Under the Hood with Ben Forman | Design & AI
For the month of May we’re putting a focus on Design &…Business with featured thought leadership articles, events & workshops, and design projects from and for our community. You can check out more from the Design & Business series here. Ahead of our Under the Hood Design & AI online event happening on 2 May, we briefly chatted with one of our featured speakers, Ben Forman of Wrestler.
Can you tell us a little bit about who you are, what your background is, and how you first got started in the industry?
This is all I’ve ever done… I thought I wanted to get into film after getting a media studies degree at Victoria, but soon realised the film industry is a little strange – too much ego. So I just started doing my own thing and ended up in advertising, with even more ego, lolz. I loved shooting and editing and I loved gear and nice spaces, so I just focussed on getting more of those. Little by little things evolved and I grew a team and got bigger spaces and more gear and now I’m hear. My background was just a guy who loved to shoot things and failed photography in highschool. Really nothing special at all.
What will you be presenting in Under the Hood?
I want to explore the philosophical ideas around Ai more than the practical aspects of it. It’s fun to talk about what’s coming more than what’s been in such a fast moving emergence of tech and way of working.
What are you currently working on?
We’re working on projects that are super human centred, where Ai doesn’t encroach, where real people need to tell real stories!
What insights to your methodological approach or philosophy can you give us?
It’s all about finding that emotive nugget that sits beneath the surface and connects with the subtle body, the subconscious. It’s well and good to make a witty slogan, but it’s lovely to resonate with people on a deeply human level.
Outside of work hours what creative projects and/or hobbies are you involved with?
I love wellness and human expansion. I host retreats where I gather various types of people to come together and explore how to grow within themselves in order to then grow their communities and organisations surrounding them.
And finally, where to next for you? What areas of your work or personal development are you hoping to explore further?
I want to push Wrestler further into the human centred storytelling space. As Ai becomes more prolific I think this type of content will be a breath of fresh air and connect with people in ways that feel more real and meaningful. That’s in alignment with my personal quest of being more present and connected to the world around me. Choosing more wisely the inputs I consume and being more grateful for the experience right in front of me.
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