Design Thinking @ Haas

Book Review: Design for the Real World April 25, 2011

Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds April 18, 2011

Garr Reynolds is an associate professor of management at Kansai Gaidai University where he teaches a number of courses, including presentation design. Garr lives in Osaka, Japan and as the title of his books gives it away, he frequently draws on concept and experiences originating from his adopted country. In his book, Presentation Zen, he outlines a more human approach to designing and delivering presentations that are engaging and memorable. It is important that it is an approach, not a specific list or guide, to creating visual aids for presentations. Accordingly, Presentation Zen contains a series of concepts, insights and examples for creating presentations that contain the appropriate content arranged in an efficient, graceful manner without superfluous decoration.

Garr claims that unfortunately the opposite, the “death by PowerPoint” has become the norm. The issue is not with the tools but with bad habits. Presentations we learned to create tend to be overbearing and often are a mere projection of the words spoken. The result often adds little to the talk, instead it ends up being distracting. That does not mean that they might not be right for certain types of presentations, such as a technical talk or when the presentation serves as a printed reference to a discussion. However, Garr cites Daniel Pink in claiming the in today’s “conceptual age,” good presenters have to engage the audiences left brain and right brain at the same time. Live talks enhanced by multimedia are always about storytelling and much more than the reading of a paper document.

Presentation Zen proposes a break with the slideware habit, and proposes a creative approach. The guiding principles are simplicity, clarity and brevity. Without aiming to provide a full list, below are some of the concepts Garr advocates.

Be creative. To induce your creativity, start with simple tools, such as paper, a whiteboard, post-its or even a stick in the sand, not with templates. Slow down to think about the big picture.

Focus on the right questions. Who is your audience? Why ware you asked to speak? What do you want them to do? What is the story? And most importantly: if the audience could remember only one thing after your presentation, what do you want it to be? What is your point and why does it matter?

Strive for simplicity. Separate your presentation into three parts: the slides your audience will see, notes only you will see and handouts. This way you can collect all the information but will not feel compelled to cram everything on your slides. Have a process: first, brainstorm. Second, group your ideas and identify the core, central theme. Three, storyboard off the computer using post-its. Fourth, use software to lay out the structure. Show restraint throughout the process, bring everything back to the central message. Simplicity is not simple and is achieved through the careful reduction of the nonessential, when designing think “subtract”, not “add.”

Design is not about decoration but making communication easy and clear. Therefore, minimize text, use bullet points rarely, find a picture that can tell the same story instead. Use the four main principles: contrast to highlight strong differences, repetition to give your slides unity and organization, alignment to create the sense of connection on your slide, and proximity to group related ideas together.

Presentation Zen is more of a learn-by-example book than a text to be followed word by word, although it does represent an overarching philosophy of how presentations should be created. I have two main criticisms of the approach. One is that contrary to the stated aim of creating “whole brained” presentations, the techniques focus very heavily on the “right brain.” Given that the slides are simplified down to the bare minimum, the resulting presentation only works in the presence of an exceptional motivational speaker who can efficiently create the corresponding metaphors in the mind of the audience. My second criticism is that by trying to avoid words and clutter, many of the examples go a little too far and produce something I would call kitsch, the reproduction of some popular images to represent something unrelated.

Overall, Presentation Zen is a collection of some great insights into designing effective presentations and anyone giving a live talk should ignore the concepts at their own peril.

Presentationzen DESIGN: Simple Design Principles and Techniques to Enhance Your Presentations April 18, 2011

By 96.03% chance (=242 out of 252 pages), you will find colorful photos and/or slides when you randomly open this book.

The figure clearly illustrates the nature of this book. This 252-page book introduces well over 1,000 photos and presentation slides to support readers to achieve the following:1) Understand basic concepts of graphic design; 2) Create better visuals and 3) Communicate better in readers’ presentation.

The book is composed of logically straightforward flow; problem definition, theory, practice and check (kaizen).

The author defines design as being about people creating solutions that help or improve the lives of other people. The author believes that design is not just an art, but there is art in design, and well-designed things look good. Due to the fact people make instant judgments when confronted with something, the author stresses design matters.

How can we think like a designer? The author summarized the steps needed to think like a designer. They are: 1) Embrace constraints; 2) Practice restraint; 3) Know when to stop; 4) Adopt a beginner’s mindset; 5) Check your ego at the door; 6) Focus on the experience of the design; 7) Become a master storyteller; 8) Think communication – not decoration; 9) Obsess about ideas – not tools; 10) Clarify your intention; 11) Sharpen your vision and curiosity; 12) Simplify as much as you can – but no more; 13) Utilize empty space as well as 14) Learn all the “rules” and know when and why to break them.

