A lesson from my time at Apple
One customer I met lived with Parkinson's disease and had pronounced tremors in his hands. Because of them he struggled to film his own child, and his videos were too shaky to enjoy. Apple had introduced Action Mode for a different purpose: to keep video smooth when the phone is moving violently, for example on a mountain bike over rough ground.
For him it was almost a perfect fit. He could record steady, lovely footage of his child growing up and look back through those memories, while other accessibility features helped him control his phone despite the tremors. The feature was never designed with him in mind, yet it changed what he was able to do.
It showed me that the real impact of a design is decided by the people who use it, often in ways the designer never imagined. In attractions, guests will use every ride, queue and environment in ways we did not predict, so I design with that margin in mind and I keep listening to them.
I am the founder of Frankie Pang Studios, a London-based practice working at the intersection of design, architecture and technical making. My projects range from brand and product visualisation to experimental fabrication and custom-built tools, and they share one method: understand the person the work is for, then engineer every detail to serve them. I am also studying for an MEng in Global Design Engineering at ASU London, which runs until 2028.
At Apple I spoke every day with people from every walk of life, from children and teenagers to older adults, including many customers who were deaf, blind or had limited motor function. I saw how a product that looks simple can shape someone's day, and I heard what people expect, how they really use it, where it falls short and what they wish it did. That taught me to ask of every decision how it will affect the customer, and how it will affect manufacturing, implementation, the environment and the reputation of the company.
I have kept my skills deliberately broad. I understand mechanical and electrical engineering well without being a specialist in either. My speciality is working with people and groups and making the invisible visible: the small details that reach a very large customer base.
The attractions and themed entertainment industry is equally broad, and it will always need people who specialise deeply in their own disciplines. What I have identified is an open space alongside them, for someone with the mindset and skills to hold the whole picture together: to connect story, mechanism, safety and operations, and to carry an idea through to a result that is reliable, manufacturable and maintainable, and that still has a positive impact on the guests who experience it day to day. That is the role I want to fill.
