QUIPPITS – TheGwen

Tag archives: QUIPPITS

Defining design thinking

13Jul09

this is a mental note for myself about the issue with the terminology of design thinking and what it means for all of us who are desigeners, MBAs, and engineers, or any other words…. ALL OF US!

i run the issue with the word design, because it is a jargon terminology which can very much backfire in any discussion you have. Time and again i have to explain what this jargon means to many types of people because no one bothers to either explain it or state the meaning correctly.

And the inside secret about this jargon, as designers it means MANY DEFINITIONS so it matters to who you are talking too when they explain it.

I keep my definition very short but allow the person to ask more questions. “Design is the substance to which people are engaged.” So with that, it allows for the people to ask a question which helps me to define it further for their background.

Another words, i need to know who you are and where you fit into this world of process development. Allowing me to define the term design in your language for you to better understand.

The word design is soo mysterious because no one wish to define it for you. And mystery make you want it more…. that is a marketing gimic… in theory we are making you ache for “design”

….Indeed, this soul-searching by business — for literally a better soul — has lead to design, but robbing the soul of design by asserting an assumed control of Design Thinking will only lead to sugarcoating a fundamentally flawed system that is in serious need of criticism and modification.I do believe that the new model for business orientation is — in fact — Design Orientation on the road to customer value maximization, leading to repairing the damage done to our socioeconomic fabric and ultimately saving the soul of business.Design Orientation is the proper language to use when honestly admitting that business needs to orient itself toward a different direction of doing business.Design Orientation acknowledges the role of design in business and promotes collaboration between management and designers at the highest rungs of the decision making ladder, emoting a shift toward a new social and hierarchical order.

via Raymond Pirouz | Design is Fundamental™ tumblr, Design Thinking is Dead. Long Live Design Orientation..

Filed under Design-philo| Tagged Dsearch, QUIPPITS, strategy | Comments closed

my first sketchcast!

11Jun09

my first sketchcast! – Sketchcast.com.

my very first sketchcast and now that i have this… so much potential!!!!!! to PLAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

really this is my sketching…. deliriously and with a very very basic program… time and practice will make things better!

Filed under General| Tagged inspired, PLAY, QUIPPITS, sketch, video | Comments closed

Mistake-Practice-Reflexing

29May09

I simply stated his first paragraphs of each mistake involving Dsearch. you may like it or not, but he has a valid point. the first mistake is a pet peeve i have, I get very annoyed with rigid questions that does not allow for openness to discover. oh well, it is practice.

Mistake 1: Not thinking hard enough about sampling. This is the most important thing. Especially if you have a number of “researchers” contributing. You gotta think about who you are going to talk to or watch.

Mistake 2: Not doing any Pre-thinking. If you don’t have a clue about the decisions your decision-makers have to make, then you aren’t giving them as much value as you could be.

Mistake 3: Trying to be unbiased. Don’t try to be a blank slate. It is a waste of time. I say “Don’t think about pink elephants”, and what jumps right into your minds-eye. Yep, you got it those darn pink elephants. Instead, work with what you know already.

Mistake 4: Not connecting the Pictures Together Many times we focus so much at the mirco level of the customer that we don’t understand the clients macro-view.

Mistake 5: Having More than Five Variables. Ok, so here is an easy one. Focus in on 5 conceptual variables. Not less than 3. Not more than 5.

via Design Research: 5 Mistakes to Avoid « TibetanTailor.

Filed under Design-philo| Tagged Dsearch, QUIPPITS, tips | Comments closed

A long over due quippit – lets support DesignSojourn Mentorship

27May09

I have not “quippit” in a long time, and for good reasons… when do people see me writing endless and not get anything done? I prefer to be mute (or talk when I need to) and just do! Of course this is my work mode… get me out of the office and you will see an entire different experience.

–I think it has to do with my two identities of being a PA Dutchman verses a RISDer. They are the same but complete opposites. Oh well that is another topic theory all together–

I guess I need a reflection cause well, 2006 I was burnt out from school, 2007 sort woke up and pick up interest in design research/strategy/ethnography, then 2008 addictive to web exploration (how to use the web like how I researched RISD style – it may have to do with a new laptop too), and finally 2009 woke up! But it is still morning for me this year. Still groggy, needing some tea, need to look around my studio and my mind saying “what the heck did I do late last night.”

So this is where I am at:

Few years fresh from school with tons of personal questions and these are questions that no one can really give an answer for them. Or they can be answer but I know what the answer would be and yet don’t wish to hear it… But like others I am sure you have questions about design and so I came across this Designer Mentoring Program

Reading it, I was left with this question, what is a mentor? No really, what makes people a mentor to others? What does a mentor means to someone?

Cause think, what makes a mentor different than a lecturer? A lecturer just tells you their statement and expects you to apply it. UH? Don’t you ever feel from some people that you are “told” to do something their way without questioning or debating? …that is lecturing… and you have no say or objection.

But a mentor… well, to me a good mentor is a person who you come to with a question and you ended up not really answering the question but creating an renewal sense of inspirations of newer questions for you to figure out.

So if you are curious about this program just as much as I am, you just need to be an industrial designer or in that field of product design with little or exponential amount of experience. And from my perspective it is no fun if you don’t already have a baggage of questions to get started on the journey.

The other side of my curiosity is the “how” it works and maintaining that relationship. First it is a global situation so you will be using the “IN” thing these days… social media… yeah, I am intrigue with the whole social media because for me it makes my job easier and cost effective.

