Malin Leschly, director of design at Logitech, earned her chops at the hardware company working for a demanding client: Livestreamers. “Streamers want to look good, sound good and be in control of what they’re doing,” he says.
Now, just over half a year into his role as Logitech’s CDO, Lechsley is exploring how the company can use AI to make content creators’ lives a little easier. In September, Logitech, through its Streamlabs subsidiary, “AI Game HighlighterIt automatically converts Twitch live streams into shorter clips that can be shared on platforms like YouTube, X, and Instagram.
“It’s an opportunity to see how AI can be helpful,” he says. Streamers, for example, think that editing their content is “worse than schoolwork”.
A winding road
Leschly took over as Logitech’s chief design officer in April, replacing Alastair Curtis, who spent a decade at the company. The hardware company has long boasted the focus of its designFormer CEO Bracken Darrell was candid about the design process at the heart of the company.
The designer took a “twisted path” for the hardware company, he says. Leschly grew up in Sweden, where “every experience you want is designed.” He came to the US in the late nineties to attend business school. “California cut its teeth into me,” he explains.
Leschly worked around startups and design agencies, including working at design studio Non Object. UE MEGABOOMbluetooth speaker, whose design is now “copied by almost every Bluetooth speaker on the market”. Leschly joined Logitech when the hardware maker acquired Non Object in 2018. “It wasn’t a big leap to go from smaller companies or a small studio to Logitech,” he recalls.
Logitech is now getting in on the AI trend, integrating the new technology into many of its products and services. Earlier this year, Logitech changed its computer mice “AI Prompt Builder” button, which automatically launches the ChatGPT AI generator program with preset questions.
AI technology is controversial in the design world, with critics claiming that it reinvents old ideas, reinforces existing biases and, most importantly, puts humans out of work.
Leschly, however, sees AI as the latest in a long line of tools for designers, such as Adobe Photoshop and Epic Games’ Unreal Engine. However, he admits that there are risks to using too much AI.
Design is about “craftsmanship and creativity,” he says. “If it’s almost doing the same thing over and over again, there’s no creativity in it. There’s no positive and significant surprise.”
“We can’t use AI that way,” he says.
“Limit Options”
In 2023, Logitech committed to include in the packaging of each product the total carbon emissions generated during its lifetime. The hardware is part of a sustainability push by the company, known for its ubiquitous peripherals in offices around the world.
Sustainability is embedded in Leschley’s design philosophy to try to “turn constraints into opportunities”. For example, Logitech’s Casa pop-up desk, released last year, uses about 80% recycled plastic in the touch pad and 60% in the keyboard. Both wireless peripherals are packaged with a laptop stand; Logitech introduces combined products as an easy way for users to work from any surface in the home.
“We’ve reduced the carbon footprint of this product by more than a third,” he says.
Courtesy of Logitech
The Casa desk is also notable for being derived, at least in part, from the needs of Logitech’s customers, especially those in Asia. “A lot of people don’t have the space or desire to have a table.” he says. “It was very true among women. They wanted to move in their homes.”
That’s not the only observation Logitech has gleaned from users in Asia. Leschly notes that younger Asians are now “blurring” work and play. The latest thing his team is noticing? Young workers are bringing their own gaming keyboards to the office, rather than relying on the standard cookie-cutter model.
For these users, a comfortable keyboard is “like finding your favorite sweater,” says Leschly. “They love the writing experience!”
Fortune’s Brainstorm Design conference returns on December 5 at Macau’s MGM Cotai. Panelists and attendees will discuss and debate “Experiments in Experience,” designs that blur the line between the physical and digital worlds to captivate users and foster lasting connections. Sign up here!
