How to solve problems like a designer
Summary
TLDRThe video script narrates the evolution of IDEO, a design firm initially tasked with creating an affordable and mass-producible mouse for Apple's Lisa computer. It highlights the firm's transition from product design to designing complex systems like school systems and voting systems, emphasizing the importance of human-centered design. The process involves observing, asking questions, ideating, prototyping, iterating, and storytelling to create solutions that address real-world challenges and societal impacts.
Takeaways
- 🖱️ The first Apple computer mouse was designed for the Lisa computer, costing $10,000.
- 🏗️ The mouse was developed by a design consulting firm that would later become known as IDEO.
- 💲 The primary design challenge was to reduce the mouse's cost from $400 to under $35 while making it mass-producible and reliable.
- 🔍 IDEO has evolved from creating physical products to designing complex systems and experiences, such as voting systems and school designs.
- 🧠 The transition from product design to systems design involves similar steps, including observing the world, ideation, and prototyping.
- 👀 The first step in the design process is to observe how people interact with the world and identify the problems they face.
- 💡 The next step is ideation, where insights from observation are transformed into ideas for improvement.
- 🔄 Prototyping and iteration are crucial, allowing designers to test ideas, learn from failures, and refine their solutions.
- 🛠️ Early prototypes can be simple, such as the first mouse prototype made from a roll-on deodorant stick and a butter dish.
- 📚 Storytelling is an essential part of the design process, helping to explain why an idea is valuable and how it meets the needs of users.
Q & A
What was the original purpose of the Apple computer mouse mentioned in the script?
-The original Apple computer mouse was designed to accompany Apple’s ten thousand dollar Lisa computer, aiming to be mass-producible, reliable, and simple.
Which design firm was responsible for creating the first Apple computer mouse?
-The first Apple computer mouse was designed by a product design consulting firm that would later become known as IDEO.
What was the challenge IDEO faced when designing the Apple computer mouse?
-IDEO's challenge was to take a 400-dollar computer mouse and redesign it to cost under 35 dollars while ensuring it was mass-producible, reliable, and simple.
What has IDEO transitioned to designing after moving away from creating physical products?
-IDEO has transitioned to designing networks and experiences, such as Los Angeles’ voting system, the Red Cross’s method for finding donors, and even entire school systems.
What does Tim Brown believe are the things that are mostly broken in the world?
-Tim Brown believes that the complex things in the world are the ones that are mostly broken, not the simple things.
What is the connection between designing a computer mouse and creating a school system from scratch according to the script?
-The connection is that both tasks require a similar design process, starting with observing the world to ask interesting questions, followed by ideation, prototyping, learning, and iterating until a solution meets the needs of the users.
What book by Victor Papanek influenced IDEO's shift from product design to tackling real-world problems?
-The book 'Design For The Real World' by Victor Papanek influenced IDEO's shift, as it proposed using design strategies from industrial product creation to address problems like pollution, overcrowding, and food shortages.
What is the first step in the design process according to Tim Brown?
-The first step in the design process is observing the world in order to ask an interesting question, which is the foundation of human-centered design.
What was the approach IDEO took when designing a school system in Peru?
-IDEO spent a month in Peru, meeting with various stakeholders such as students, parents, teachers, investors, and government and business leaders to understand their needs and address issues like academic planning, classroom space, technology, and tuition.
What does Tim Brown describe as the 'fun part' of the design process?
-The 'fun part' of the design process, according to Tim Brown, is ideation or idea-making, where you start to imagine and develop ideas based on the insights gathered from observations and questions.
What is the iterative process in design that Tim Brown mentions?
-The iterative process in design involves prototyping, testing, learning from the prototype, and then going back to refine the idea or start a new one based on what is learned, repeating this loop until a solution meets the needs of the users.
Why is storytelling an important part of the design process?
-Storytelling is important in the design process because it helps explain why an idea is interesting and compelling to others, facilitating communication and understanding of the design concept.
What does Tim Brown suggest is needed to design a complex system?
-According to Tim Brown, designing a complex system requires not just one brain but lots of brains with different perspectives and creative contributions working together to achieve an outcome that behaves like a system.
Outlines
🖱️ The Birth of the Mass-Produced Mouse
This paragraph introduces the first Apple computer mouse, which was designed by a firm that later became IDEO. The challenge was to reduce the cost of the mouse from $400 to under $35 while ensuring mass production feasibility and reliability. The narrative then shifts to IDEO's evolution from product design to designing networks and experiences, such as voting systems and school systems. The connection between designing a computer mouse and creating complex systems like a school is highlighted, emphasizing the importance of simplicity and the shift in focus from physical products to societal impact.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Apple computer mouse
💡IDEO
💡Mass-producible
💡Reliable
💡Simple
💡Human-centered design
💡Prototyping
💡Iteration
💡Storytelling
💡Complex systems
💡Design For The Real World
Highlights
Apple's first computer mouse was designed by a firm that later became IDEO, aiming to reduce the cost from $400 to under $35 while maintaining mass-producibility and reliability.
IDEO transitioned from creating products to designing networks and experiences, including Los Angeles' voting system and the Red Cross's donor finding method.
