Natasha Jen: Design Thinking is Bullsh*t.

Design Indaba
22 Aug 201826:22

Summary

TLDRThe speaker, a graphic designer and educator, critically examines design thinking, a popular approach to problem-solving. They express concerns about its oversimplification, lack of depth, and the potential for ignoring the broader consequences of design. The speaker challenges the design thinking community to consider the importance of language, aesthetics, and the true impact of design on society. They conclude with a creative project that humorously applies design thinking to itself, aiming to provoke thought and add a touch of delight to the often dry discourse around this methodology.

Takeaways

  • 🎨 The speaker identifies as a graphic designer, emphasizing the role of playing with words, symbols, and images to make information tangible and delightful.
  • 🏫 As a design educator, the speaker is intrigued by different design approaches and learns from other disciplines like architecture, but questions the oversimplification of design thinking.
  • 🤔 The speaker expresses difficulty in understanding design thinking and its methodologies, leading to a self-reflective exploration and reframing of their perspective.
  • 📈 The popularity of design thinking, as shown by internet search trends, spiked around 2015 with the launch of an online course by IDEO, suggesting a correlation between marketing and trend.
  • 🔍 The speaker criticizes the uniformity of design thinking results, noting that searches for design thinking yield similar diagrams and methodologies rather than diverse outcomes.
  • 🏗 The speaker argues that design thinking's focus on a single medium (posters) is limiting and that design should involve a broader range of research and resources.
  • 🌐 The speaker is concerned about design thinking's ignorance of the potential negative consequences of design, such as waste or climate change.
  • 💬 The language of design thinking is criticized for being filled with jargon and promoting an instant satisfaction mindset, rather than a deep, developmental approach.
  • 📚 The speaker is troubled by design thinking's infiltration into education, particularly with the rise of quick boot camps and courses that undermine the value of thorough education.
  • 🎨 The speaker, as a graphic designer, finds the visual representation of design thinking to be lacking in aesthetic quality and clarity, advocating for a more thoughtful approach to visual communication.
  • 😄 In conclusion, the speaker suggests that design thinking could benefit from a more nuanced, less dry, and more visually appealing approach, and presents a project that humorously critiques and analyzes design thinking through a designer's lens.

Q & A

  • What is the speaker's profession and how do they describe their work?

    -The speaker is a graphic designer who explains their work as playing with words, symbols, and images to make information tangible and understandable, with an aim to also make things delightful.

  • Why does the speaker find it hard to explain what a graphic designer does?

    -The speaker finds it hard to explain because people often assume graphic designers are only involved in branding, UX/UI, or advertising, whereas the speaker believes they deal with these areas in a much broader way.

  • What is the speaker's view on design thinking?

    -The speaker expresses skepticism towards design thinking, finding it too simplistic and formulaic, and criticizes its approach as being too focused on process rather than the broader implications of design.

  • How does the speaker feel about the use of posters as the primary medium in design thinking?

    -The speaker is critical of the reliance on posters as the main medium for design thinking, arguing that design should involve a variety of research materials and not be confined to a single method of expression.

  • What does the speaker think about the language used in design thinking?

    -The speaker finds the language of design thinking to be problematic, filled with jargon and buzzwords that lack depth and can be misleading, suggesting a need for a more nuanced vocabulary.

  • What is the speaker's opinion on the impact of design thinking on the world?

    -The speaker questions the impact of design thinking, noting that it often settles for superficial solutions and fails to address deeper issues like waste or climate change.

  • How does the speaker view the role of beauty in design thinking?

    -The speaker believes that beauty is integral to design and is critical of the design thinking approach that separates form from function, arguing that beauty is not just decoration but a reflection of intelligence and quality.

  • What is the speaker's concern about design thinking's influence on education?

    -The speaker is worried that design thinking promotes a fast-food approach to education, suggesting quick fixes and instant results rather than deep, thoughtful learning.

  • What did the speaker and their team create to critique design thinking?

    -The speaker and their team created a poster that applies design thinking's own methodology to analyze and critique itself, aiming to provide a different perspective on design thinking in a visually engaging way.

  • What is the speaker's final message regarding design thinking?

