I’m not a graphic designer. I’m not a designer of any kind. And I’m certainly not a typographer. But I have always, always loved the power and persuasion of a beautiful typeface. Each one with their own distinct personality and inherent message… think about how Times Roman conveys a stately, tried-and-true seriousness versus, say, a Futura that’s so wonderfully clean and contemporary (but with a timelessness to it, likely because it’s been around since the 1920’s).  The picture above left by Penelope Dullaghan highlights the artistry of typography that transcends “text”.

All this said, there’s a wonderful article in last week’s New York Times Magazine about the slow change to the signage of America’s roadways from the tired and less-clear “Highway Gothic” font to the newly developed and much more legible “Clearview” font (designed by Don Meeker, an environmental graphic designer, and James Montalbano, a type designer). In a nutshell, their new font is statistically proven to be more legible than the old design, thereby giving drivers more time and distance away from the sign to read it and react to its message. Through the power of design, these two guys are literally going to save hundreds of lives a year in reduced traffic accidents… not to mention helping the elderly and seeing impaired (like me without glasses) rest a little easier as we drive.

It’s an incredible example of how design can literally change (or save) our lives. Meeker even has a wonderful quote, saying “I’ve always believed that design can be a form of social activism.” To those of us working in or at least adjacent to graphic and typographical design, it reinforces the importance and the power of the choices we make as we build better and more effective communication.

It’s another one of those days when many thoughts are converging.  I caught part of a great interview on NPR today:  Talk of the Nation Science Friday, with Andrew Flatow interviewing John Maeda of the MIT Media Lab (one of my heroes).  Maeda spoke about the elegance and impact of beautiful, simple design and how difficult that is for most companies to achieve - a simple technology that works intuitively, with as much thought put toward simplicity in the interworkings as in the exterior interface.    He also spoke about abstraction, and the fact that today’s generations are growing up more capable of dealing with abstractions, using visual interfaces and “keeping a million IM windows open on their computer at the same time”. 

Two things struck me.  First, as our increasing comfort with abstraction as navigation and wayfinding become more visual, it will change the way we comprehend and conceive information, which will change the way we design and build.  Think about it - in decades to come, iconography and three-dimensional representations will replace a great deal of code and language.  If we, as a culture, develop that skill innately, it will open the door to myriad new ideas and inventions.  Think of it as an adjunct skill that will start to come naturally through experience and exposure.  (As Alison pointed out in her comments on Richard’s earlier post, great mathematicians can think abstractly.  Einstein thought about math problems visually.  Imagine if we all had this skill!)

Secondly, I began to think about the visual experience of multi-tasking that happens on a computer when we have so multiple windows open.  Rather than merely intellectually multi-tasking - using memory as our only prompt - there is a physical representation of our activities, on display simultaneously.  How is this going to impact the way we think?  Are there positive behavioral implications?  We talk so much about our ADD society, but I wonder if our brains are plastic enough to change based on this visual analog to our behavior?

Finally, check out a fantastic BusinessWeek article on widgets, the third coming of the internet era.  I’ve been writing about widgets a lot.  If you don’t understand them (and even if you do), this is a great primer - think of it as Distributed Content 101.  Widgets are going to be a critical information management tool as we drive to our own personal webspaces.  Soon, we’ll all have our own individual information hubs - think of it as your personal intelligence center - from which we can do anything and everything we need:  Read, search, interact, shop, bank, learn, manage, communicate.  Widgets will be a way of managing complexity to create a simple interface on your personal site.  It’s worth the time to learn about them. 

And a random thought, while I’m posting:  The Boeing Dreamliner is a great case study in innovation.  While the plane itself is innovative - it uses carbon fiber as its core material vs. traditional aluminum - the process Boeing used to build it is equally innovative, reinforcing that the biggest innovations tend to take place across multiple parts of the innovation cascade and process is just important as product, if not moreso.  The plane was built in pieces globally, in order to manage labor costs and build relationships with future customer countries.  In order to transport parts back to the U.S. for final assembly, an even larger plane had to be constructed.  And when the pieces were all in the U.S., the plane was literally snapped into place - no rivets.  Amazing.  The final product is significantly lighter than conventional planes and therefore more fuel efficient.

There’s so much change taking place all around us.  Are you drinking it in? 

A great short clip from an article by Kevin McCullagh  on Core77:

“When I asked author Virginia Postrel for her observations on the design industry, she reflected that she found designers, as a profession, to have “a peculiar combination of arrogance and insecurity. One minute, they’re declaring that they have uniquely appropriate skills for every problem, and the next they’re worried that people without the right credentials are using design. As a writer, I find the fear that too many people are practicing design pretty funny. Writers don’t go around complaining that too many kids are getting taught to write and too many people are practicing writing without the proper degrees.”"  (Check out the this compelling and comprehensive point of view on the DIY phenomenon by Virginia Postrel if you want to read more.)

I think Virginia hits the nail on the head.  Technology is enabling us all to be designers at the same time as a renaissance in design is raising our collective level of appreciation.  And that’s a good thing.  Rather than bemoaning the fact that more and more people are using the tools of design, we as designers should hone our design-thinking skills and continue to drive improvement to keep our discipline ahead of this more sophisticated and appreciative audience.  Design literacy opens the doors to new ways of solving problems and new types of solutions, which benefits all of us. 

