Something well designed is compelling; we are drawn to its efficiency, effectiveness, elegance, beauty, and often it’s cleverness and humor. You’re a designer when you arrange your clothes in an order that gets you out the door faster in the morning, or when you plan a route to the office.

Then why is “design thinking” so hard for so many to understand?

In my view it’s because we have a tendency to think things more complicated than they are; the enigmatic isn’t routinely unpacked but rather labeled something else or believed to be something we understand easier or perhaps ignored completely. Maybe we find the easiest remedy for complexity is to go to the end result and call it design: an iPod, Ferrari, or the elegant kitchen utensil.

Great designers design great things from information architecture to artifacts for living, but the truly great designer finds the right problem to solve that makes a difference and connects emotionally to the end user. They advance humanity by forward thinking with the support of observation and research, empathy for the end user and serendipity in the process.

I put together this 13 minute video with the help of 5 great design thinkers; Matt Munoz, David Burney, John Loftin, Jonathan Opp and Todd Coats.  In it they help us to understand design thinking.

To paraphrase David Burney in this video: Design is a way of life. Designers find solutions to the right problems through the balance of science, analytics, and math + art, spirit and intuition.

[Via Wikipedia:]

Design thinking is a process for practical, creative resolution of problems or issues that looks for an improved future result.^[1] It is the essential ability to combine empathy, creativity and rationality to meet user needs and drive business success. Unlike analytical thinking, design thinking is a creative process based around the “building up” of ideas. There are no judgments early on in design thinking. This eliminates the fear of failure and encourages maximum input and participation in the ideation and prototype phases.

Saul Bass Professional years: 1954 — 1995

Saul Bass to his young daughter: “I’m going off now, you play with your toys and I’ll go play with mine.”  We’re being paid to play with toys.

“I never intended on it being art. I tried to make a communication.”

Saul Bass

You’re work is unappreciated. The price tag hung on well crafted work is approaching zero. Fiscal efficiency dominates. The truth is, you can get an answer quickly if you don’t care about beauty and, I’m sure you’ve heard, time is money.

I believe the universal question that’s rapidly approaching the tunnel’s mouth  is: how are we going to live our lives? New graduates polled reveal that money is less important than to previous generations. Good thing I think.

There is too much evidence to deny that it takes 10+ years to master a craft. Who has that kind of commitment and patience for anything these days?  Mastery is a brutal journey and one easily dropped at a convenient turn.  Yet there is a common thread running through anything we abandon throughout the journey.

How long does it take to master aesthetics?  While not a craft, aesthetics is the “other” component of all commercial and fine art. Aesthetics is lifelong and mastering it is probably unattainable but it is often sacrificed in the money trade.

“Time is short, art is long” – Saul Bass

Everyone has to learn too much in too short a time.  The only way of learning is to do it.  There is no shortcut.  You need to do a lot of things over and over to get better and better.

[[Show as slideshow]]

Saul Bass’ advice to students was “learn to draw” since without hand skills you’ll contort to discover a work-around solution.  I believe this is still true but when then do we find the time to master Adobe Illustrator? Aesthetics must be the answer; study the essence of beauty and apply whatever tool you own.

Viewing Saul Bass I understand that whether beauty is worth anything or not, it is worth a lifetime pursuit.  “Do the work, get paid or spend time to care about beauty. Don’t live under the illusion that anyone else cares.”

Unmistakable artistic signature is found in this “Catch Me If You Can” Title Sequence:

Saul Bass bio [via Wikipedia]

Saul Bass (May 8, 1920 – April 25, 1996) was an American graphic designer and Academy Award-winning filmmaker, but he is best known for his design on animated motion picture title sequences.

During his 40-year career he worked for some of Hollywood’s greatest filmmakers, including most notably Alfred Hitchcock, Otto Preminger, Stanley Kubrick and Martin Scorsese. Amongst his most famous title sequences are the animated paper cut-out of a heroin addict’s arm for Preminger’s The Man with the Golden Arm, the text racing up and down what eventually becomes a high-angle shot of the United Nations building in Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest, and the disjointed text that raced together and was pulled apart for Psycho (1960).

Saul Bass designed the sixth AT&T Bell System logo. He also designed AT&T’s “globe” logo after the breakup of the Bell System. Bass also designed Continental Airlines’ 1968 “jetstream” logo which became the most recognized airline industry logo of the 1970s.

