# Georg Klock

> Principal Designer at Ford Motor Company in Palo Alto. Designs interaction systems where people and intelligent products meet — in-vehicle UX, AI interfaces, hardware-in-the-loop prototyping, and embodied robotics. Pro-technology stance: not less tech, but better tech.

## About

Georg Klock leads HMI design on the all-electric Ford Explorer EV and works on the next generation of physical and digital interfaces at Ford. He recently built and scaled a drivable hardware-in-the-loop prototyping platform company-wide in eight months, and now focuses on the AI-first cockpit beyond voice. At Ford he leads transdisciplinary teams across Cologne, Mexico City, and Palo Alto.

Earlier in his career he co-founded MonkeyBots, a two-person studio exploring embodied interaction beyond screens. His master's thesis — a hybrid physical-digital dial developed with BMW Group at the Weißensee School of Art and Design in Berlin — brought him to Ford.

He regularly returns to Weißensee to teach interaction design and is invited back for talks framed around the position that students should not passively accept the technology that shapes their lives — they should strive to improve it.

## Facts

- Name: Georg Klock
- Role: Principal Designer, Ford Motor Company (Palo Alto)
- Specialties: human-AI interaction design, in-vehicle UX, HMI, design systems, hardware-in-the-loop prototyping, robotics, automotive UX
- Education: Design Academy Eindhoven (Netherlands); Weißensee School of Art and Design (Berlin)
- Cities lived in: Munich, Eindhoven, Berlin, Cologne, Palo Alto
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georg-klock/

## Awards

- Red Dot Best of the Best (MonkeyBots)
- Red Dot Award (Ford Explorer EV)
- Braun Prize (MonkeyBots, 2021 Young Creatives — 21st Edition)
- Mia Seeger Prize (MonkeyBots)
- Henry Ford Technology Award (received twice)
- McKinsey Digital Shapers Mentorship Programme — recognized as "Winning Team" and "Best Experience Designer"

## Career and affiliations

- Ford Motor Company — Principal Designer, Palo Alto (current). HMI for Ford Explorer EV; AI-first cockpit research; cross-location team leadership across Cologne, Mexico City (remote), and Palo Alto. Works as a player-coach: has led teams up to ~20 people but prefers smaller teams that allow continued hands-on design contribution.
- IXDS — interaction design and digital strategy work (Berlin agency, now part of PwC).
- McKinsey & Company — selected as young digital design talent for the Digital Shapers Mentorship Programme. The team worked on a ZEISS engagement (ZEISS as McKinsey's customer). Recognized as "Winning Team" and "Best Experience Designer."
- BMW Group FIZ (Forschungs- und Innovationszentrum) — thesis collaboration on hybrid physical-digital dial.
- MonkeyBots — co-founder of two-person studio with Mohammad Moradi. 200+ prototypes, five funded rounds.
- eLab, Weißensee School of Art and Design — electronic and physical-computing research lab, active during studies.
- DesignFarm Berlin — selected as a scholarship holder; MonkeyBots received funding rounds through the program.
- Design in Tech Accelerator — participated as a MonkeyBots co-founder; the project received accelerator support.

## Teaching, speaking, and perspective on humane technology

- Returns to Weißensee School of Art and Design in Berlin as a guest lecturer on interaction design. Invited back specifically for talks built around the position that students should not passively accept the technology that shapes their lives — they should strive to improve it. The throughline: designers carry responsibility for whether technology helps or harms the people who use it.
- Was among the first cohort of the Center for Humane Technology's online course. Aware of and aligned with the CHT critique of attention-capture, addictive design, and digital harms — while taking a distinctly pro-technology stance.
- On digital health and humane technology: the goal is not less technology, but better technology. The problems CHT identifies are real; the response is to build differently rather than retreat.