The connection between designing a computer mouse and creating a school system from scratch is highlighted, emphasizing the importance of simplicity and problem-solving in complex systems.
Tim Brown discusses the prevalence of broken complex systems and the opportunity for design to impact society through addressing these issues.
Victor Papanek's 'Design For The Real World' is mentioned as a foundational text advocating the use of design strategies to tackle real-world problems.
IDEO's pivot from products to real-world experiences is discussed, with Tim Brown noting that the design steps remain largely the same.
Observation is identified as the first step in the design process, with the example of understanding how people use computers and what they desire or find challenging.
The process of designing a school in Peru involved meeting with various stakeholders to address academic planning, classroom space, technology, and tuition affordability.
Ideation or idea-making is described as the process of generating ideas based on insights from observations and questions.
Prototyping is emphasized as a crucial step, starting with simple models or sketches to test ideas and iterate based on feedback.
The importance of iteration in the design process is highlighted, with the example of the first mouse prototype being made from a deodorant stick and butter dish.
Storytelling is identified as a key component of the design process, where the designer must explain the value and interest of their idea.
The necessity of diverse perspectives and creative contributions in designing complex systems is underscored, as opposed to a single-brain approach.
The transcript emphasizes the richness and sophistication required in a system design to behave as a cohesive entity rather than a simple object.
Transcripts
This is the first Apple computer mouse.
It came with Apple’s ten thousand dollar Lisa computer, and it was designed by a product
design consulting firm that would eventually become known as IDEO.
The assignment was straightforward: they had to take the computer mouse — a 400-dollar
device at the time — and bring it down to under 35 bucks, make it mass-producible, and reliable.
And above all, it needed to be simple.
[Apple commercial] "We control these so, by pointing to these images on the screen with this unique item called a mouse."
Fast forward about thirty years, and IDEO doesn’t really create products anymore.
They’ve transitioned to designing networks and experiences — things like Los Angeles’
voting system, and the Red Cross’s method for finding donors — even entire schools.
So what does making a computer mouse have to do with creating a school system from scratch?
It turns out, quite a lot.
[Tim Brown] “The world we live in is one where, really, the complex things are the things that are mostly broken."
"Not the simple things."
"We have lots of great products, lots of beautiful products."
"Lots of products we can use everyday, everything from furniture to tableware, to consumer electronics."
"— and they’re mostly pretty good, right?"
"Yes, there’s opportunity to do better, and to do more, but I'm interested in things that"
"don't work very well, and the things that you can impact society with."
"And they’re mostly the more complex things.”
Back in 1971, a designer named Victor Papanek wrote a book called, “Design For The Real World”.
The premise was pretty simple: creators could take some of the same design strategies from
the creation of industrial products and use them to tackle problems like pollution, overcrowding,
and food shortages.
By 2001, IDEO had done just that, pivoting from products to real world experiences.
But the design steps?
Tim Brown says they stay just about the same.
“The first piece is observing the world in order to ask an interesting question, right?"
"I mean, you could observe the world in lots of different ways — when we talk about human-centered design,"
"we're really talking about observing the way humans live their lives and asking"
"interesting questions about, 'Hey, why does somebody do this? And not that?'
"Why is somebody struggling with this problem?"
"Why is it hard for somebody to open that, why are they struggling to open up that jam jar lid?”
“Maybe I could redesign the jam jar, or maybe I could give them a tool to help them, right?"
"So why is this happening?"
So, the first step is looking at the world and coming up with good question.”
For making a mouse, that means watching how people use computers, observing what they want, and what they don’t.
For designing a school, that meant spending a month in Peru, meeting with students, parents,
teachers, investors, and government and business leaders to address needs like academic planning,
modular classroom space, accessible technology and affordable tuition.
“The next step is taking all the insights that you have from those questions, and starting to imagine ideas—"
"Like here's what I could do, here's what I might imagine doing better, or differently."
" So, that's what we often call ideation or ideamaking.”
Then comes the fun part.
You test it out.
“Right at the beginning of the process might be a really simple cardboard model, or a quick sketch."
"Or if it's digital, it might be a quick digital simulation, or something, and you try out on people."
Sometimes those drafts can be pretty rough — the first prototype for the mouse was
a roll-on deodorant stick and a butter dish from a Palo Alto Walgreens.
“And you test it. If that doesn't work okay, so I need to rethink my idea and I do it again."
"And this is where the iteration comes in: you learn from the prototype, you realize what's not working."
"Or maybe it’s a crummy idea and you have to go back and find a new idea again."
“And you go through that loop over and over again: asking the question, having ideas,"
"prototyping, learning and until you get to something that truly meets somebody’s needs, or a set of people's needs.”
“Now the last bit of the process… which arguably happens in that iteration also, is the storytelling piece."
Because always you're trying to explain to people why your idea is interesting.”
[Apple commercial: “A computer for the rest of us.”
“I think what you need to design a complex system is not one brain — you need lots of brains."
"You need lots of brains with different perspectives different creative contributions, working together"
"to get to an outcome that is that is literally rich enough, and sophisticated enough"
"to be able to behave like a system, instead of being like an object.”
浏览更多相关视频
5.0 / 5 (0 votes)