amount for both of our tickets, which was about €120. We were so surprised and grateful! He said he had been in the train cafe and heard our situation, and was happy to help. We tried to figured out a way to pay him back. We asked where he was seated and for his phone number, but in this process the man just vanished, we couldn’t find him anywhere.

Tell us something not many people know

Although I have two cats, my pet obsession is a small breed of dog called a Dachshund, which most people know as wiener dogs. But I don’t have one, because for me it doesn’t make sense to buy animals.