4 predictions for the future of design practice.

In April, I attended an event at the Center for Architecture called RE:Think | Design Thinking Outputs that was focused on models for dynamic and collaborative practice within the design (and larger problem solving) industry. It’s one of the best professional panels I’ve ever been to content-wise, and the format was also especially interesting; presenters were paired up and then engaged in dialogues after their paired presentations.

If you have the time, a video of the event is available: http://vimeo.com/41152962 But if you don’t, below are my four big takeaways/predictions.

image via VisionArc

1. Project teams will increasingly be formed based on shared values, rather than coordinated skill sets or specific project goals. To be successful in these teams, we’ll all need to get better at articulating and demonstrating our most important values.

2. Projects will become increasingly iterative, and decreasingly organized around predetermined deliverables. Everyone will need to get better at embracing risk, learning quickly, communicating clearly, and generally being adaptable.

3. The term “client” will include an increasingly diverse array of stakeholders, funders, and both participating and non-participating beneficiaries. As designers, we have the opportunity to take a proactive stance in prioritizing all these clients. It would be wise for us to do so.

4. Authorship will increasingly be preserved thanks to respect from our peers, rather than by taking defensive legal action. As the processes of creating ideas, images, products, and systems become increasingly collaborative, the myth of the lone creative will continue to be debunked. We will have to get more comfortable in trusting others to give credit where credit is due, since strict copyrights will become increasingly impractical.

This event was organized by AIANY’s New Practice Committee.

May 30’s daily design idea is what predictions do you have about the future of design practice?

Why we get up in the morning.

February 16’s daily design idea is another quote from Ben Hammersley’s talk at Lift 11, because I really enjoyed it that much:

 

“Our primary problem isn’t to encourage innovation,
because people are going to innovate anyway.

Because it’s fun.

It’s why you get up in the morning.”

And just for kicks: here’s a great illustration, Innovation Nation, by playful graphic designer Alberto Antoniazzi (created for the Threadless Loves Innovation contest).

Ben Hammersley at Lift 11: Pyramids and Sheets.

Ben Hammersley is the editor of The Journal of Post-Digital Geopolitics and a speaker from the recent Lift conference in Geneva, on top of many other impressive accomplishments. His full presentation from Lift 11 is available to view online (which I highly recommend), but below is my overall takeaway.

Lift11 was a “conference about current and emerging usage of digital technologies such as online communities, social media and casual games. Participants come to better understand the challenges and opportunities presented by digital technologies, and meet the people who drive these innovations.” Appropriately, one of the early quotes from Hammersley’s presentation is:

For the past decade or so, we’ve had conference after conference after conference talking about innovation: “We’ve got to be innovative, we’ve got to think in a new way, we’ve got to think outside the box.” Telling someone to be innovative is like telling someone to be funny: it’s really hard. It doesn’t kind of work. (10:40)

Hammersley points out that our youngest generations don’t understand this call to innovative action, because that’s already “the thing that they do” (3:30). So the alleged innovation problem is really a translation problem between two generations that each have different cognitive frameworks. His main argument is that older generations (which include many current leader throughout the world) understand social entities and power structures through pyramidal hierarchies while younger generations think of people as being in more democratic “sheets” or “networks” — or “communities of choice,” as Global Trends puts it. As a note: Hammersley never specifically defines what he means by “old” and “young,” but don’t let the generalizations distract you from the wonderful core content of his talk.

One of Hammersley’s more poignant supporting arguments, in my opinion, is the example of anti-terrorism efforts (13:20 and again at 15:30). Older generations will say “shoot the leader, and everybody else will go away,” demonstrating a lack of understanding that contemporary social entities (including those of our enemies) no longer rely on pyramid power structures. If a single person goes down, there are plenty of others ready to reconfigure themselves and continue on. Or in other words, “it’s very very difficult to shoot a hashtag” (14:20). Communication gaps about concepts like these are what leads Hammersley to repeatedly urge the audience to better explain new ideas to older generations (instead of complaining when the untranslated ideas seem to fall on deaf ears).

