Having been trained as an Industrial Designer I have always seen design as a form giving process. Communications designers might see it differently, but I think of manipulating and organizing materials, physical or virtual, when I design anything. I have been wondering recently whether this is an ou...

As a follow up to my last (and rather old) post I wanted to say something about networks as organizations and their aesthetics. I am most of the way through reading Connected, a brilliant book on the science of social networks by Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler. Among the many insights is that ...

At IDEO we have been working on the topic of designing organizations for a while, most specifically the design of organizations to be more innovative. My struggle with this particular domain of design thinking has been one of aesthetics. Great design thinking results in  functionally and emotionally...

Kevin MucCullagh has written a challenging, and long, piece explaining his questions and concerns about design thinking and you can see it posted on Core 77 here. I support much of what he has to say. Design thinking has to show impact if it is to be taken seriously. Designing is as much about doin...

For avid followers of the TED conference it will not be new news that British chef Jamie Oliver won the TED Prize this year. The result is that he gets $100,000 plus the chance to make his wish in front of the TED audience. These days that audience consists of millions (so far there have been over 2...

I just got back from TED where the content was as great as usual, maybe even better, and the networking even crazier. There were definitely more movie stars around this year. I guess the move to Long Beach is good for them. The topic of simplicity merited its own session as part of the overall them...

I am spending the next day and a half in Munich before heading up to Davos for the annual WEF annual meeting. There is a great event that happens here every year called DLD (Digital Life Day) put on by Burda Media. You can think of it as a mini TED but with many more Europeans. The content is eclect...

There is a move afoot to hold a constitutional convention in California. The purpose is to address some of the issues that are causing complete gridlock in the governance of the state. Given the successive budget crises and the seeming inability to think about long term and strategic issues, as well...

I came away from watching Avatar the other evening stunned by the ingenuity and beauty of the world that James Cameron and his team created. Like any design geek I loved the futuristic hardware and the user interfaces that were even more seductive than those in Minority Report. What really blew me a...

It did not go unnoticed that there was some irony in having several hundred people assemble in Dubai last week (see my previous post) to discuss how to make global institutions and systems more sustainable, especially given this week's announcement of delayed debt repayments by Dubai World. Despite...