Lets face it, many American clients does not see the insight of design research yet. I don’t blame them, since I am having difficulties understanding how non – visualizing researchers translate their findings to the egocentric visualizing designers for product innovation. It is that part of the design process still not easy to cross. Of I don’t forget the other bridges in the design process that is difficult to cross either.

Maybe my next quippit will be my conflicting personalities… I have to ponder on that some more it might sound like I need to go to a mental institution or something.

Filed under General| Tagged design, inspired, QUIPPITS, social media, tips | Comments closed

I am a firm believer of Milton Glaser

21May09

Ten Things I Have Learned

i am just going to list the ten titles but be sure to read Milton Glaser ‘s take on his statements. For one I just love hearing from very establish designers saying what i am feeling but never could pin point it. This is what happens when i grew up with my parents friends and never with my own age group…

what he talks about is so true to what i am experiencing in the workforce, and it might be a reason why there are ton of early designers that quickly move away from their career path because what they ideally believe is actually false, and viewing that all designers as great observers of humanity and empathy is heartbreaking cause lets face all people are one and the same no matter what their job title are. They may have empathy or not… you must seek the right set of passionate people to work it is the main goal.

YOU CAN ONLY WORK FOR PEOPLE THAT YOU LIKE.

IF YOU HAVE A CHOICE NEVER HAVE A JOB.

SOME PEOPLE ARE TOXIC AVOID THEM.

PROFESSIONALISM IS NOT ENOUGH or THE GOOD IS THE ENEMY OF THE GREAT.

LESS IS NOT NECESSARILY MORE.

6.
STYLE IS NOT TO BE TRUSTED.

7.
HOW YOU LIVE CHANGES YOUR BRAIN.

DOUBT IS BETTER THAN CERTAINTY.

ON AGING.

10.

TELL THE TRUTH.

ENJOY!

Filed under Design-philo| Tagged Culture, design, QUIPPITS | Comments closed

Time spent eating…

06May09

via LINK

they posted this chart to present “discuss” on eating time verses obesity and completely agree that it is what we eat and how we enjoy food – like tasting/savoring the food then eating fast.

BUT, beside the obesity stats… look at how much time we spent eating verses the rest of the world! NO WONDER WE ARE ANGRY + STRESSED! an hour lunch break is too short and worst most employees don’t bother with an hour…fifteen minutes flat – inhale the food and back to work….

Food is social and social is food… most people eat within a company of people which helps to spread conversation, ideas, creativity, inspiration, and renewal of energy for the day. Do you feel happy eating by yourself?

Filed under Culture| Tagged American, Culture, humanity, inspired, QUIPPITS, style, visual data, worldly | Comments closed

Cell-o-redito debate

05May09

Is this idea new or old? Five years working within a team for intel’s future tech trends we predicted that phones should have credit card info…and of course the big debate is how dangerous to put everything in one basket.

Already there are countries (finland + Japan) that allow you to wave your phone to pay for food and transportation. but in America our major fault is security. The lawsuit of misplace phones+devices that has your information in it. And worst the psychology of your mind to perceive money from a phone verses a card. one of the many reasons why people are in debt with their credit card. the weight and feeling of giving cash leaves a higher impact of you spending your hard earn money than handing a weightless piece of plastic that never change in weight or size when you earn or lose money.

but overall this is a new avenue of wireless currency that will not replace credit cards or cash but compliment it for improving local business or local convenience like parking meters. I have not read it but heard about the book Everyware by Adam Greenfield which goes into further exploration into this subject.

so in reminder: “a great idea is simply an idea on paper… innovation is not just about ideas but the ability to turn great ideas into reality… ”

via yankodesign

The device in size of a credit card 54×85,6 mm will replace all those. Moreover it can work as:

- Video phone. Before making a call you can choose an operator of a mobile communication.
- All credit and discount cards that you have. The built in program will prompt an optimum variant for discounts at the given payment place.
- The remote control for any device. It can simultaneously display a teleschedule and recommendations of your favourite site.
- Keys from doors of houses and cars you have an authorization to.
- GPS-system that can automatically upload aerial photos from the Internet.
- Library, video- and music shop. You can read, listen to and watch all that at your choice. Go to a public online library or buy all that you want in any shop of the world.
- Gaming device with support of network gaming (remember that you have a GPS and the virtual reality becomes quite real).
- Even your computer that works with any operational system that is being uploaded through the Internet.

For any actions connected with safety (payment, opening of a door, …) the device authorizes you by reading your fingerprints.

Designer: Dima Komissarov

Filed under Design-philo, General| Tagged futuristic, interface, QUIPPITS, seamless, style, UBER | Comments closed

21st century business!

03Apr09

THANK YOU! Sloan Review…

someone else has stated clearly about methods of the last century and this century. It could also explain why we are having an economic SHIFT! for those that are not designers – we designers have been saying “we are in a design shift” for so long within the academia world that it is now leaking into the other “bubbles” – business, industry, corporate, etc.

“The result is that many of the core businesses—involved with what may be boring old, mainstream, mature products and services that everyone has taken for granted—are themselves becoming more uncertain. As uncertainty increases, companies are finding themselves facing what we call a high ratio of “uncertainty to knowledge.” This is a problem because making decisions based on old assumptions often leads to unfortunate outcomes.

Human beings have a tendency to embrace information reinforcing their pre-existing beliefs, while challenging or rejecting information that calls these beliefs into question. At the same time, many established management tools, such as net present value, are built on a foundation of assumed certainty—that it’s realistic to forecast likely cash flows into the future and discount them to today. In volatile business environments, such thinking is no longer practical.”

the article – LINK

Filed under Design-philo| Tagged American, Business, design research, MIT, QUIPPITS | Comments closed

TheGwen