During the final Q&A of the presentation, Hammersley mentions how many contemporary networks attain greater relevancy by more directly impacting the individual, in some cases because they are local rather than multi-national (21:45). But his major overarching observation is that geographic boundaries created a thousand years ago, when “it was hard to get on a horse and go further than ‘that'” (8:00), no longer define individual cultures. Instead, they are increasingly becoming non-geographic “diasporas of interest” (11:15).

February 15’s daily design idea is one of Hammersley’s concluding thoughts: “Our primary problem isn’t to encourage innovation. Our primary problem is to translate it.” (18:45)

Photos from Lift 11 collection on Flickr, taken by Ivo Näpflin.
The video of Ben Hammersley‘s presentation at Lift 11 is located here.
Thanks to Andrew for turning me on to Hammersley’s work.

The Advice of Strangers.

If crafting a nonlinear career seems awfully stressful, why not take a cue from Marc Horowitz and leave the decision-making up to strangers?

In a new program presented by New York-based Creative Time, Horowitz is putting “his daily decisions in the hands of strangers,” who vote on a set of multiple choice options that Horowitz posts online for each decision. According to TheAdviceOfStrangers.com and the website of presenting art entity Creative Time, “Horowitz will post the dilemmas he’s facing—from the seemingly mundane to the profound” each day throughout November. “He needs your help to guide him in his career, his tumultuous relationship with his family, his personal grooming choices, his first semester as a graduate student in art school, and in the many spontaneous daily dilemmas he encounters.” The project’s website displays Horowitz’s decision polls, tracks the voting results in real time, and then follows the resultant actions “through Marc’s signature and hilarious video coverage.”

Beyond thoroughly enjoying Horowitz’s on-screen affability, I’m very curious to see how (if at all) this project will significantly change his life or lead to any interesting follow-up projects.

November 6’s daily design idea is how open could you be to sharing your decision-making power with strangers? Does this sound terrifying or freeing?

project logo from TheAdviceOfStrangers.com; photo from marchorowitz on Flickr

The right client is always right.

A few months ago, Michael Bierut (yes the Penta-lust continues) gave a fantastic talk about the relationship between designers and clients for a series called CreativeMornings.

It’s lengthy, about 50 minutes long including audience questions, but worth it in my opinion. You can watch it here.

July 24′s daily design idea is “Clients are the different between design and art,” says Bierut. Do you agree?

Recorded proposals.

Wedding proposals come in all shapes and sizes, but sadly many of them don’t get recorded except through the stories that people share. I have two friends getting married this September that have an incredibly cute proposal story, and it’s all caught in a series of fantastic photos (some hysterical) thanks to the forethought of the groom and his new high-tech, remote-controlled camera.

My other favorite proposal documentation is definitely the semi-viral Graffiti Proposal of photographer Shannon Reiswig to his girlfriend Jessica. On top of the amazing video that Shannon arranged the production of, he also captured the whole process in a series of stunning photographs.

July 10′s daily design idea is while they may do it the best, professional photographers aren’t the only ones who can capture your special moments. Remember, documentation is important.

Photo by Reiswig Photography.

This post is dedicated to Elle and Mike, who were married at 5pm today.

Physical pixels.

I’ve been riding a wave of street art love since seeing Banksy’s Exit Through the Gift Shop (which opened on the 16th in New York City and California, and drops in several more US cities over the next few weeks). Pixelated street art, similar to the early work of Invader, has become especially interesting to me since it both honors and rejects digital. This art is non-digital in form, yet it remains decidedly removed from the worlds of mosaic or pointillist painting. I’d also argue that the viewer needs to have been exposed to digital art to get the intended joy and/or feelings of nostalgia out of these pieces.

Patrick Jean of Onemoreprod recently made a really impressive short movie called PIXELS, where 8-bit video game-like creatures take over New York City. Jason Eppink has spurred on an amazing “unauthorized on-going video art performance collaboration” with his creation of the DIY Pixelator, which transforms the MTA’s public video ads into something a little less literal.  Then there’s always the more classic approach to street art:

taken by Annamarie Tendler in the East Village

April 16’s daily design idea is imagine that your world is pixelated, and design something based on that imagery.