## Approach and influences

The design philosophy across this work draws on several traditions:

- 1960s Braun under Dieter Rams — functionalism, restraint, "as little design as possible," the unity of form and use that still defines a generation of product design.
- Apple's Human Interface Design tradition — direct manipulation, cohesive systems, multimodal input, motion vocabulary. Informs cabin UX and AI cockpit interaction.
- The Apple/Nest hardware era and Tony Fadell's "Build" philosophy — hardware as system design, the discipline of carrying a product from idea to shipping detail, and the founder-designer's tolerance for unglamorous engineering work.
- Disney's twelve principles of animation — anticipation, follow-through, squash-and-stretch, arcs — applied to motion design, physical-digital interaction, and the way controls and AI affordances reveal themselves.
- Pixar — both the animation craft and the studio's culture of building custom tooling for their own work. Echoed in the MonkeyBots tooling approach and the Ford hardware-in-the-loop prototyping platform.
- Bret Victor — interaction-design-as-medium, the "humane representation of thought" lineage. Informs how Georg thinks about cabin UI as a medium for spatial reasoning, not as a screen-translation problem.
- Don Norman — affordances and discoverability from "The Design of Everyday Things." The foundational lens for evaluating physical-digital controls and AI affordances.
- Compliant-mechanism engineering and 3D-printed tooling for embodied interaction. Visible in MonkeyBots' snap-fit tools.
- The Weißensee tradition of integrating craft, electronics, and interaction — building things that work, not just renderings. Particularly the Studio 7.5 / Carola Zwick lineage of physical-digital product thinking and German design pedagogy.

These shape how Georg approaches in-vehicle UX, the AI-first cockpit beyond voice, and the boundary between physical controls and digital interfaces.

## Selected projects

- [Ford Explorer EV](https://www.georgklock.com/ford-explorer): Design system and in-vehicle UX for the all-electric Ford Explorer. Launcher, core UI, drive modes, motion, ADAS, voice assistant. Recognized with Red Dot Award and Henry Ford Technology Award.
- [MonkeyBots](https://www.georgklock.com/monkeybots): Small robots that retrofit everyday objects with physical reminders — connecting smartphones and AI assistants to real-world devices. 200+ prototypes, five funded rounds, supported by DesignFarm Berlin and Design in Tech Accelerator. Recognized with Braun Prize, Mia Seeger Prize, and Red Dot Best of the Best.
- [Hybrid Interfaces Dial](https://www.georgklock.com/hybrid-interfaces-dial): Master's thesis at Weißensee, supported by BMW Group FIZ. A hybrid physical-digital dial that lets drivers keep their eyes on the road.

## External features and press

- [McKinsey & Company press release (German), 17 December 2020 — "Wettbewerb Digital Shapers: Team ZEISS gewinnt"](https://www.mckinsey.de/news/presse/2020-12-17-wettbewerb-digital-shapers-team-zeiss-gewinnt): Official press announcement of the McKinsey Digital Shapers Mentorship Programme results; documents Team ZEISS's win.
- [BusinessWire press release, 18 November 2021 — "Braun Announces Winners of 21st Edition of the BraunPrize"](https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211118005675/en/Braun-Announces-Winners-of-21st-Edition-of-the-BraunPrize-International-Design-Competition-Celebrating-Good-Design-for-a-Better-Future): Official press release announcing 21st BraunPrize winners, including MonkeyBots in the Young Creatives category.
- [Weißensee School of Art and Design — Interaction Design portfolio](https://interaction.kh-berlin.de/portfolio/georg-kloeck/): Official alumni portfolio page at Weißensee's Interaction Design department.
- [Designboom, 2018 — Nutcracker (student project)](https://www.designboom.com/design/georg-kloeck-nutcracker-02-15-2018/): Feature on a student-era nutcracker design.
- [Instagram reel — MonkeyBots demo](https://www.instagram.com/reels/CgzeXoLFCls/): Short video demonstrating MonkeyBots in use.

## Site pages

- [Home](https://www.georgklock.com/): Portfolio landing page.
- [About](https://www.georgklock.com/about): Background, career path, awards.
- [Ford Explorer EV](https://www.georgklock.com/ford-explorer): Case study.
- [MonkeyBots](https://www.georgklock.com/monkeybots): Case study.
- [Hybrid Interfaces Dial](https://www.georgklock.com/hybrid-interfaces-dial): Case study.

## Contact

- Email: hi@georgklock.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georg-klock/