We are here to create or design...?

Well-formed questions are of immense importance to human progress. The wealthy and successful often reach a point in life where it is important to begin to ask bigger questions than those that made them rich and powerful. Often the question is “how can I fix or help people?” Occasionally it is “how can I serve people?” Less often it is questions about the meaning of life and the purpose of human existence. An example of the latter is a recent article by a very successful Chinese nationalist, Kai-Fu Lee, educated at some of the best schools in the United States. He asks the question “why are we here?” His answer is that we are here to create. But the question remains vague. Create what?

Maybe the answer is we are here to design preferred futures?

Putting Design in its Place w/ Q & A

This version of Putting Design in its Place includes Q & A at the end.

Putting Design in its Place w/Q&A

Putting Design in its Place

This is a video of a recent presentation I did explaining the different approaches to design and designing nowadays:

Putting design in its Place.

Service vs Empathy

There has been an increased number of discussions about empathy on various platforms lately because of the increasing interest in human centered design and design thinking I suppose. I would like to introduce someone who dramatically changed my own understanding of the relationships between designers and those they 'serve' and those they 'empathize' with. Naomi Remen, a medical doctor, stated:

When you help, you see life as weak. 

When you fix, you see life as broken. 

When you serve, you see life as a whole. 

Rachel Naom Remen 

In The Service of Life 

Paraphrasing Remen: "When you fix or help people they feel that they are in your debt. When you serve them you treat them as equals—there is an exchange of equal value."

Design as a service is not empathy, nudging, coercion, manipulation...etc. 

Spanish language edition of The Design Way coming soon

Fondo de Cultura Económica in Mexico City is publishing the Spanish language edition of the MIT Press book THE DESIGN WAY.

Mindflex- The Learning Orgainzation: Authors who made a difference. A great reading list

Some I have known or knew. This is a great reading list for 'systemic designers'.

Mindflex- The Learning Orgainzation: Authors who made a difference. A great reading list

managing as designing video

This is a good introduction to the shared space 
that professions can occupy in the domain of design. Highly recommend the book that came out of this 
conference authored by Richard Boland and 
Fred Collopy (Stanford Business Books).

Managing as Designing

Managing as Designing

vimeo.com