| Industry: | Design firm, industrial design, interaction design, management consulting, innovation management, service design, software engineering, organization design,[1] Venture Management[2] |
| Founder: | Hartmut Esslinger |
| Location City: | San Francisco, California |
| Location Country: | United States |
| Area Served: | Worldwide |
| Key People: | Gagandeep Gadri [3] |
| Num Employees: | 2,000+ (2021)[4] [5] |
| Type: | Subsidiary |
| Owner: | Capgemini |
| Website: | https://www.frog.co |
frog (styled as "frog, part of Capgemini Invent") is a global creative and design consultancy founded in 1969 by industrial designer Hartmut Esslinger in Mutlangen, Germany, where it was initially named “esslinger design”.[6] [7] Soon after the company moved to Altensteig, Germany, and then opened a new studio in Palo Alto, California, and ultimately to its current headquarters in San Francisco, California. The company has studios in North and Central America, Europe, and Asia.
The name was changed to frog design in 1982 (the name originating from an acronym for Esslinger's home country, the Federal Republic of Germany; it was originally styled exclusively in lower-case as an expression of its belief in a democratic place of work, where ideas are openly and freely shared, and in opposition to the capitalization of nouns in German[8]). The brand was once again restyled as frog in 2011 to signify an expanded portfolio of services that included strategy and organization activation.
The company was acquired by Capgemini in 2021 and is now a part of Capgemini Invent.[9]
The firm's first designs, in 1969, were for WEGA,[10] [11] a German radio and television manufacturer that was later acquired by Sony. frog continued to work for Sony and designed the Trinitron television receiver in 1975, and several editions of the Walkman.[12] [13] Their first designs for computer manufacturers were for proprietary systems by CTM (Computertechnik Müller) in 1970 and Diehl Data Systems in 1979. More prominent are the designs for Apple Computer, starting with the case of the portable Apple IIc, introducing the Snow White design language used by Apple during 1984–1990, and continuing with several Macintosh models.[14] The firm designed the NeXT Computer in 1987[15] and Sun's SPARCstations in 1989.[16] More recently, the firm is known for its work with General Electric (2010–2015) and on Disney's Magicbands and MyMagic+ (launched 2015).[17]
In August 2004, the company announced that Flextronics International, a large electronics manufacturing services provider, was taking an equity stake in the company for approximately $25 million; in 2006, frog was part of a deal through which private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR) acquired nine of Flextronic's assets.[18] [19] frog was later acquired by engineering firm Aricent, which itself was acquired by Altran, which in 2019 was in turn acquired by the consulting firm Capgemini. Today, frog is organized under the “Capgemini Invent” umbrella, integrating staff from Fahrenheit 212, Idean, and June21 into the frog brand.[20]
frog has had studios across Europe, North America, and Asia for much of its history, and as of 2024, has studios across the globe, including having a presence in Munich, San Francisco, New York, London, Bangalore, and Singapore.[21]
As of 2024, frog has studios across the globe, including having a studio in Munich. This studio focuses on creating business models as work with Made of Air, a Berlin-based startup. Designing the hexagon-like pattern for the Made of Air company, as well as collaborating with the company to build the framework of the brand.
frog originally started as a small industrial firm by Hartmut Esslinger. Esslinger served as Frog's first Chief Creative Office (CCO), and with his wife, Patricia Roller, frog was able to achieve international prominence.
In 2005, Esslinger and Roller decided to sell frog, and with that Mark Rolston became the next CCO, which began frog's evolution into the digital experience. Which kicked off the development of eleven studios across the globe. The time Rolston spent at Frog was short, and in 2013, Hans Neubert became the third CCO of frog.
After Neubert departure from frog, the company steered away from just having a single CCO. This led to the creation of the Design Leadership Team, which included five designers which resided in different studios.
As of 2024, the Design Leadership Team consist of these five leaders: