Design Dialogues » Transformation

Convivial Design for the American Breakdown

Designdialogues — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 01:58:57 +0000

Part II. Human-Scale Tools for Change

While many authors recently warned of the consequences of an ideology of unfettered growth, including Ronald Wright, Jared Diamond, George Monbiot, and Thomas Homer-Dixon), philosopher/priest Ivan Illich warned us 40 years ago. He foresaw a collapse of the post-industrial economy, which did not happen then. Illich proposed that autonomous, . . . → Read More: Convivial Design for the American Breakdown

Who will we be when Design grows up?

Designdialogues — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 01:55:20 +0000

The new year often finds blogs and commentators concerned with the memes and themes of the oncoming era hurtling toward us. Participating as I do in the more “abstract” design communities (e.g., experience, anthro, service design, strategic innovation, interaction, information architecture) I observe a lot of unproductive self-definition. This takes the form of pronouncements about . . . → Read More: Who will we be when Design grows up?

Design Leadership for Problem Systems

Designdialogues — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 18:40:01 +0000

The full article is currently on Social Design, so first let me send readers to Joana’s stunning new design site. Here I’ll recap the central theme of Design Leadership for Problem Systems.

The design industry grew rapidly in the 20th century, by satisfying the massive and growing needs of consumer products, industrial systems, and a . . . → Read More: Design Leadership for Problem Systems

Toronto 2.0 – Becoming a wired participatory polity

Designdialogues — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 19:00:31 +0000

Today’s Globe & Mail reports on ChangeCamp.

What is ChangeCamp? It is the application of ‘the long tail’ to public policy. It is a long-held and false assumption that ordinary citizens don’t care about public policy. The statement isn’t, of itself, false. Many, many, many people truly don’t care that much. They want to live . . . → Read More: Toronto 2.0 – Becoming a wired participatory polity

Who Transforms in Transformation?

Designdialogues — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 00:19:47 +0000

In the BusinessWeek blog, Nussbaum on Design packs all the goodies gathered over the years from “innovation” and drops them into “transformation.” This pronouncement led to well over a dozen responses in the Transforming Transformation Google groups, some of them pages in length. Comparing these responses with the replies to the cheerleading or briefer critical . . . → Read More: Who Transforms in Transformation?