The Bird House and “The Cabbie”

The Bird House:

Bird House

On a weekend walk my wife and I came across our community’s annual Bird House Design Contest; apparently a local favorite unbeknownst to me.  There were nearly 100 bird homes in 6 or more categories – who knew it was that involved?  Excited, my wife ran through the designs doing a preliminary judging then a final run through as I waited having completed my vote.  Turns out, she is a much more thorough bird house judge.

Walking away from the event she said, “How fun was that”?  I said, “Well, that’s 30 minutes I’ll never get back.”  Wait, I suddenly feel like a bird house snob pronouncing only one or two barely worthy of my standards, yet I knew nothing of bird housing.

Every one of them looked like a bird house; that hole for the bird is a dead giveaway.  Is there some invariant form of bird home that birds comprehend; one that we’d dare not reject without risking vacancy?  What if I wanted to use design thinking to create a new bird house, where do I go to gain bird empathy or am I fated to derivative designs, i.e. where do I put the hole?

Maybe I’ll crowdsource this. Throw out a bird house challenge: describe the problem (new bird house design), set a price, get solutions from the crowd (via 99designs.com perhaps?), vet solutions, reward the winner, take ownership of the design, and retire on the sales profits.  I’ll send one to the design winner as a gift to be nice.

What do you suppose is a “fair” price for an innovative bird house design?  I want quality; I’m casting my net for brilliance; I want true innovation not some left over design sitting in someone’s closet.

Wait – how do I know who wins?  I know nothing but what looks good; I’m a visual guy – sure – but what if it looks great but functions like crap or is a huge bird disappointment?  I need an expert or better yet, I’ll bone up on all things bird.  Assuming I’ll never know bird “want”, I’ll immerse myself in bird “need”. Birds don’t really know what they want but sometimes they get what they need. It’ll have to be good enough.

The Cabbie:

Original still on which "The Cabbie" was based

Vincent Laforet is an LA based photographer and director.  He was asked by Canon to kick off The Story Beyond The Still. The story continues when the last frame of the previous video is used by the next artist to continue the story with their video creation – and so it goes.

It’s improv technique applied to video storytelling. The story is created by the artists, we get a cool story, and Canon gets publicity – everyone wins.

[via: The Story Beyond The Still]

It’s the first ever user-generated HD Video Contest where photographers become filmmakers, and we all see beyond the still. Last month Josh Thacker was chosen as the very first winner for his film “Job Security,” based on his interpretation of a still photograph at the end of the previous chapter, “The Cabbie,” shot by Vincent Laforet on a Canon EOS 7D. Josh’s film was the second chapter of seven, ending with a still photograph of its own for the Vimeo community to interpret. After a flurry of entries, Keegan Uhl’s “The Beach” was chosen as the winner for Chapter 3, and now, once again the question is posed to you, what do you see beyond this still?

Presented by AIGA Raleigh and PermissionToSuck.com

Recorded Version Online April 20, Eastern Daylight Time (USA)

The event will be held on Wednesday, April 14, 2010 6:30 pm – 9:00 pm (EDT) at Burns Auditorium in Kamphoefner Hall, NC State College of Design, Boney Drive, Raleigh, NC 27605

Sean Adams

[via AIGA Raleigh]
Join us for an evening of insight and inspiration with Sean Adams, as he discusses the evolution of the AdamsMorioka brand. He will talk in depth about their self-promotion practices and how that relates to business.

As he describes it, “This will be a frank and honest discussion answering some of the questions I’ve heard over the years. How did we start? Is it true we’re media whores? If so, how did we do it? How do we decide what to work on? Has Noreen ever abused me? And any other question you may have, but would be afraid to ask.”

Sean Adams has been recognized by every major competition and publication — from Communication Arts and Graphis to AIGA and the New York Art Director’s Club.

AdamsMorioka has been exhibited often including a solo exhibition at The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Sean is President ex officio and past national board member of AIGA, and President ex officio of AIGA Los Angeles. He teaches at Art Center College of Design, is a frequent lecturer and competition judge internationally, and has been cited as one of the 40 most important people shaping design internationally in the ID40.

For further details go to the AIGA Raleigh website.

The lucky among us experience an occasional connection with surroundings that – while nearly impossible to describe – is characterized by a feeling of oneness. New Age craziness aside, the mystery of that feeling resembles a moment of creativity responsible for propelling artists of all breeds to suffer their creativity.