    -The speaker's final message is a call for design thinking to be more nuanced, considerate of broader implications, and to value the importance of beauty, artistry, and culture in design.

Outlines

00:00

🎨 Introduction to Design Thinking and Personal Background

The speaker begins by expressing gratitude and honor for being present, hinting at a discussion on design thinking. They provide a brief overview of their work as a graphic designer, emphasizing the broad nature of the field which includes branding, UX/UI, and advertising. The speaker clarifies their role as playing with words, symbols, and images to make information tangible and delightful. They also mention their teaching role at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, reflecting on the diversity of their students and addressing a question about the ethnic composition of their class. The speaker expresses curiosity and a struggle with understanding design thinking, leading to a self-reflective journey and a desire to reframe their perspective on the topic.

05:01

🔍 Critique of Design Thinking's Universality and Methodology

The speaker poses a critical question about the nuances of design thinking, challenging its universal application. They present data on the rise in popularity of design thinking since 2011, particularly after IDEO's online course launch. The speaker expresses skepticism about the simplistic, step-by-step approach often associated with design thinking, suggesting it's not a universal solution for design problems. They also critique the repetitive nature of design thinking projects and case studies, which often result in similar diagrams, and question the reliance on a single medium, such as posters, for design expression. The speaker argues for a more holistic and research-driven approach to design, beyond the confines of a single methodology.

10:03

📚 The Evolution and Misinterpretation of Design Thinking

The speaker delves into the origins of design thinking, tracing its evolution from academic roots to business applications, particularly with the influence of IDEO and Stanford. They express concern over the reduction of design thinking to a simplistic equation with creativity and innovation, arguing that innovation is an attribute, not a thing. The speaker also points out the historical irony that innovation has occurred for centuries without design thinking. They critique the positive spin on design thinking, suggesting it忽视s the potential negative consequences of design, such as waste or climate change, and call for more responsible design thinking practices.

15:05

🗣️ The Problematic Language of Design Thinking

The speaker addresses the jargon and vocabulary associated with design thinking, suggesting it is filled with buzzwords and lacks the depth and specificity found in other design disciplines. They critique terms like 'body storming' and 'extreme user' as unnecessary neologisms and argue that design thinking's language promotes an attitude of instant gratification rather than deep, thoughtful development. The speaker contrasts this with the more grounded and practical language used by designers when discussing budget, audience, context, and other critical aspects of design.

20:06

🏫 Design Thinking in Education: A Critical Perspective

The speaker discusses design thinking's impact on education, noting its push into various levels of schooling with the promise of equipping students to solve complex problems. However, they express concern over the fast-paced, boot-camp style courses that suggest design thinking can be quickly learned, likening it to fast-food thinking. They argue this approach is dangerous and undermines the value of deep, rigorous education and training in design. The speaker also critiques the visual representation of design thinking, calling it 'horribly ugly' and suggests that a focus on basic design principles, such as typography, could greatly improve its presentation.

25:08

🎭 A Graphic Designer's Creative Critique of Design Thinking

The speaker, identifying as a graphic designer, argues against the notion that design thinking is only about function and not form, quoting Steve Jobs to emphasize the importance of beauty and artistry in design. They critique the dry and unengaging nature of design thinking literature and propose a more delightful approach. As a project, they created a poster that both critiques and applies design thinking to itself, using dense content and a playful visual language to offer a different perspective on the subject. The speaker concludes by distributing this poster, hoping to provoke thought and smiles among the audience.

Mindmap

Keywords

💡Design Thinking

Design Thinking is a problem-solving approach that encourages empathy for the user, experimentation, and iteration. It is often associated with a five-step process: empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test. In the video, the speaker expresses skepticism about the method's effectiveness and oversimplification, suggesting it lacks nuance and doesn't always lead to meaningful innovation.

💡Graphic Design

Graphic Design refers to the art and profession of arranging visual elements to communicate messages. The speaker identifies as a graphic designer and discusses the broader role of designers in manipulating words, symbols, and images to make information tangible and understandable, which contrasts with the perceived limitations of Design Thinking.

