I Love That Song

Today I read an article called, "Listen Up: I Don't Know What I'm Talking About." Beginning with an antidote about a girl in an antique shop, it talked about how people often speak with conviction regarding things they know nothing about. The author's own personal experience dealt with music and instruments. While Maddux loves music and frequently writes about the subject, she cannot play any instruments. She admits to only half-heartedly trying to learn but also finds her lack of skill to be a redeeming quality. When Maddux listens to music she bypasses the notes and pays attention purely to the sounds. She differentiates what she likes, what she doesn't, what else it sounds like, and what she wishes it sounded like. All of this helps her form her opinion without getting caught up on the actual notes being played.

I relate to not being able to differentiate one note from another, but also take it one step further. When I listen to music I listen blindly, most of the time I don't know what the song is called or even who it is by. While I have learned the names of my favourites, I love the anonymity that comes with this ignorance. I'm not trapped by having to avoid bands that are "uncool" and can relay to friends what I'm liking by singing a few lines or looking it up on the internet.

Optimism

Today I read an article I've been saving for about a week; The Optimism Bias. While it points out that things have gotten significantly more difficult over the past number of years, the article also states that as a populace, our optimism has not wavered. We tend to expect that things will turn out better than they do, we're optimistic rather than realistic. At times this can be dangerous, for example skipping regular health checkups, but it also helps to promote progress. To make progress we have to be able to imagine better realities and believe we can achieve them.

Personally I think that's great! Why not go for your dream job, save for an exotic vacation and work towards getting what you have always wanted. I think that if we were realistic all of the time life would be boring. While failing can be rough, I always have a harder time dealing with regret than failure.

The Future

Yesterday I did something different, instead of trying to figure out what my future would hold, I decided to attend a conference about how to design for the future. My morning started off in typical Amy fashion, lost in yet another city I am not familiar with. I arrived at the conference during the first break, said hello to the only person I knew and took a seat.

The first presenter I saw, Ari Baum, spoke mainly about the numerous different types of apps on the market. Coming from a print background, it was interesting to hear about the differences, as well as ways that you can get around coding.

After lunch I saw Jean-Pierre Lacroix, he talked a lot about the need statements of companies and how to accomplish them. One of the most important things was figuring out how to market to the heart of consumers to better connect consumers to brands. Even better than coming up with a big idea is coming up with a big idea that integrates a social cause.

Next up was Ryan Wolman of henderson bas kahn, who brought up the shift from one to two way communication between brands and consumers. In the past companies did not want to hear from their customers, the only reason customers called was to complain. The difference now is that companies incorporate customers into what they are doing and even sometimes have customers promote their products for them. Companies now have to be more truthful, they can't just say something is good for consumers unless it is, this paired with two way communication has caused an increase in brand transparency and positive social involvement.

The final presenter of the day was Patrick Robinson who spoke about a lot of things I had never heard of including augmented reality and numerous interactive apps. There were a number of interesting points he made, but I'll summarize them into a list: everyone we interact with is moving at different paces, "the future is here, it is just unevenly distributed", half of what half of us will be working on in five years doesn't exist yet, when looking at costs there is more than just cost to the client and cost to the company.

At the end of the day I felt inspired and curious. I wanted to go home and spend hours on my computer researching all of the things I heard about. I haven't gotten very far yet, but in the days ahead I'm sure I will be digging into a ton of great articles.

Innovation Ideas

Last week Design Edge recapped a design panel involving housewares manufacturer, Umbra and user interface designer, RIM. From the article I drew some great quotes from the panelists about innovation.

"Something really innovative is bound to be disruptive." said Todd Wood, VP industrial design RIM.

“Innovation comes from collaboration between designers and involving the client… You have to get out of yourself. Asking questions leads to innovation." said Ian Chalmers, graphic designer.

Matt Car of Umbra explained that cross-pollination is key. Each Tuesday representatives from product design, marketing and sales meet to bounce ideas around.

Wood mentioned that tools such as 3D printers make it easier to prototype and test ideas but, “Sometimes innovation is ahead of its time… It's not just about innovative design, but also about whether the marketplace is ready for that innovative design”

How Good Designers Think

I came upon this article a couple weeks ago and found it be a great look into how designers think at each stage of the creative process. From insight to inspiration to action, the writer describes how good designers think differently.

Insight

Most insight deals only with improvements upon an existing solution, but occasionally good designers go deeper and find unexpected but relevant solutions. One key thing they do is to think of people as people rather than consumers, this makes it easier to empathize with the issues people face every day. By observing people, good designers are able to move past what people say they do and see how they truly live their lives. Good designers also look beyond the discipline they are working within and add in expertise from other areas. Finally good designers look at how things may change in the future, then consult with many disciplines to see if they agree with their predictions.

Inspiration

Good designers have the ability to visualize things that have never been done, they can think abstractly and make it happen. In design, things are always being created for the future, whether it be through designing for new products or services, designers are constantly using their creativity to make something feasible. This skill is very useful when trying to come up with and execute something that has never been done before. Another useful skill is a designer's ability to inspire others to become part of their idea and help make it a reality.

Action

Good designers understand that they can't do everything and know to work with others to be successful. Designers stay with the project until the end, what's better than being able to say, "I did that!" Good designers are also able to come up with practical solutions, they can help solve contradictions and make compromises to get the project to work. Finally good designers understand the importance of iteration, they refine concepts through multiple stages, by getting feedback from the right people along the way, projects are brought to their full potential.

The 7 Cs of Communication

Twitter is my new favourite resource for articles, by following design related tweeters I am linked to close to 50 articles each day. While I don’t read them all, I do read all the titles. Depending if I have a lot of time or not I either read the article or send myself an email with a link. Most recently I emailed myself a link to “The 7 Cs of Communication.”

The article discusses how being clear, concise, concrete, correct, coherent, complete and courteous can greatly improve productivity. It is important to make sure that presentations, emails, conference calls, reports and meetings are well constructed to ensure the audience understands the message.

The article had some great tips, but what I found humorous was the inclusion of correct. Initially I thought they meant that you tell the truth when communicating, but they had a different focus. In the article the author discuss the importance using language that the audience will understand; try to avoid jargon. They also spoke about the importance of checking over grammar, spelling and names. I thought that all of these suggestions were valuable and that these errors are often overlooked.

Overall the article was a good read, and definitely brought up things to keep in mind the next time I write an email, make a phone call or attend a meeting.

Paper Type

I've been trying to catch up on some reading the past couple weeks, the magazines are piling up and my inbox is full of eblasts. My favourite read this morning was once again from The Daily Heller. Jerome Corgier, a graphic designer from Paris, spends his time cutting and pasting pieces of paper to create intricate three-dimensional letters. When asked why he chose to use paper as his medium he said that it is easy to manipulate. Corgier offered that the worst thing that can happen is to realize the colours are wrong once the piece is completed. Below are my favourites, take a look around his blog or website for more examples.