Those gloriously tactile instruments of color were my first link between creative brain and reality of hand.  Finger painting is communication without the need for speech.  Give me a tool and I’ll create something of beauty that brings your attentiveness.  Suddenly I’m in the world of making things and traveling a path of mysterious surprise.

Whoa – sidetracked.  Praise, ego, competition, notoriety, sex and dreams of fame or money contaminate my hand to brain connection.  The drive moves from satisfying diversion to desperate need.  Still, it’s a measurement of being that advances my craft beyond mere peer.

What’s the point; a value christened “Art Money” or is it simply a factory work replacement?  Art wants to be fine – that is – without contamination.  Pure art contains curiosity, emotion, a reach for spirituality, communicating self, and is an implement of survival.  Art money terminates fineness and puts survival at risk.  If our culture faced destruction what could be salvaged?

Artists (in the broadest sense) are historically respected because they create astonishing stuff.  To be sure, art isn’t technique – it is finger painting.

“If it moves you to attentiveness it is art, if it doesn’t it’s something else.” – Milton Glaser

Milton Glaser, Inc.

Design thinking goes mainstream – this video gives a behind the scene look at the Business Week awards for best designs.

(via Business Week)

IDEA 2009 Gold Award Winners

Over 30 products were given the top award in the International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) 2009, organized by the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA). These ranged from innovative heavy-duty equipment to complex medical systems. The emphasis was on creating an appropriately user-friendly experience, whether that user is a veteran warehousing professional or a seasoned clinician. The Best in Show title was awarded to a company that is working hard to exorcise its past demons: Nike (NKE) won for its Trash Talk basketball shoe, made entirely from recycled materials.

Go here to see slides of the winners and go here for Business Week’s 27 most influential Designers.

Commercial artists need to touch home base regularly since we are so easily distracted by competition, trends, and making a living.  If you’re anything like me it’s a struggle to stay focused.. Leave the foundation and the structure crumbles. Leave the study of art behind and your aesthetic skills dissolve.

“Don’t try to be original, try to be good.”

This is the first of my touchstones. The words are a quote from Paul Rand. In today’s context, the idea seems foreign albeit refreshing. On first read I felt more than one brick lift its weight – I thought, “hell, I can be good, just don’t ask me to be original”.   Originality is too damn hard.  Original is like asking me to be something I’m not; original is someone else.

I prefer to concentrate on the balance of form and content. As a result, I can listen to Paul Rand talk all day and his work feels like a visit with an old friend. It’s exciting, familiar, comfortable, surprising and challenging all at once. In the quest for originality, it’s easy to forget how to be good.

“When form overtakes, meaning is blunted, and when content predominates interest lags.” – Paul Rand

I can change my use of form when it suits the content; i.e. some images work better in black and white, some better in color. The variations are infinite but in the hunt for flawless balance, it’s content that is searching for its perfect form not the reverse. Therein rests the challenge.

Press creativity into service to find an aesthetically balanced fusion of form and content. The objective is not to make something pretty but to make the message compelling. The goal isn’t simplicity; the goal is to fuse meaningful content with persuasive form.

For everything Paul Rand, go here.

It’s “challenging to figure out how to be as creative as possible while wearing both hats” … one as creative director and another as agency owner.

In this video interview listen to Domenick Rella, partner at advertising agency RellaCowan,  talk about his background, the business of advertising and his agency’s approach.

Through years of working in marketing and advertising, Domenick has honed a creative philosophy that has led to innumerable successful projects for clients and, not incidentally, won many awards. Prior to founding Rella:Cowan, he was art director for several agencies in the Southeast, and more recently, serving as associate creative director and creative director. His wide-ranging background includes print (direct and publication), broadcast and interactive advertising for clients in technology, research, finance, manufacturing and retail. Domenick also worked for Qualex, Kodak’s photo finishing division, where he was creative team leader in charge of national branding for Target Film Developing. (via RellaCowan.com) Oddity: Derives life lessons from “The Big Lebowski” Contact Domenick Rella

Enormous Word Warning: Disintermediation

I’m no economist, but any word that begins with “disinter” can’t be a good thing. Mediation sounds harmless enough; almost soothing – but combined, its disposition is ruined.

Yet, cutting out the middleman sounds more pleasing unless – of course – you’re the middle man. Cheaper and faster is the result of the missing middle, although whatever value intrinsic to the middle is wiped out with its extraction.