💡Innovation

Innovation is the process of translating an idea or invention into a good or service that creates value or for which customers will pay. The speaker criticizes the simplistic association of Design Thinking with guaranteed innovation, arguing that innovation is not a product but a quality that can be strived for in any creative endeavor.

💡Visual Thinking

Visual Thinking is the use of visual representation to solve problems and communicate ideas. The speaker references Robert McKee's work on visual thinking, suggesting that the ability to visualize is crucial to design, but this aspect seems to be undervalued in the Design Thinking methodology.

💡IDEO

IDEO is a global design company known for its human-centered design approach. The speaker mentions IDEO's role in popularizing Design Thinking through an online course, indicating a correlation between IDEO's marketing efforts and the rise in Design Thinking's popularity.

💡Jargon

Jargon refers to the specialized language or terminology used by a particular profession or group. The speaker critiques Design Thinking for its use of jargon, such as 'body storming' and 'extreme user,' which can obfuscate rather than clarify the design process, making it less accessible and more alienating to non-experts.

💡Beauty

Beauty, in the context of the video, is discussed as an essential aspect of design that goes beyond functionality. The speaker argues against the notion that design thinking should disregard aesthetics, citing Steve Jobs' view that beauty is integral to a product's quality and cultural impact.

💡Methodology

A methodology is a system of methods used in a particular field of study. The speaker questions the one-size-fits-all approach of Design Thinking as a methodology, suggesting it might be too simplistic and not account for the complexities and nuances of different design challenges.

💡Simplicity

Simplicity in design refers to the principle of minimizing complexity without sacrificing functionality. The speaker expresses concern that Design Thinking's step-by-step approach oversimplifies the design process, potentially leading to solutions that lack depth and consideration of broader implications.

💡Consequences

Consequences in design pertain to the impact or outcome of a design solution. The speaker criticizes Design Thinking for ignoring the potential negative consequences of designs, such as contributing to waste or climate change, advocating for a more responsible and holistic approach to design.

💡Education

Education, as discussed in the video, involves the teaching and learning processes. The speaker is critical of Design Thinking's influence on education, particularly the push for fast-track boot camps that promise quick mastery, which the speaker sees as undermining the value of deep, thoughtful learning.

Highlights

Introduction to the speaker's background as a graphic designer and educator.

The speaker's role in playing with words, symbols, and images to make information tangible and delightful.

The diversity of students in the speaker's design class, challenging stereotypes.

The speaker's curiosity and self-reflection on design thinking, despite initial resistance.

Critique of design thinking's simplicity and its promise to solve complex problems.

Analysis of the rise in popularity of design thinking and its correlation with IDEO's online course.

The speaker's concern over the homogeneity of design thinking visual outputs.

The limitations of using a single medium (posters) as the primary tool in design thinking.

The speaker's argument against design thinking's ignorance of consequences like waste and climate change.

The evolution of design thinking from academia to business and its impact on the field.

The problematic equation of design thinking with creativity and innovation.

Critique of design thinking's vocabulary and its impact on the perception of design.

The speaker's concern over the fast-food approach to design education promoted by design thinking.

The importance of beauty in design and its role in elevating the quality of life and culture.

Steve Jobs' perspective on beauty and its influence on product design.

The speaker's project applying design thinking to itself, aiming to make it more nuanced and delightful.

Conclusion and call to action for a more thoughtful and beautiful approach to design thinking.

Transcripts

play00:00

I'm so humbled and honored to be here

play00:03

I'm going to talk a little bit about

play00:06

design thinking the topic that we all

play00:10

really love but before I do that I want

play00:13

to just kind of show you a little bit

play00:15

about about what I do because I'm not

play00:17

going to talk about my work but it's -

play00:20

this is to give you a sense about the

play00:22

work that we do

play00:25

[Applause]

play00:26

[Music]

play00:29

[Applause]

play00:29

[Music]

play00:45

[Music]

play01:00

[Music]

play01:12

[Music]

play01:21

[Music]

