Not “benefits,” but our “environment” that we can achieve together.

Good benefits at Cocone? A society that takes this environment for granted should be coming soon.
More importantly, I want them to understand what they are striving for in that environment.

The work environment at Cocone’s often described as “Silicon Valley-like,” with a chef who works for the company and a personal trainer who cares about your health and wellness.
What are your thoughts on this environment? We asked Director and Attorney Ishiwata and Art Director Utsumi of Pokecolo about current issues and the world they see ahead.

Thoughts on the environment. The feelings I have as a designer.

–First of all, I would like to ask you both to introduce yourselves.
Ms.Ishiwatari
Director As an attorney, I manage all aspects of the business. I started my career as an attorney and joined Cocone in 2014, starting with the development of the back office, including legal affairs, and after managing divisions and launching new businesses, I am now also looking after the management of an infant school as the representative of a subsidiary. Today I would like to talk about the environment at Cocone and what we aim to achieve there.

Ms.Utsumi
I am a designer and art director. After graduating from art college, I did not specialize in illustration as a career. One day, I was fascinated by the cute world view of ” Pokecolo and joined Cocone as a designer with one thought in mind: “I want to work here! I joined Cocone as a designer with a single thought, “I want to work here!

Since the company had only a few dozen employees at the time (now it has about 500), there was no system for becoming a full-time employee. I started as a part-timer and worked together with my superiors to create the company’s growth, such as by asking for a promotion directly to a higher position. Now I not only produce items, but I am also responsible for sales, team management, and recruiting, and my scope of work has expanded.
At Cocone, 40% of our employees are designers, and designers are at the heart of the company. Today, I would like to talk about the company from a designer’s point of view.

It is not a welfare program. We are just doing what we should do as a company.

–I know that Cocone has a delicious in-house deli where you can eat fresh food at a reasonable price, and a gym where you can exercise anytime you want. It seems to me that there are few companies that offer such an attractive “benefits” package!

At Cocone, we place great importance on the working environment. We aim to make our employees feel healthy, happy, and a sense of belonging just by coming to work.
Especially since I spend less and less time at the office under Corona, I have come to realize that I want to provide the “best and most special” place when I come to work.
However, a deli or gym should be provided for employees.
Is this really a “benefit”?
At Cocone, we do not consider this to be an additional “benefit” but rather an obligation that we must fulfill as a company.
In general, Cocone’s gyms and delis may be considered a “generous value-add.
But with the role and raison d’etre of a company, I believe it should be a “natural assumption that employees should be cared for to this extent.
–companies and the image of health and happiness, in general, do not yet match. It’s a great environment, but are there challenges?
Ishiwatari
In a recent employee survey, “What is your favorite part of Cocone?” many of the comments were “the food is delicious” and “exercise has become a habit” in the first place.
Of course, I am happy to be mentioned in the “Favorite Points” section, but I feel that it is a challenge to take it as a given and not take the discussion beyond that point.
Specifically, while it is a matter of course to provide an environment in which health and happiness should be enjoyed, Cocone’s mission is to “give form to sensibility” on top of that.
To do so, we need to

• I am excited about the future that Cocone is aiming for.
• I’m attracted to the values of Cocone.
• Excellent associates grow even more.
• We can get to the essence of design.

to be able to talk more about our work, our future, and our customers.

The environment is not something that is just given to us. It is something that we can achieve together by raising our dreams.

Ms.Utsumi
When I joined the company, I couldn’t even imagine having a deli. But even back then, the company served pizza every week and subsidized lunches.
Since that time, we have talked about how it would be nice to have a good Cocone deli someday.
At the time, I thought it was a light joke.
But as the company grew, those dreams came true one by one. From sometime in the past, as a matter of course, a deli and a gym were built. I believe that the members who witnessed this process have realized that dreams can and will come true if you hold them up and wish for them.

Two issues I feel every time I hear “I joined the company because of the benefits.

Ms.Utsumi
As a designer, when I hear, “I was so attracted to the benefits that I joined the company,” I feel happy that my colleagues’ beliefs have been understood, but at the same time I recognize that we are not good enough.
Why isn’t “design” first being talked about? We want to create an environment where design is discussed at the center!
The first is that this environment has been created by our people, and I am naturally proud of it, but as with Ishiwata’s earlier statement, as a designer

• Lovely environment to concentrate on design!
• What is the secret of an organization that generates such new expressions?
• I am glad to be part of a company with such wonderful designers!

I would like to have them say things such as
I think it is a challenge for us designers to keep the impression that the food is delicious coming first and that it is not being talked about.
We want to gather people who are willing to work together to build up the project, not just enjoy it.
Second, hopefully, they will not only want to enjoy this environment, but also think, “I want to make this better, I want to build it with them, and I can build it too.
This environment was not created suddenly; I see the process of wishing and creating it by our own people. That is why I believe I can be involved.
The current environment is very nice, but if we do this, it will be even better, and I have this dream. So I hope that more and more people will join Cocone and want to work together to build it up.

— What are the thoughts of the designers in this environment?

In Cocone’s work, one’s sense of style is constantly exposed to market competition, and one can clearly see the results.
A very fair world. At the same time, very ruthless and harsh.

