When I teach at colleges the first thing I usually say is forget about the idea of producing a portfolio to get a ‘job’. It is far more important to do the work that you are excited by, not work that you feel you should do. The work you want to do will attract more of the work you want to do. I received an e-mail from a student the other day asking how they should tackle a certain project. I wrote back saying the first thing they should do is talk to the tutor about the fact that the project did not relate in any way to their view of the world or what they wanted from their education.

Entrevista completa:
http://www.barnbrook.net/06_about/interview_2001.html#int2001Q12

Esta es una lista recopilada por la fotógrafa AMY STEIN quien recientemente ofreció un taller en México organizado por Tóxico.

Les dejo el enlace a un blog que me pareció interesante.

Whereas the craft of design; creating logos, layouts and Web designs, is becoming as much a property of amateurs as it is professionals, designers need to find new areas of unique value that they can provide their clients. By addressing the areas of complexity, co-creation, context and accountability, designers position themselves to better meet the needs of their clients and the demands of a changing economy.

In 2000 Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan stated that technical know-how would be superseded by “the ability to create, analyze, and transform information and to interact effectively with others.” This idea was echoed in Daniel Pink’s book A Whole New Mind, in which Pink projects that the future economy will be driven by six key “senses” - design, story, symphony, empathy, play and meaning. For designers with a collaborative spirit and the ability to conduct and synthesize research, this is good news.

It is becoming clear that designers in this new era must not only be experts in form, as they have been traditionally taught, but must be equally skilled in solving more complex problems that require a broader range of skills including social sciences, technology and the organization of teams. The ability to collaborate, manage the increasing complexity of design problems, design “in context” to their target audiences and be accountable through measurement transforms designers from “makers of things” to “design strategists.” Along with the ability to create form, these skills complete the designer of the conceptual economy.

This idea of a well-rounded design professional is not a new concept. In 1957 Henry Dreyfuss stated, “A successful performer in this new field is a man of many hats. He does more than merely design things. He is a businessman as well as a person who makes drawings and models. He is a keen observer of public taste and he has painstakingly cultivated his own taste. He has an understanding of merchandising, how things are made, packed and distributed, and displayed. He accepts the responsibility of his position as liaison linking management, engineering, and the consumer and co-operates with all three.”

The thought of orchestrating these diverse disciplines can seem daunting. However when we consider the areas of collaboration, complexity, context and accountability, we see that they can easily fall into the framework of design process.

Project initiation: This phase is focused on aligning stakeholders toward a common goal and requires collaborative planning to address complex design problems.

Skills: Business, interpersonal, organizational and communication planning skills.

Design research: This phase defines the context for making design decisions. Centered on the needs of business stakeholders and audiences, this phase relies heavily on collaboration as a means for understanding meaning.

Skills: Social sciences, interpersonal, qualitative, quantitative and analytical research skills.

Concept development: This phase synthesizes the research into an idea and requires divergent and collaborative thinking from multiple perspectives.

Skills: Creative, ideation and facilitation skills.

Design development: This phase is focused on developing an aesthetic that is relevant to the audience.

Skills: Design, production and manufacturing skills.

Measuring ROI: This phase makes design accountable through the measurement of outcomes; whether they are financial, attitudinal or behavioral.

Skills: Business, accounting and marketing skills.

By looking at design systemically, as a group of interacting skills brought together to create whole, designers can think about their work in new ways, expanding their focus, and bringing their inherent creativity to bear more broadly by working with other disciplines. Through process designers can better orchestrate the needs of their clients, manage the complexity of design problems and provide a means for co-collaboration, all in a scaleable framework.

Designers that make the leap from craftsperson to collaborator, who don’t necessarily have all the answers, but provide a methodology for facilitating design thinking will be able to position themselves as a trusted consultant. As such, the new designer does not tell, rather, they listen. They do not control. Instead, they collaborate. In addition to being able to offer expertise in a specialized area, the new designer provides a broad and sophisticated body of knowledge.

http://www.notesondesign.net/inspiration/design/the-new-designer-part-2-of-8/#more-1484

By Kristi Cameron, Caroline Cole, Tscharner Hunter & Suzanne LaBarre

Posted March 18, 2009

Given the dismal state of the economy, we decided to ask students completing ten top industrial-design programs (both bachelor’s and master’s) about their career plans. There’s certainly no lack of problems to tackle—environmental, social, or otherwise—but there will likely be fewer jobs to fill, at least for now. Click on the photos to see what some young creative minds have to say about their prospects.

What Is Good Design

Good Is Sustainable

Good Is Accessible

Good Is Functional

Good Is Well Made

Good Is Emotionally Resonant

Good Is Enduring

Good Is Socially Beneficial

Good Is Beautiful

Good Is Ergonomic

Good Is Affordable

http://www.metropolismag.com/story/20090318/the-new-reality-graduating-class

Good Is Emotionally Resonant

Our love of objects is not even about the objects themselves. It is always about us.

We grow to love the objects that connect us to other people, create meaning, and remind us that we’re alive.

The human brain tends to think along pre-determined linear thought pathways. Such linear thinking can inhibit true innovation and creative exploration. Project M will encourage, and provide techniques for, “thinking wrong” to generate new ideas and design directions to challenge the status-quo.

http://www.projectmlab.com

Yesterday during my own Think Wrong session, you had our group open up to a random page in a David Byrne book to spark our creative session. How did you start developing these exercises?

My partners and I use just a few techniques and that one works particularly well to get people out of their normal orthodoxies.

One of the things you encourage your Project M’ers to do is use their work to change behavior for the better. I notice that you can get pushback from the community sometimes. People can be scared of change even when it’s good for them.

That fear of change is another human characteristic. I think about this a lot. There are some people who don’t just accept change, they actually crave it. And maybe they are the natural wrong thinkers, the adventurers. It’s a natural and reoccurring thing necessary to move society forward. That’s the fringe. Then there’s this whole other group that’s clinging to the norm and following predictable ways. When you have a situation like the one we’re in right now where you have to rapidly shift—we really do need to change, we can’t wait for generations to adopt new ways of doing things—how do you get that mass to come along willingly?

http://www.metropolismag.com/story/20090130/project-m-thinking-wrong-doing-right

School Works Links

These are other sites on the web that have relevance to the School Works project. If you have a web site that you think we should include in this list, please send it to us.

	National Curriculum in Action Creativity Site Hints and advice on how to stimulate creative thinking in the curriculum. URL: www.ncaction.org.uk/creativity EMAIL:
	Advisory Centre for Education A national advice charity offering support to parents, governors and professionals on a wide range of educational issues. URL: www.ace-ed.org.uk  EMAIL: ace-ed@easynet.co.uk
	Architecture for Humanity Architecture for Humanity is a volunteer non-profit organization founded for the promotion of architectural and design solutions to global, social and humanitarian problems. URL: www.architectureforhumanity.org/ EMAIL:
	Art & Architecture Art & Architecture is a practitioner led alliance which advocates a better quality built environment for all. It was established to encourage a dialogue between architects, developers, planners, craftspeople and artists to foster a better mutual understanding and the widest possible exchange of ideas and information. URL: www.artandarchitecture.co.uk EMAIL:
	BBC 21CC 21CC is a learning centre in dedicated to exploring cutting edge developments in interactive technology. It is a radical space for creativity and innovation. It demonstrates and gives access to all to the very best in interactive resources and provides practical ways to integrate creative ICT into teaching and learning. URL: www.bbc.co.uk/21cc