play01:38

okay that was a very quick overview so I

play01:44

you know I'm a graphic designer and it's

play01:46

very hard to explain to people what a

play01:50

graphic designer

play01:50

does because people now assume that we

play01:53

are you know either branding people or

play01:57

we do UX UI or we we deal with

play02:01

advertising and I would say that you

play02:04

know we deal with all of these in a kind

play02:06

of really really broad way but I always

play02:09

try to think about you know my role as a

play02:12

graphic designer

play02:13

through the lens of playing with words

play02:16

symbols and images and it's really about

play02:19

making information on tangible and

play02:22

understandable and if we can make things

play02:24

delightful that's really the goal so um

play02:28

I I teach as well I teach at school of

play02:33

visual arts in New York City I've been

play02:34

teaching there for four years now so

play02:37

this is my senior class I took this

play02:40

Instagram story last week when I got

play02:43

back to my class from a trip and people

play02:46

asked me immediately on Instagram do

play02:48

people have to be Asian in order to be

play02:51

in your class you know No okay is this

play02:54

this year we have a lot of Asian

play02:56

students in Korea and you might notice

play02:59

that there's only one guy in my class

play03:01

which was really weird but anyhow as a

play03:06

designer myself and also as a design

play03:08

educator I'm always very interested

play03:11

about different ways to to do design

play03:14

different ways to think about design so

play03:17

I get really excited when I'm working

play03:19

with people from other disciplines for

play03:23

example we learn tremendously from

play03:26

architects and I think a lot of the ways

play03:28

that architects used to think through

play03:31

their projects are really really useful

play03:33

in graphic design as well but there's

play03:38

one one thing that I just can't really

play03:40

write my head around

play03:43

and that is design thinking and I asked

play03:45

myself why you know why can't I really

play03:48

understand this I'm not stupid

play03:51

I'm very curious I'm I'm a hard learner

play03:53

so I started to UM dig into it and the

play03:57

more I got into it that the more

play04:01

outrageous is it appears to me so

play04:05

earlier last year I gave a talk titled

play04:08

design thinking's [ __ ] so this this

play04:11

talk got a lot of [ __ ] attention you

play04:14

know on the internet and also got a lot

play04:17

of feedback from people both good and

play04:20

those who really questioned my you know

play04:23

my intent behind this and whether I

play04:25

really understood design thinking and

play04:28

some of those critics call me that you

play04:31

know I'm a graphic designer I only do

play04:33

logos I don't know how to solve more

play04:36

complex and bigger problems so you know

play04:39

in the last couple of months we did I

play04:41

did a little soul-searching and right I

play04:45

kind of today I want to reframe you know

play04:47

my my point of view on design thinking

play04:50

and I try to kind of use the mythology

play04:54

that design thinking tends who uses to

play04:57

ask the right questions right so design

play05:00

thinking always starts out with how my

play05:03

sweet as the kind of starting point for

play05:06

design so so I kind of refrained my my

play05:10

talk um around the around these six

play05:12

questions so question number one and

play05:16

this is a question not only to design

play05:18

thinkers were you know design thinking

play05:21

of enthusiasts is for everybody and for

play05:24

myself for designers as well so that is

play05:27

how my we make design thinking a little

play05:29

bit more nuanced so this is a chart that

play05:33

shows the internet search trend you know

play05:37

on Google as you can see that design

play05:40

thinking like the search on design

play05:42

thinking started to rise around 2011 and

play05:45

around the Year 2015

play05:48

it really started to um spike up and

play05:51

that was a time when the renowned design

play05:53

firm IDEO pull out this online

play05:56

course that's called I do you I think

play05:58

there's a correlation between that and

play06:01

that is sort of the time when you think

play06:03

that the marketing around Design

play06:06

Thinking really started to you know to

play06:08

to to bubble up and then but as you um

play06:12

you know search just just type in a term

play06:14

design thinking this is the kind of

play06:16

image that you will get so it's

play06:18

basically just a series of same diagrams

play06:21

following these five steps and they're

play06:25

there I agree with some of the UM steps

play06:28

here I'm not sure about the simplicity

play06:31

of this and I'm not sure about that such

play06:35

a simple step-by-step solution can be a

