Posts Tagged ‘Design’
the organization should adapt to its talent
29 Mar, 2010 • posts i've written • No comments
Hartmut Esslinger is co-founder of Frog Design and life-long industrial designer and inventor. Hartmut and co. also established the Snow White design strategy for Apple during the 1980′s.
From Hartmut (approximated),
I was never afraid to hire people better than me and let them do whatever they could do. … I look for the genius in the person, even if I didn’t like it. I want to see the fire that the person could do something which no one else could do, or that I couldn’t do, because myself, I did not need to duplicate. Naturally, these people are not usable, at least not right away. You have to find a way for the organization to adjust to talent – I don’t think talent should adjust to the organization.
Organizations, especially agencies, are too shackled to past revenue streams and usually hire only to service those streams. Moreover, managers too often hire people to reproduce themselves and their own abilities. These are immense flaws in the way we hire and train talent – and they only lead us to become more rigid in a time where flexibility and innovation are not just preferred, but required for survival.
H/t to Paul Isakson for posting this video.
designing for one million years
02 Dec, 2009 • posts i've written • No comments
From BLDBLG, an interview with Abraham Van Luik, a geoscientist with the U.S. Department of Energy, on designing Yucca Mountain, a massive landform created by an extinct supervolcano inside what is now Nellis Air Force Base’s Nevada Test and Training Range, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas – a controversial site chosen by Congress for the storage of nuclear waste.
They did a study with futurists and other people—sociologists and language specialists. They decided to come up with markers in seven languages, basically like a Rosetta Stone, with the idea that there will always be someone in the world who studies ancient languages, even 10,000 years from now, someone who will be able to resurrect what the meanings of these stelae are. They will basically say, “This is not a place of honor, don’t dig here, this is not good material,” etc.
Designing with a distant-future consciousness… reminds me of a similar design problem: NASA’s golden record.
there’s more time than the present
11 Nov, 2009 • posts i've written • 5 comments
How do we design experiences with an understanding for how humans perceive time?
I’ve been obsessed with this deck from Matt Jones ever since I posted it last week. Presented with a few days off myself, my obsession was allowed to run rampant. I cherry picked quite a few things from his presentation and then dug a little deeper with the help of a couple books and the internet.
I would have liked to spend a wee bit more time with this one, but I’m trying out this new philosophy of not letting ‘the perfect be the enemy of the good.’
I’d love to hear some thoughts on this one, so donate your two cents in the comments.
make cool stuff happen
21 Mar, 2009 • posts i've written • 37 comments
I want to find a group of thinkers and makers to quietly take over the world.
I’m a strategist. Ideas vomit out of my mouth all day. Some of them are wretched, some are mediocre, but one or two a month aren’t half bad. I’ve specialized in “thinking” about stuff.
Over the years, I’ve let my “making” stuff skills fall by the wayside. Once upon a time I was a developer (little d) and a designer (also little d), but now, not so much. And I was never that great at it to start with. I have a huge amount of respect for great makers of stuff.
I’d like to make more stuff. Small stuff. It isn’t so much about my own ideas, but the act of collaboration, that I miss exploring the most; aimless collaboration, the kind that can actually surprise you. I want to make stuff happen. I want to find a group of thinkers and makers. Maybe we meet once a month. Or maybe we just connect virtually. Maybe it’s a Brooklyn thing, or maybe it’s a whole world thing. But with the cost of building stuff on the web so low, a group of people like us could make a dramatic impact.
I’m earnestly tossing this out there. If you’re at all interested, please leave a comment and let’s start a conversation.
my only two cents about skittles.com
04 Mar, 2009 • posts i've written • No comments
Let’s keep this short. Here are my only two cents.
- omg. omg. omg. How could they do this? Why? Why didn’t anyone do it before? (oh right, well, before modernista?) Bloggers and the rest of the ‘social media experts’ on Twitter are all a’flutter over the redesign. Here’s the only salient question: what was there before? Do you even know? It must have not been too interesting, or more than 2 people would have visited it. Suddenly everyone cares about some sugar candy’s website. Job done, day won, kudos.
(let’s hope it was cheap, too, then definitely kudos) - Don’t be all ‘we’re leaving our brand up to whatever people are saying about’ and then just stick me on your branded YouTube page. C’mon, if you’re gonna act like you’ve got a pair, let em drop. Show me the search page for skittles on YouTube, let me see all the remixed and stolen content. I’d give you an exploding high five.
Done. Brevity is the soul of wit.
trendspotting will destroy your heart
21 Jan, 2009 • posts i've written • 4 comments
I’m at a conference in Florida right now. Generally, I’m not blown away. And I do so enjoy being blown away.
A specific session has left a disgusted look on my face now for 24 full hours. A very seasoned, very well trained former Creative Director and now head of all IP at a global brand got up and told us that trends are dead. In fact, no new ideas exist. Ok. Thank you for that thirty second tidbit. At this point, he should have walked off-stage.
But he wasn’t finished with us. This chap spewed vitriol over the erosion of his art, he maligned all of these people “that go to community college and learn how to use Photoshop.” He spoke with a general malaise over the lack of new ideas; everything was mid-century modern repeated to him. Of course, as all Creative Directors do, he swooned over architecture (“the only field that is creating new ideas”). He said design is not a craft, and he pretty much said D.I.Y. is best left to moms at Michael’s. He told an anecdote of painfully watching a couple trying to match paint in the hardware store to their sofa cushion and photos from magazines (when they should be consulting with a colorist). He gave lip service to recombinance, noting some was great but most was the work of obvious amateurs. Of course, he thought Louis Vuitton was cutting edge. He said Project Runway proved there’s no talent left. He said that he no longer finds traveling and staying in hotels as enjoyable as he once did, and that his trips to Tokyo were even leaving him wanting. He said he was bored. He said the inmates are running the asylum. He was scared. And the worst part, he wasn’t even charismatic in his cynicism. (something I strive for)
He built his career on traveling around the world trying to spot emerging trends. He has spent his life feeding on the creativity of others and ripping them off. His fiefdom is falling and his castle is crumbling. Rejoice.
We live in a world surrounded by beautiful and accessible design. We live in a world where creativity and ideas ricochet between us faster than we can even fathom. We live in the most fascinating world that’s ever been, and you say you’re bored. I truly pity you.