Ms.Utsumi
This may seem contrary to the trend of “an environment where employees can aim for health and happiness,” but I believe that Cocone’s work is a very fair, yet demanding environment for designers.
Cocone’s flagship service, Pokecolo is a business that provides digital clothing and rooms.
If the designs I come up with resonate with customers, they become popular. I am very happy in the sense that I can pursue my own sense of style, which I believe in. However, if the design is not supported by the customer, it will have no value at all.
It is exactly the same as painters and fashion designers in the world.
Their own sense of taste is evaluated as market value as it is, sometimes ruthlessly denied.
No age, gender, nationality, or track record is required.
Is it pretty, is it nice, is it inspiring?
This is a serious environment where the question is whether or not we can create something of value for our customers.

For designers who are competing in a tough world, we want to be warm around them.

Ms.Ishiwatari
At Cocone, basically everything a designer draws is released as a product and baptized by the customer. It is absolutely evaluated without discovery. Sometimes the work of a part-time designer who has just joined the company sells very well.
It does not matter how long you have been with the company or whether you are senior or junior.
Again, it is a fair but harsh world out there.
That is why the company wants to provide an environment where people can aim for health and happiness and fight as much as they want.
I tell deli and gym members, “Whether you are achieving results in your work or not yet, I hope you will always work sincerely with us as equally important colleagues. I tell them, “It is in such a safe place that you can work hard again.

— What qualities and skills are you looking for in an aspiring Cocone designer?

It is not enough to know what “cute” is. It is also necessary to have a hungry spirit, physical strength, and courage to change.

Ms.Ishiwatari
It may be the opposite of the “cute” impression one gets from poke-colors, but it takes a hungry spirit, toughness, and the ability to keep changing in order to have fun and keep creating in this seriously competitive environment.
Times change quickly, and customer needs change rapidly.
That is why change is necessary.
But humans are creatures that fear change.
At Cocone, we are aware of systems that allow people who are not comfortable with change to build up tolerance for change little by little. For example, we quickly make organizational changes and seat changes. The members who are accustomed to this will quickly pull out their cords, put their stuff on their chairs, and move on. Repeating the “yes, yes, you’re changing seats” situation certainly makes people more tolerant of change.
We listen to our customers and move the members around us to accomplish this.
To do this, you must be firm in what you want to do and what your ideals are.
Ms.Utsumi
Designers take the customer’s needs into consideration, find the answers themselves, and give shape to the answers, but in reality, they cannot complete everything on their own.
Most of them take shape with the help of the team.
What is needed is the ability to motivate those around you, and the core of this ability is to have “clear intentions and ideals.
For example, there is a member who is in her second year as a new graduate and has been named as the next art director. She says, “This is the kind of gacha I want to make in Pokecolo! She has a clear image of what she can do to make Pokécoro grow. She has a clear image of what she wants to do.
If you have a clear idea of what you want to do and can verbalize it, you will grow faster.
We are committed to providing an environment where such members can appear and challenge themselves.
–Finally, what is the appeal of working at Cocone?

It doesn’t have to be the best, just better than yesterday. Someday, you will find yourself a much better person.

Ms.Ishiwatari
What I wrote above is one of Cocone’s cherished values called “Cocone’s Heart”.
Cocone’s flagship service, Pokecolo celebrated its ninth anniversary this year, and in 2020, it continued to achieve record results. This is an unprecedented example in the smartphone app market, which is said to have a short life cycle.
Even from the outside, “I love an organization where designers can lead and think!” How did you achieve such a design organization?” They ask, “How did you achieve this kind of design organization?
It is still not the best, but at least one thing can be said: “There is no winning rule.
We have simply always done our best throughout the company to surpass our past selves.

• What is the environment in which designers can grow?
• What kind of organization is needed?
• Is the nature of design being discussed?
• The ways of doing things that used to work no longer work. How do we change ourselves?
• How to support our friends who are fighting

We keep trying, changing hands, changing products, creating systems, changing ways of doing things, changing systems, asking customers, and so on.
Christmas has come nine times so far in ” Pokecolo,” which is celebrating its ninth anniversary.
Every year we worry about squeezing out “that was the best” and “we can’t surpass last year anymore,” and as a result, we have surpassed ourselves in the past.
Cocone is not now, nor has it ever been, the best environment.
We do not demand the best from our candidates if we are not the best.
However, if you understand this tough battle and wish to “grow even a little more than yesterday! I am sure that you will find yourself growing up at Cocone.
We will continue to develop many environments for such people to do their best.

As a digital fashion designer, there is no reason not to take on the challenge of ushering in the age of digital fashion now!

Ms.Utsumi
Designers at Cocone are in a profession where their sense of style is clearly quantified as to whether or not it was “what the client wanted.
Again, it is a very harsh world where customers can dismiss your sense of style in one second.
But I believe that there is no more rewarding stage for those who have chosen the profession of designer and those who aspire to it.
Tens of thousands of my designs are bought.
A wearing boom occurs among customers, and after the sale ends, premiums are paid and a trend is created.
The design will be imitated not only by the company itself, but also by the services of other companies.
You and your team will have fans and they will look forward to your next product on Twitter.
It is a profession that is no less inspiring, rewarding, and influential than real fashion design or artists.
They could become the world’s first group of digital fashion designers and create their own digital luxury brand.
Cocone designers enjoy the joys and sorrows, the failures and successes, the hard work and growth, as they take on the challenges of the future.
Since there is no precedent, we have no choice but to take up the challenge.
No one at Cocone has ever made a mistake.
At the same time, there is no one who did not try for fear of failure.
We have created an environment where everyone thinks about what to do in case of failure.
We invite you to challenge Cocone’s designers as a unique destination for designers born in this era! We are waiting for you.