play06:38

kind of universalized methodology to

play06:41

solve all the design problems I think

play06:43

that is a very very simplistic view and

play06:47

then I try to you know understand that

play06:49

okay are there any projects out there

play06:52

that that you know we can look at and we

play06:55

can try to you know analyze and

play06:58

understand you know what design thinking

play06:59

really has produced in the world so you

play07:02

know when you type in design thinking

play07:04

projects where we're even design

play07:06

thinking case studies what you will see

play07:08

again is the series of the same diagrams

play07:12

then that is very very strange to me

play07:14

because we are typing things like

play07:16

architecture you actually see buildings

play07:19

and when you do the same search over a

play07:21

different time you get very different

play07:23

image results and for me as a graphic

play07:26

designer

play07:27

an image is worth a lot more than words

play07:31

you know so images actually show

play07:33

evidence and what's really weird about

play07:35

design thinking is that it isn't matter

play07:37

how you I mean what search words are you

play07:39

you type it you always get more or less

play07:42

the same result and then of course we're

play07:44

all very familiar with this image of

play07:47

people standing around a board using

play07:50

posters as the medium you know as the

play07:53

the only medium for design and again

play07:56

more of this kind of form view and there

play07:58

is even more so why did you kind of see

play08:01

a lot of these you're kind of I get very

play08:03

worried about about this particular

play08:06

methodology not that I not I hate post

play08:10

as well

play08:11

use it quite a lot but when you only use

play08:14

one single medium and it's at this

play08:17

little little square paper based square

play08:20

it's the only kind of outlet for your

play08:23

research for your thinking for how you

play08:25

actually deal with design I think that's

play08:27

a really big problem because design

play08:29

needs to actually really go out of these

play08:32

little squares design needs to actually

play08:34

use a lot of research looking at photos

play08:37

images precedents looking at histories

play08:40

other case studies in order to kind of

play08:42

build a more holistic understanding

play08:44

about any problem so I have a big

play08:47

problem with with with this methodology

play08:50

and then more so when you actually look

play08:53

into where it's actually written on the

play08:56

posters you realized that these are just

play09:00

these like people's thoughts they're

play09:03

just thoughts in their head so in a way

play09:05

this is a kind of self-fulfilling loop

play09:07

right that is not open up to any other

play09:11

kind of thinking other than your own I

play09:13

think that is a highly highly

play09:15

problematic way to think about design

play09:17

it's just way too simplistic and then

play09:20

let's look at that the origin of Design

play09:24

Thinking I'm not going to go through all

play09:26

the details of each but Design Thinking

play09:28

really started out with a kind of

play09:30

academic you know environment Robert

play09:34

McKee who is the second one in a diagram

play09:37

he did this book that's called

play09:39

experience in visual thinking that is a

play09:42

really really fantastic book and I

play09:44

recommend you to get it he talked about

play09:46

how visual were the ability to visualize

play09:50

things were having the skill in visual

play09:54

thinking is really important to all

play09:56

design but then you know over the years

play09:59

the conscious evolved into very

play10:00

different things and in 90s

play10:02

David Kelly who's also a co-founder of I

play10:06

ideal he kind of really brought it into

play10:09

the business that setting as well as

play10:11

into Stanford so that's when things

play10:14

begin to actually I think go wrong so if

play10:18

you get a research design thinking and

play10:20

this is the kind of you know lying

play10:23

which that you will get a lot you know

play10:25

you see that there's this kind of very

play10:27

simplistic equation between design

play10:29

thinking and creativity and innovation

play10:32

as if design thinking is this thing that

play10:34

can promise innovation and I find that a

play10:37

very problematic point of view because

play10:39

first of all innovation is not a thing

play10:42

it's an attribute it's a quality that

play10:45

you can hope that whatever you do can

play10:47

actually achieve the quality of

play10:49

innovation innovation but that's not a

play10:51

thing in itself and there's this whole

play10:54

history on innovation as well as the

play10:57

talk of innovation that's a very

play10:59

interesting topic but that's a totally

play11:01

different talk and there better you know