Then, the author explains the major components consisting of design. They are: 1) Presenting with type; 2) Communicating with color; 3) Using images and video to tell stories as well as 4) Simplifying the data.

The author illustrates the following three actions to enhance the quality of design. They are 1) Using space; 2) Creating purpose and focus as well as 3) Achieving harmony.

The most important thing which I learned from this book is about using space. On page 209, the author introduces the Japanese word “Yohaku-no-bi”, which literally means “beauty of extra white.” As a Japanese, I remember a famous old story in Japan.

“One day, Hideyoshi heard that flowers bloom around Rikyu’s house. He wanted to see many beautiful flowers, so he decided to visit Rikyu’s house the next day. However, when he visited Rikyu’s house, he found no flowers on the ground. He was disappointed. When he entered in Rikyu’s house to make a complaint, he found one big colorful flower in a vase standing alone in a dark empty room. The morning sunshine lit the flower. He noticed its beauty. Rikyu had cut down the rest of the flowers to strengthen its beauty.”

Japanese traditionally see meanings in empty space.

The author has lived in Japan for over 20 years. He gets a lot of hints from Japanese traditions and daily life to create good design. The book gives me an opportunity to utilize Japanese traditional culture in a western way, making a presentation.

Made to Stick April 18, 2011

Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip Heath and Dan Heath

Review by Kimra McPherson

Made to Stick argues that well-crafted stories are key to getting people to remember, internalize, and act on ideas — and its very structure proves its point. The book contains story after memorable story, from urban legends to advertising breakthroughs to how an overweight college student who lost weight eating sandwiches became Jared, spokesman for Subway. There’s other information in this book, too, including theory explaining why some messages work and exercises to beef up your own storytelling skills. But to be honest, those segments didn’t fully register with me. What I remember are the stories.

The book is written by a pair of brothers, Chip Heath and Dan Heath, who realized that their lives in business and academia had converged in a common interest in why people remember some things and forget others. Early on, they note that dry, abstract business messages often seem profound to the executives delivering them but sound like little more than boring, meaningless corporate-speak to the employees and clients on the listening side. “We have to strategically maximize profit and increase customer satisfaction?” Yawn.

As an antidote, they propose a set of characteristics that memorable messages have in common: They’re Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotional Stories (or SUCCESs — an acronym they rightly note is “a little corny,” but hey, it’s sticky). The book is organized into chapters focusing on each principle, each with its own boatload of illustrative stories.

The book’s rhythm becomes familiar fast and grows tiresome after a while: set-up, then story; set-up, then story; exercise based on the stories you’ve just read; then another round of set-up and story. But the stories almost all work — which, indeed, should be the case if the book is doing its job! One of the early examples focuses on the person who realized he could illustrate the unhealthiness of movie popcorn by comparing it to an indulgent, fatty spread consisting of bacon, Big Macs, and steak. Over the time I was reading this book, I heard or read various versions of that story at least five times, and running through the SUCCES principles helped me to understand why it persists.

Frankly, after Concrete, the principles and their stories start to blend together a bit; almost all of the examples cited as Emotional are also Concrete, and Stories are … stories. But in the epilogue, the authors note that their framework is meant to be a checklist, not an equation. Not all of the elements need to be present for a message to work; the ones that are present just need to be as strong as possible.

This book seems apt to read now, as we near the end of our semester and think about how to tell the stories of the products and services we’re designing. Throughout the book, the authors reference the Curse of Knowledge: the problem of having spent a lot of time studying and thinking about a problem and learning so much about it that all perspective on why it might matter to others is lost. (They liken this to a student trying to write a research paper and wanting to cram in every single detail uncovered, whether or not it’s relevant to the overall argument of the paper.) They acknowledge in the epilogue that they could have spent even more time addressing how to break the Curse of Knowledge, but several of the book’s more useful tips suggest ways to step back and figure out what your message (or product, or service, or strategy) is about for someone else. One of my favorites, from the Emotional chapter: “An old advertising maxim says you’ve got to spell out the benefit of the benefit.” Naturally, this possibly abstract line is bolstered immediately with an illustrative story: “In other words, people don’t buy quarter-inch drill bits. They buy quarter-inch holes so they can hang their children’s pictures.” I may not always be able to recall every detail from Made to Stick, but I’ll certainly remember that.

