| Thoughts by Tim BrownComments for Design Thinking

Comment on When Big Data Gets Local by Cliff Moser

Cliff Moser — Thu, 09 May 2013 19:40:38 +0000

Pretty cool app. I like the rent vs own, and the donation to political party stats. It would validate the look and feel of a neighborhood.

Comment on Designing a Freelance Life Part 1: The Brief by Dan Soltzberg

Dan Soltzberg — Thu, 09 May 2013 16:42:38 +0000

In his book, Makers, Cory Doctorow lays out a fascinating and very plausibly described future in which corporations just sponsor individuals to freelance innovate–it’s a great provocation around the corporate business model and the future of freelancing.

Comment on Designing a Freelance Life Part 1: The Brief by Palani

Palani — Tue, 07 May 2013 09:17:51 +0000

Freelancing is the great concept which will reduce the overall cost to the corporations, great example is the Onforce.

Comment on Analytics and inspiration by Christie Amato

Christie Amato — Fri, 03 May 2013 19:25:14 +0000

With vast amounts of data, sometimes the most daunting task is to find the right question to ask or know where to begin. I’m wondering if rather that using data to inform design thinking if we should be talking about using design thinking to inform the data analytics process.

Comment on Designing a Freelance Life Part 1: The Brief by Nick Stocking

Nick Stocking — Thu, 02 May 2013 02:42:47 +0000

Tim- Great post, enjoyed the links too. I’m deeply involved in this question of developing an intentional solution to the freelance conundrum. Since 2011 I’ve run a freelance collective in Chicago (Design Cloud) which provides a platform of resources to help designers across disciplines work better and feel, simply, happier.

We’re working better in that we take full advantage of our specializations economically and share resources, which benefit our clients and brings real value… value we capitalize on.

But more importantly, we’ve been very focused and intentional on developing a culture which helps build confidence, trust, and creative risk taking…leading to greater happiness w/ our team. Happy designers=happy clients…that’s great, but really there’s nothing more rewarding than doing what you love, on your terms. It starts there.

I’ve done a lot of lean start-up style research on freelance designers locally in Chicago, along with reading up on the larger demographic trends which is very exciting. Would be happy to share my knowledge and experience. Email me, thx.