play11:03

scholars on that topic so um let's

play11:07

continuing with this so you know

play11:08

innovation one question that I would

play11:10

like to ask is that people have been

play11:13

innovating for centuries so what do

play11:16

people actually do before Design

play11:18

Thinking came about right think about

play11:22

that right so okay anyhow so you know if

play11:26

you if you look at you know what design

play11:30

thinking advocates is that you know it's

play11:33

a kind of is this a solution based

play11:36

design methodology that helps people to

play11:39

think like designers to create better

play11:42

things to work better to to help you

play11:46

with an organizational problem to make

play11:49

more profit so on and so forth it's all

play11:51

kind of very you know positive attitude

play11:54

on design thinking itself and I think

play11:56

what it fails to do is to actually look

play11:59

at the opposite side of things which is

play12:01

what a designer does on a day-to-day

play12:03

basis is that whatever we do it doesn't

play12:07

matter today it's the product that we

play12:09

design where it's a packaging where it's

play12:11

something that we put out into the world

play12:13

there's always some consequence to it I

play12:16

find Design Thinking is kind of very

play12:18

ignorant to the consequences that it may

play12:21

produce into the world such as waste or

play12:24

climate change so on and so forth and I

play12:27

would love to see more design thinkers

play12:29

produce work in that area okay question

play12:33

number two how am i we give you a more

play12:36

meaning

play12:36

for vocabulary so this is about the

play12:39

language around design-thinking so as

play12:43

you know each discipline has his own

play12:46

very particular set of vocabulary and

play12:49

you really need to have a very deep set

play12:51

of vocabulary in order to actually have

play12:54

a deep dialogue about things for example

play12:56

in graphic design there's a whole set of

play13:00

vocabulary about abstraction about

play13:04

meaning about typography so on so forth

play13:07

but then if you um get into design

play13:10

thinking you will get this kind of thing

play13:12

unleash unlock you know it's it's kind

play13:17

of terrifying to actually see that

play13:20

design is being presented as this kind

play13:22

of beast that you can just let go and

play13:25

attack the world and then win everything

play13:28

I think there's the kind of attitudinal

play13:30

problem here it's it doesn't kind of

play13:34

think about design as a thing that you

play13:36

develop right development takes time or

play13:40

you build building building things also

play13:42

takes time but rather is this instant

play13:45

satisfaction that you can unleash or

play13:47

unlock something instantaneously and

play13:50

then once you dive deeper into it my god

play13:55

is packed with jargons which again I

play13:59

think illustrates a problem you know

play14:01

about the the Design Thinking discipline

play14:04

itself these are some of the words that

play14:08

I was very intrigued by you know for

play14:10

example body storming I literally had to

play14:13

google it it's basically brain storming

play14:18

through role-playing right so why can't

play14:21

we just call it like that why do we have

play14:22

to call it body storming extreme user my

play14:26

god that really sounds like a drug

play14:28

addict to me ideation is basically

play14:33

concepting and think probably right

play14:36

radical innovation the feedback loops so

play14:39

on and so forth it's really crazy but

play14:42

then if you talk to a designer you know

play14:45

doesn't matter which discipline the

play14:47

designer is from the architects fashion

play14:49

designers we actually use very boring

play14:52

words and we we are concerned about very

play14:56

very boring things such as budget

play15:00

audience the context the site if you're

play15:04

an architect the semantics of things if

play15:08

you're a graphic designer

play15:09

so you know so now it kind of begins to

play15:11

get get a sense why design thinking's

play15:15

language is really problematic next

play15:19

question how might we elevate is

play15:21

standard well honestly I haven't found

play15:25

too many case studies on design thinking

play15:29

to actually convince me that you know it

play15:32

has really made a great impact on the

play15:35

world itself but rather I find the case

play15:38

studies out there tend to just settle

play15:41

for the bottom line so for example this

play15:44

is a MRI machine I don't know how many

play15:48

of you have gone through this but this

play15:51

is a very terrifying environment for

play15:53

children I think for adults too you know

play15:55

you have to go through this scanner so

play15:58

GE allegedly you know try to solve this

play16:02

problem through Design Thinking so when