Curious? Check out the first chapter.

Design is the Problem April 10, 2011

At its heart, Design is the Problem is about accountability. Multiple parties, including product marketers, procurement managers, process engineers and senior executives have a hand in determining the make-up of a product or service. Designers however have a unique opportunity to ensure that this collaboration results in a sustainable outcome. Thus Shedroff’s work is a refreshing call to action that is difficult to ignore and nearly impossible to refute.

Shedroff argues that designers have “created some solutions that have hurt people and the environment in a myriad of ways.” He quickly brings readers, even those who may have been skeptical, on board with compelling examples of commonplace, damaging design models. Makeup and stilettos worn by many women and pushed by the fashion industry as sources of beauty, are shown by Shedroff to be exactly the opposite. Makeup clogs pores and causes skin problems while high heels create discomfort and long-term health problems. It is hard to argue with this logic, which immediately draws readers into considering what other everyday behaviors and products are deeply embedded but yield undesirable consequences.

As a student of energy and clean technology at Haas, I was immediately reminded of the inefficiencies embedded in our electricity generation and transmission infrastructure. I work part-time at a manufacturer of distributed generation technologies, where the company’s goal is to help move the industry away from the centralized generation model, characterized by massive power plants sending electricity out over thousands of miles of electric wires that create transmission losses, environmental disruptions and eyesores. The distributed approach, consisting of localized, renewable energy generation was perhaps best advocated by Amory Lovins in his 1976 paper “Energy Strategy: The Road Not Taken?”. Shedroff is clearly familiar with this view, as he discusses the benefits of decentralized designs several pages later (and also includes a foreword from L. Hunter Lovins, who co-founded the Rocky Mountain Institute with Amory).

This starting point of questioning the rationale for existing designs is an excellent take-off point for the bulk of the book, which reviews existing frameworks for incorporating sustainability, and proposes specific guidelines that designers can follow to improve sustainability. The review of existing frameworks is comprehensive and covers Natural Capitalism, Cradle to Cradle, Biomimicry, Life Cycle Analysis, Social Return on Investment, The Natural Step, Total Beauty and the Sustainability Helix. The array of approaches can be overwhelming, and so Shedroff’s synthesis in the “Putting Them All Together” section is a highly valuable resource for quickly grasping the key points of multiple disparate methodologies (pictured below). That being said, a designer seeking to directly apply any of these frameworks would require further study beyond the summaries provided in this book.

Following this comprehensive review, Shedroff proposes a number of specific measures that designers can take to arrive at more sustainable solutions. These include Design for Use, Dematerialization, Substitution, Localization, Transmaterialization, Informationalization and Designing for Reuse and Recycling. Some of these techniques, such as the “less is more” approach to dematerialization, are fairly intuitive. However, others are deeply insightful and provide new associations between sustainability and design. For example Shedroff draws a clear, inverse relationship between meaning and consumerism – the better products, services and experiences address our values and desire for meaning, the less likely we are to consume them in excess, or replace them with the latest fad. Thus more meaningful designs provide a novel path to sustainability.

Shedroff’s guidelines for sustainability create a valuable toolkit for any designer who is thinking about creating more sustainable solutions. Their logic and elegant simplicity may leave some readers wondering why each of these approaches has not been fully adopted and implemented by now. This is one area of the book that I felt could use more depth. For example, most would accept that recycled materials are preferable to virgin materials. In fact, a chart that compares the full cost of many common materials (Table 6.1) reveals that recycled glass and aluminum are cheaper than virgin alternatives. But clearly not all manufacturing processes substitute recycled aluminum for virgin aluminum and recycled materials are not as ubiquitous as you would hope. Shedroff does note that designers are faced with constant tradeoffs (i.e. recycled materials may sacrifice durability or performance), and those tradeoffs are where the really difficult design decisions are made. Further insight into these decisions and some data that would be useful in informing them, might have added to the depth of the discussion on tradeoffs.

The final section of the book demonstrates how these principles of sustainability can be readily incorporated into existing design processes. For designers, this is probably the most useful section of the book, in that it provides a road map to sustainability that is compatible with such common corporate activities as strategic partnerships, brand differentiation, risk mitigation and product development. Ultimately Shedroff is highly convincing that sustainability is both imperative and achievable, and that designers have a responsibility to ensure that their design process reflects this truth. Non-designers such as executives, product managers and consumers, can also learn a great deal from this book about the sort of sustainable practices they should be looking for in their products and services.