Not so in the case of “Open Source”. Open source is a form of development that promotes shared access to the product’s source materials. Like a never-ending beta test -apart from the agreement that any enhancements are, in return, shared without compensation – Open Source is ceaselessly creative and occasionally innovative. Designs are mutually beneficial to a virtual crowd with shared interests giving them the opportunity of equal benefit. A score passed along a musical chain would be a good example or – more conspicuously – there is Linux code [yawn].

We can also source a community by holding an “open call” [notice the opportunity for confusion through the word “open”] much like the organizers of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair did through a contest for design submissions that lead to an iconic structure to compete with the Eiffel Tower. The winning innovative design – by the way – was submitted by George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr. and the stakes were high; much more than the average compensation for the winner of a CrowdSpring contest for example.

Anytime an opportunist can pocket some change, exploitation is an enduring prospect. Exploitation is a shell game; a game that typically relocates money from one pocket to another with little or no value-add – they are disinnovative. While not entirely useless [occasionally entertaining], exploitation games can sure piss some people off.

You disinnovate by making something look innovative when – in fact – it merely reframes processes, economic dominance, or both without adding value; much like I’m doing by swapping unnovate with disinnovate as a coined phrase thus reassigning title from Umair Haque to me. Others might disinnovate with an open call for a logo design at $400.  No innovation here just a shifting of profit from the logo designer to the solicitor; a shell game.

“We have established what you are, madam. We are now merely haggling over the price.” – a punch line commonly attributed to George Bernard Shaw, also conjures the worst of the worst of Crowdsourcing and its disinnovative result that causes much venom spewing by creative professionals. Nearly all tools can be constructive or destructive, yet the old rules still apply:  “there’s a right tool for every job” and “you get what you pay for.”

Engage a crowd so they can influence a brand or participate in the development of products they want to buy – while not uniquely innovative – is inclusive in a variety that benefits everyone. A sure fire way of creating brand advocates is to get a community vested in its development; it’s a relationship much stronger than what conventional advertising will ever deliver.

Creativity is principally the domain of an individual enhanced by great relationships, but just as a properly harnessed horse team can pull harder, the right creative team can produce more consistently powerful messages. That said, teamwork isn’t what crowdsourcing stimulates. Consequently, don’t expect a creative product superior to that which you’d get from a reputable individual or strong creative team. Fluffy the cat will probably fetch your morning paper more often.

Conversely, “Open Source” not Crowdsourcing is the resource for absorbing virtual communities in teamwork. Their motivation is different; It’s less competitive and collectively engaged in a superior more productive solution. Open Source is much more likely to produce innovative, not disinnovative, results.         - Bruce DeBoer

In the attached video are two enthusiastic Crowdsourcing advocates. John Winsor – seated to the right [camera left] of Edward Boches – recently cofounded Victors and Spoils that lays claim as The world’s first creative (ad) agency built on crowdsourcing principles. What that means exactly and how far they can leverage a potentially disinnovative idea, we’ll have to wait and see. If brand awareness is a green signal for success, they’ve got a solid start.

For more go to:
victorsandspoils.com

Follow them on Twitter:

@jtwinsor

@edwardboches

Undeniable. We live in interesting times.  Perhaps it takes more courage – albeit a different kind (a New Kind if you will) – to live now than during the original Renaissance.  Creativity is spilling into the streets creating an awareness that we haven’t seen before these last few years.

According to David Burney, we are living through a “Democratized Renaissance“, one in which creativity is available to more people.  New tool sets allow everyone to compete, whether you choose to be an artist or find your niche in business or both.

In part II of the interview with David Burney, he frames his ideas about what we should be thinking in the next decade and what our value is currently as creative professionals.

Biography (via NEW KIND website)

David has nearly 30 years experience building and leading creative services organizations. Most recently, David served for 4 1/2 years as Vice President of Brand Communications and Design at Red Hat—one of the most disruptive technology brands in the world. David led the company’s overall brand communications strategy, including all creative communications functions.

Prior to Red Hat, David was the owner of Burney Design, partner and Chief Creative Officer at Capstrat, and Chief Designer at the NC Museum of Art.

In addition to serving as Red Hat’s brand executive, David also created an internal innovation program to drive the power of design thinking throughout the company. The program fast became an integral part of quarterly executive meetings. It was subsequently leveraged across the company worldwide to create departmental and individual goals that align with annual corporate business objectives.

David is an active and long-time member of AIGA, the professional association for design. He was a founding member of the Raleigh chapter where he has served as President. He has also served as the Chair of the National President’s Council.