play16:06

it came up with was to put you know

play16:09

cartoons and Tony the Tiger on the wall

play16:12

and then they made a very big case study

play16:14

out of it

play16:15

I'm okay with the idea of you know

play16:17

making the environments more childlike

play16:20

with the visual language that they're

play16:22

familiar with but I think that the bar

play16:25

here is just basically too low if you

play16:27

look at the environment it is terrible

play16:29

if you look at the ceiling is too low

play16:31

the lighting is terrible we need an

play16:34

architect here right but I think that

play16:36

design thinking were designed thinking

play16:38

case studies tend to just settle for the

play16:42

bottom line next question how my way

play16:46

changes at attitude on education alright

play16:50

so I think you know for for those of you

play16:53

who are familiar with design thinking or

play16:56

who follow Design Thinking you know that

play16:59

it has been trying to

play17:02

get into education system different

play17:05

levels of the education systems in

play17:07

different way you know from high school

play17:09

down to on now kindergarten with the

play17:13

with a notion that kids really needs to

play17:17

learn the method of design thinking in

play17:20

order to solve the world's you know very

play17:23

big problems but then if you look at

play17:26

design thinking's attitude on the design

play17:29

thinking education itself this is why

play17:32

you will get nowadays you will get boot

play17:35

camps you know very fast courses that

play17:40

you pay $2.99 5 9999 I don't know why

play17:45

they all end up with 99 that you can

play17:48

actually learn how to design I find that

play17:52

an extremely dangerous idea not only to

play17:55

the the world of design but only to I

play17:59

mean but to the idea of Education on

play18:02

itself it really kind of promotes this

play18:05

fast-food thinking that you can just pay

play18:07

something and then get it really fast

play18:09

through pumping into your stomach and

play18:11

you're gonna get good at it I find it

play18:13

really really troublesome it's sort of

play18:15

like wanting to become an Olympic

play18:18

athlete without wanting to be trained

play18:21

you know so that's sort of my problem

play18:24

with it and this is a a course that

play18:28

Stanford d.school now offers I mean look

play18:32

at this this is insane

play18:33

this picture is insane to me right just

play18:38

the combination of the words and the and

play18:41

the image you know behind it and what's

play18:43

actually in the image would you really

play18:45

trust this course I would not

play18:54

thank you how might we make it more

play18:58

beautiful oh so okay so okay I'm a

play19:06

graphic designer

play19:07

I'm very critical of anything that has a

play19:13

look to it right you know specifically

play19:16

when it comes to information design when

play19:19

when when you know just a bundle of

play19:22

things need to have hierarchy clarity

play19:26

needs to have you know style needs to be

play19:29

pleasant needs to be legible and all

play19:31

that when you kind of just survey the

play19:34

graphic visual world of design thinking

play19:38

you get this kind of stuff to me this is

play19:40

really really horribly ugly um and that

play19:46

is bad and how come nobody's actually

play19:48

you know doing anything about it I would

play19:51

love to teach graphic design where basic

play19:54

typography to anyone who's doing design

play19:57

thinking right now we're trying to

play19:59

generate something about design thinking

play20:01

but then you would get a certain kind of

play20:06

oppositional view about that well just

play20:11

don't worry about the look of things

play20:12

because Design Thinking is really not

play20:15

about design so this is a statement by

play20:19

mr. Brett waters I don't know him but he

play20:22

teaches a Design Thinking class at

play20:25

Stanford so um um he's our website you

play20:29

know he made us the statement that goes

play20:32

Design Thinking is an engineering

play20:35

methodology for developing successful

play20:38

products design thinking has nothing to

play20:41

do with making something pretty and

play20:43

everything to do with making something

play20:45

useful for example an engineer would use

play20:49

it to develop an ugly machine that this

play20:51

is job beautifully I find this a really

play20:55

simplistic dichotomy between form and

play20:58

function and I think frankly it is quite

play21:01

irresponsible to think that design

play21:04

thinking or any

play21:05

thing that you design has nothing to do

play21:08

with how it may manifest itself in the

play21:11

real world everything has its form look

play21:14

at this these are the gadgets that

play21:16

permeates our lives on a day to day

play21:19

basis how can one say that these

