human centered design?
More thoughts arising from our class in the d.school on Transformative Design. I have always liked Don Norman’s ideas and attitude. A couple of weeks ago at Core 77 he questioned the feasibility of human-centered design – [Link] In today’s connected world and global market, he argues, culture matters little to design. Designers should center their [...]
creative spaces
I have just received a copy of Make space: How to set the stage for creative collaboration, from Stanford d.school’s Scott Doorley and Scott Witthoft – [Link] It is about the wonderful environment of the Peterson Building, home of the d.school, how it came to look the way it does, with its customized fittings, studios, [...]
ornament – overlooked and revisited
I have just received a copy of Diana Newall and Christina Unwin’s marvelous book The Chronology of Pattern [Link] – just published in the UK by Bloomsbury/A & C Black. We still radically separate ornament from style and meaning, treating it as superfluous and superficial, yet it is the primary experience we have of much [...]
the politics of design – the “T Character” revisited
Topic – how to be interdisciplinary – and more Quick recap. For some time I have been interested in the notion of the “T character” – an attitude or disposition, a skill set, that facilitates the kind of interdisciplinary practice that is the heart of good design, bridging the different expertise and interests in a [...]
Revs at Stanford – launched
The Revs Program at Stanford was launched this week with a conference at Stanford’s Arillaga Center. Over 300 came along to a day of talks and displays celebrating automobility. We were in the company of an extraordinary artifact sitting outside on the patio – a famous 1930s Bentley (chassis B35AE) raced by Yorkshireman Eddie Hall. [...]
Revs – agendas
These whiteboards capture some of the ideas and discussion at the launch of the Stanford Revs Program – [Link] Press and publicity links – New York Times Automotive News KQED – PBS News Stanford Report
Optimism and transformative design
Transformative Design, my class about design thinking that makes a real difference, run with Meghann (Dryer of IDEO) and Bernie (Roth of Stanford Engineering), opens again soon in the d.school. I got thinking seriously about its themes this weekend at a fund-raising event organized by Castilleja School, where Helen teaches and Molly learns, on the [...]
Science is Culture
My conversation, back in 2007, with artist Lynn Hershman Leeson about artifacts, memory, art, forensics, archaeology appears today in a new collection – “Science is Culture: Conversations at the New Intersection of Science and Society” [Link] Seed magazine brings together a unique gathering of prominent scientists, artists, novelists, philosophers + other thinkers who are tearing [...]
Archaeology in risk society
Chris Witmore and I have a paper in “Unquiet Pasts” – the new book from Ashgate edited by Stephanie Koerner and Ian Russell – [Link] It is my latest presentation of the argument for a living past, a transitive past, tied now to a call for attention to matters of common and pressing human concern. [...]
Automotive futures – featured on iTunes
Leading Matters – Download free content from Stanford on iTunes. The iTunes Facebook page is today featuring the event hosted by Stanford’s “Leading Matters” last May when we debated the future (and past) of automobility – see my blog entry here – [Link] Here is what Apple says (on its wall at the moment – [...]
EPIC 2010
In Tokyo for EPIC – Ethnographic Praxis in Industry Conference. 6th edition. [Link] How to improve the design of things – take people seriously – be human-centered look beyond the artifact – design systems, scenarios, stories, experiences, interactions don’t assume the designer knows it all – find out, pursue research and conduct fieldwork Ethnography, anthropological [...]
does innovation have a method?
The Hamaguchi Protocols I am in Tokyo University at the iSchool [Link], a new research and teaching initiative focused on creativity/innovation and human centered design. Visionary leadership provided by Hiroshi Tamura and Hideyuki Horii. I am here as part of a symposium with Hideshi Hamaguchi, Director of Strategy at Ziba Design. The topic – does [...]
Automotive futures
This weekend Stanford “Leading Matters” ran one of its alumni events in Santa Clara. Members of CARS (Center for Automotive Research at Stanford), now including myself, talked about the past, present, and future of auto-mobility. Great presentations came from Sebastian Thrun (robotic cars and Google), Chris Gerdes (driving at the limits – he brought his [...]
human centered design – the “T” character
This post is in a series of commentaries on a class running at Stanford, Winter Quarter 2010 – “Transformative Design” ENGR 231 – [Link] Real world problems don’t fit into neat disciplinary categories. We hear much about the importance of interdisciplinary or even transdisciplinary work. (Multidisciplinary implies keeping the disciplinary distinctions we need to bridge?) [...]
Archaeological project design
Encountering the work of FARO in Flanders (see blog entry – [Link]) prompted me to think about our own project in the Roman borders at the Roman town of Binchester – VINOVIVM.org – and particularly in relation to the Council of Europe’s Faro Convention [Link] I talked about the implementation of broad principles and policies [...]
fields not objects
This post is in a series of commentaries on a class running at Stanford, Winter Quarter 2010 – “Transformative Design” ENGR 231 – [Link] Pragmatology [Link] – the (non-existent) discipline of things – doesn’t deal in objects. Things are not discrete, but nodes, gatherings of otherwise distributed flows, relations – fields of connection, not objects [...]
archaeology > design
This post is in a series of commentaries on a class running at Stanford, Winter Quarter 2010 – “Transformative Design” ENGR 231 – [Link] Pragmatology and Pragmatogony I like to say that archaeologists deal in the history of people’s relationships with stuff, with things. And this covers a lot – basically 150,000 years of human [...]
design thinking – House MD and the eureka moment
This post is in a series of commentaries on a class running at Stanford, Winter Quarter 2010 – “Transformative Design” ENGR 231 – [Link] The diagnostician – a contemporary archetype – Gregory House MD [Link] Design thinking is problem oriented and human centered. The aim is to identify needs, often not even recognized and requiring [...]
design and behavior
This post is in a series of commentaries on a class running at Stanford, Winter Quarter 2010 – “Transformative Design” ENGR 231 – [Link] Leslie Witt of IDEO came to talk to us about design and behavior change on January 13. Last week I also posted a comment about Banny Banerjee’s exhortation to use design [...]
design thinking – pragmatics
This post is in a series of commentaries on a class running at Stanford, Winter Quarter 2010 – “Transformative Design” ENGR 231 – [Link] Design thinking is a systematic process for generating innovation. Last week we offered a crash course – learning by doing – designing a briefcase – [Link] Design thinking is a pragmatics, [...]
designers – the archetype – Odysseus
This post is in a series of commentaries on a class running at Stanford, Winter Quarter 2010 – “Transformative Design” ENGR 231 – [Link] Today I got to thinking about the character type of the “designer”. Not so much a craftsperson or artisan, nor an inventor, nor a fine artist. Someone attuned to particular circumstances, [...]
what is design thinking?
This post is in a series of commentaries on a class running at Stanford, Winter Quarter 2010 – “Transformative Design” ENGR 231 – [Link] We can certainly connect the emergence of the field of “design” with the growth of industrial manufacture in the nineteenth century – designers work with mass manufacturing processes in the industrial [...]
design thinking – the bootcamp
This post is in a series of commentaries on a class running at Stanford, Winter Quarter 2010 – “Transformative Design” ENGR 231 – [Link] Workshop From problem orientation – “design a better briefcase” to design thinking – observe/interview, identify issues with someone’s portable life, then address them iteratively sharing the results rapid prototyping station
IDEO, design, the everyday
This is the first in a series of commentaries on a class running at Stanford, Winter Quarter 2010 – “Transformative Design” ENGR 231 – [Link] I made a visit to IDEO last week, the design consultancy with its head office in downtown Palo Alto, by Stanford. I’m teaching a class next term with one of [...]