Manifesto
Building with method
Cone is a digital evolution lab: we design, experiment with and build digital products, processes and businesses. For our clients and for ourselves.
Building, for us, means giving shape to a model, understanding how to make it work, and taking it all the way to the result: a product that sells, a process that holds up, a business that grows.
To get there you have to hold different perspectives together: people's perception and psychology, conceptual clarity and logical sense, technical possibilities and constraints, economic and intangible values.
That is how a project becomes a system, and the basis for the next step.
In over twenty years we have worked in very different sectors: fashion, manufacturing, tourism, consulting, boating, food. Every time the problems seemed new, and every time part of the solution came from other experiences.
We are not an agency, nor a software house, nor a consulting firm. We use strategy, technology, marketing, data and AI at an advanced level, because a model only works when all the parts work together.
That is why we start from the whole system and work down to the detail.
The principles that guide our work.
Understand before building
We don't start from the trend of the moment. We start from a problem, a market and an organisation. Once we have understood how the system works, we can design something that makes sense.
Hypothesising is not knowing
Hypotheses must be tested in the real world to become knowledge. Whenever possible we build prototypes, put them in the field and measure them. In any case we look for information, and for refutations, in the data.
Go deep to simplify
A complex system can only be managed by simplifying it. But to simplify you must first go deep: understand the dynamics and tell what is essential from what is not.
Say things as they are
In our dealings with clients and partners we are direct and sincere, not tactical. We are not always right, but we don't hide our arguments to be agreeable.
Recognition
| Title | Project | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Netcomm Award 2019 | Apposta | Best E-commerce in Fashion, Milan. The Italian reference for digital commerce. |
| UK Ecommerce Award 2018 | Apposta | Finalist, Best E-commerce in Fashion, London. |
| Il Sole 24 Ore WWW Award | Apposta | Finalist, Best web project. |
| Premio Web Italia | Neronote | Best Ecommerce, Best Project, Best Fashion Experience. |
| Awwwards | Cone | Mobile Excellence, User Experience, User Interface, Innovation. |
| Marzotto Unicredit Prize | Neronote | Business innovation award. |
| EU Digital Icon | Cone | European recognition for digital transformation. |
Who is behind it
Gianluca Mei, founder. LinkedIn.
Degree in computer engineering. Over the years he has designed sailing boats, databases, software products, user experiences and business models. He has worked as a management consultant and project manager.
He founded Cone in 2002 and co-founded Apposta, taking it from zero to customers in over a hundred countries.
He works where creativity, logic and technology meet. He is mainly interested in what he doesn't yet know.
Outside work he is a scuba diver and a marine ecology enthusiast.
Talks
| Context | Place |
|---|---|
| European Commission, Digital Transformation Group | Brussels |
| Istituto Europeo di Design | Milan |
| Confindustria, Small Industry Congress | Naples |
| Milano Fashion Institute | Milan |
| Sistema Moda Italia Conference | Milan |
| Web Economy Forum | Ravenna |
| Marche Polytechnic University | Ancona |