play21:22

machines or you know whatever thing that

play21:25

engineers make don't have real impact in

play21:28

the world and don't have to actually be

play21:30

beautiful to me I think beauty is

play21:33

actually intelligence beauty is

play21:35

precision beauty is not decoration so I

play21:38

find the idea like you know I'm beauty

play21:41

through the lens of design thinking

play21:43

really really problematic and then

play21:45

furthermore I think what it profoundly

play21:48

ignores the importance of artistry of

play21:53

craftsmanship of beauty of art of

play21:57

culture and all these things that

play21:59

actually elevate the quality of our life

play22:03

and the quality of our culture that kind

play22:06

of statement completely removed the

play22:08

importance of these things I actually

play22:09

really really matter and I'm gonna play

play22:14

via short video about Steve Jobs that

play22:18

there was this you know interview

play22:20

conducted with him in 1995 and I'm I'm

play22:25

not a Steve Jobs you know fan I'm very

play22:29

intrigued by by his work I'm very

play22:32

intrigued by what he has built and you

play22:35

know the things that we're using right

play22:37

now but there's this little snippet in

play22:39

his interview in which he critiqued

play22:43

Microsoft but he talked about other

play22:45

things that I think resonated with me

play22:48

really well specifically on the issue of

play22:51

beauty the only problem with Microsoft

play22:54

is they just have no taste they have

play22:56

absolutely no taste and and and what

play22:58

that means is I don't mean that in a

play23:00

small way I mean in a big way in the

play23:02

sense that

play23:08

they they don't think of original ideas

play23:13

and they don't bring much culture into

play23:16

their product and and you say well why

play23:19

is that important well you know

play23:20

proportionally spaced fonts come from

play23:22

typesetting and beautiful books that's

play23:24

where one gets the idea if it weren't

play23:26

for the Mac they would never have that

play23:28

in their products and so I guess I am

play23:35

saddened not by Microsoft success I have

play23:38

no problem with their success they've

play23:41

earned their success for the most part I

play23:44

have a problem with the fact that they

play23:46

just make really third-rate products

play23:48

their products have no spirit to them

play23:52

their products have no in this sort of

play23:55

spirit of enlightenment about them they

play23:57

are very pedestrian and the sad part is

play24:00

is that most customers don't don't have

play24:04

a lot of that spirit either but but the

play24:06

way that we're gonna ratchet up our

play24:09

species is to take the best and to

play24:13

spread it around to everybody so that

play24:15

everybody grows up with better things

play24:17

and starts to understand the subtlety of

play24:21

these better things okay so that

play24:23

interview pretty much summed up

play24:25

everything that I was talking about and

play24:28

you can you feel free to take out

play24:31

Microsoft and replace it with design

play24:33

thinking and that kind of summarizes

play24:35

everything okay last thing it's a very

play24:41

important question I think how can we

play24:44

actually make it just a little more

play24:47

delightful it is terribly dry I have to

play24:54

say we read a lot of things from design

play24:59

thinking about design thinking you know

play25:01

besides all the jargons it's incredibly

play25:03

boring and dry so we made a project you

play25:07

know Ravi asked us to do something and I

play25:10

think this is a great great subject

play25:13

matter to do something with so what we

play25:15

did was that we created this piece

play25:18

through the

play25:20

lenz of a graph designer you know that

play25:23

we play with words and images and

play25:26

symbols and diagrams so the thing is

play25:28

called can Design Thinking help us

play25:32

understand Design Thinking so what we do

play25:36

is that we we basically two things tire

play25:39

design thinking five-step methodology

play25:41

and try to analyze it and try to apply

play25:45

it on to design thinking itself so we

play25:48

made a poster out of it we generated all

play25:52

the content is really really dense you

play25:54

know so you can you can see much of the

play25:57

writing from here but if this doesn't

play26:00

kind of give you a different idea about

play26:03

design thinking it will definitely make

play26:06

you smile so we're going to distribute

play26:09

this poster afterwards and this is my

play26:13

talk thank you

play26:15

[Applause]

play26:18

you

play26:18

[Music]

Rate This

5.0 / 5 (0 votes)

Связанные теги
Design ThinkingGraphic DesignCritical AnalysisInnovationCreativityEducationMethodologyProblem SolvingDesign ProcessVisual Arts
Вам нужно краткое изложение на английском?