I love when this happens.  This a.m.’s post perfectly synchs with a fantastic article in BusinessWeek on experience design.  Check out Peter Merholz’s essay The Experience Is the Product.  Both say the same thing - we need to design solutions that create the optimal consumer experience.  Just getting there isn’t enough.  You need to get there elegantly.  Read it and enjoy.

Two posts on unleashing the power of design:

1. A fantastic quote by Mark Parker, the new CEO of Nike. Parker says, “I see myself as a champion of design. If you are just trying to be safe, you become everybody else.”

2. Another great tension: We are moving from a consumption economy to a creative economy. That does not mean we are ceasing to consume. The United States economy remains (and will likely remain for generations to come) driven by the consumption of goods. Consumption may fundamentally change — we’re already seeing the rise of the Luxury of Ethics reshaping consumption patterns — but it will not disappear. How will your company carve out a unique and compelling space between these two opposing values — marry consumer creation and commerce? Will you find an authentic way to compete in this changing marketplace? And will you really internalize this shift as a fundamental piece of your business model or will it be just another one-off promotion?

We’re experiencing a new renaissance. As Douglas Rushkoff points out, this one is based in holism and grounded creativity. We have the tools to express and hone our creativity, the media to network to a collective wisdom and marketplace, and a flattened world in which desire is one of the few remaining points of difference between parity brands.

To misquote Mark Parker, playing it safe makes you just like everyone else. How are you going to stand out? And how will you Design a brand solution? How far are you willing to go?

Do Designers really “suck”? Bruce Nussbaum says they do. Actually, he says a lot more in his BusinessWeek rant this week. While his true purpose is to elevate the value of design and add to the discourse about sustainability, he does it in an unusually provocative way.

Nussbaum takes on star designers with a passion, suggesting they are zealously guarding their craft as sacred at at time when we all have the tools to be designers. And in this, he’s right. The real win in this era of the democratization of design is that we are all appreciating design, valuing design, filling our lives with great design. No longer the sole domain of the rich, great design is finally accessible to all. And technology has enabled us to become designers - what a wonderful thing! Why on earth is that so threatening?

Affordable digital video cameras have created a society of home cinematographers (although, that’s a real overstatement if you look at the quality of most home movies!), but they haven’t obsoleted the movie industry. Bloggers are everywhere, but other media still thrives. The tools of technology enable us to play the game and take our own work to a new level, but it in no way replaces true expertise. Designers shouldn’t be threatened, they should view the fact that so many of us have jumped into their pool as a sign of a more secure future. What could be better than a newfound mass appreciation of their craft?

Nussbaum also raises important questions about the role of design as it relates to humanity and the planet. We need to reframe our view of sustainability, the definition of organic, the value of recycling. It’s time to question our assumptions and open our vantage to new design challenges. It’s time to focus on what counts, not what’s easy or has historically defined the solution.

Read the essay. Go back to it. There’s a lot in there. What is design? And should we just call it a banana?

http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/NussbaumOnDesign/archives/2007/03/are_designers_t.html?campaign_id=rss_blog_nussbaumondesign

Never underestimate the power of a little inspiration and a healthy dose of creativity. This is YaYa Chou’s “Chandelier” made gummi bears, beads, monifilament, plastic, metal and light bulbs — amazing, isn’t it? And supposedly, it’s good to eat for up to two years (although I’m not sure what that says about gummy bears and I’m very sure I won’t be feeding them to my kids anymore!!!).

Link (via Make!)

This is worth reading and debating. Has Design moved too far away from its original mission, making intelligence visible? Is this latest Design wave creating value or simply driving materialism? Is there a value difference between good design and bad design, not in terms of aesthetics, but in purpose? While Design can change the world, are we putting our design expertise into the “right” endeavors? Fascinating questions to mull. Please let me know your thoughts.

http://www.core77.com/reactor/01.07_backlash.asp

Great article in Biz Week about the power of Design to innovate technical goods. Design focuses on human factors - usability, ergnomics, emotions - which can can differentiate just as much — even more — than bells and whistles. Also note the attention to systems thinking — innovating the ecosystem, not just the product. Read.

http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/jan2007/id20070109_587285.htm?chan=innovation_innovation+%2B+design_innovation+and+design+lead

Who would’ve thought that a little restaurant supply company on the outskirts of Vegas would be the one to innovate the humble crayon? Thinking beyond color, Classy-Kids has created the triangular-shaped crayon, the Crayangle - the only crayon that doesn’t roll off tables. (And if you’ve ever tried to entertain your kids with the restaurant’s kiddie menu and three-pack of crayons, you know exactly how important this is!) An added benefit: the triangular shape is easier for small, pudgy hands to grip.

While this isn’t exactly an innovation to set the world on fire, it’s amazing what the power of design can do to improve everyday items that have been around, unchanged for decades. Why not pledge to view the world with fresh eyes, looking for the little problems & work arounds you’ve simply put up with over the years? Imagine where a little design innovation could make all the difference.

A fitting epilogue to today’s post about Design Reinvention. Check out this article in Business Week online, talking about how retailers are using private label to offer better design and proprietary offerings (aka they are acting as editors) in order to differentiate their retail brands and enhance margin. In other words, retailers are finally getting hip to the Target strategy — and consumers are benefitting. It’s the era of great, affordable design. What do you have to offer?

http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/dec2006/id20061227_049239.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index_innovation+%2Bamp%3B+design