Comments for Design Thinking @ Haas

Comment on Jonathan Ive. A game changer by Marwan Rammah

Marwan Rammah — Wed, 16 May 2012 06:25:57 +0000

That is just brilliant! It is fascinating how applicable it is to our modern world. In a sense his designs transcend time.
I am glad that Jony Ive is around to continue his legacy.

Thanks for sharing, Jon.

Comment on Jonathan Ive. A game changer by jhpittman

jhpittman — Thu, 10 May 2012 04:07:03 +0000

Marwan -

You mentioned Dieter Rams as an influence on Ive. Fastco Design just published this article by Rams. It is worth taking a look.

– Jon

http://www.fastcodesign.com/1669725/dieter-rams-on-good-design-as-a-key-business-advantage

Comment on Design & Thinking Movie by jhpittman

jhpittman — Tue, 01 May 2012 15:20:31 +0000

I knew he was in fhe film, Did not know about the trailer. You actually know about a lot of people in the film.

Comment on Gamestorming by Sunni Brown

Sunni Brown — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 21:35:30 +0000

Arian,
Thank you so much for the thoughtful summary of Gamestorming. Very well done. In response to your observation that the book is missing recommendations around games for specific industries and challenges, it certainly is. What I call “game sequencing” is one of the most sophisticated aspects of Gamestorming and, as Dave mentioned above, could warrant an entire book in its own right. We chose not to offer game sequences for specific problems because we wanted to target explorers and risk-takers and people willing to jump into the fray and discover what works for themselves rather than give the reader prescribed agendas for group work. That said, I completely agree that that piece is missing and I know that people want and need it. I’m working on a 2nd book (to be published early 2013) called The Doodle Revolution, and it will accommodate those readers who need game sequences for specific and common organizational challenges. In the meantime, my suggestion is that you experiment with triads of games – an opening followed by an exploring followed by a closing. Try and understand what happens to information and to the gamer’s experiences as they move through the mechanics of each game. I’ve found that exercises like that start to build the DNA of gaming while aiming for specific outcomes. Man. That sounded jargony. Anyway, thank you again for your work. And game on.

Sunni

Comment on Presentation Zen Design, Garr Reynolds by Marina Shrago

Marina Shrago — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 09:02:35 +0000

Hello Laura -
Some things (color, shape, balance) are relevant to all presentations (and, indeed, to all design), as is the deliberate approach, but I don’t believe the author is aware of the existence of mundane presentations.

Comment on Presentation Zen Design, Garr Reynolds by Laura Brandner

Laura Brandner — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 23:17:41 +0000

Hi Marina – Thanks for the great review. I’m glad you mentioned the part about “other presentations” – e.g. things like technical design reviews or other presentations that are a bit more “boring” than a persuasive sales pitch or a motivational speech. I’m struggling with how to apply these techniques to basic, everyday presentations. Did the author address this at all or might anyone in the class have suggestions of where to get advice on this?
Thanks

Comment on Designing Life: Frank Lloyd Wright, Architect by Laura Brandner

Laura Brandner — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 23:01:21 +0000

Thanks for the insights into FLW and his design philosophy – I really enjoyed learning more details on someone I’ve heard a lot about. I appreciate that you gave both sides of the story.

Your mention of other design “geniuses” and visionaries and how they are comfortable striking out on their own and making their own way makes me wonder which comes first. Are they able to have these visionary ideas because they go their own way, or are they essentially forced to go their own way because they think so differently from others…?

Comment on Designing Life: Frank Lloyd Wright, Architect by Marina Shrago

Marina Shrago — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 18:01:10 +0000

Keith, thank you, this is fascinating! Great point about Wright’s insistence on complete control. The theater in Taliesin West has seats that are designed to lead the user to cross his or her legs and turn the torso slightly to the left, something Wright perceived to be a natural relaxing pose. I saw a left-handed person try to sit in one of these seats. It was mildly hilarious.

Comment on Designing Life: Frank Lloyd Wright, Architect by jhpittman

jhpittman — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 15:50:54 +0000

Keith -

Nice job distilling the essence of a very complex and often contradictory person. How relevant do you think Wright would be today, 50 years after his death? His concept of Broadacre city, in which every person had an acre of land, actually led to urban sprawl. How do you think (or do you think) Wright would have adapted to today’s conditions.

Your points about the contraditions between Wright’s view and his behavior only scratch the surface. It does make one think about the quirkyness of creative genius.

– Jon

Comment on Slide:ology, by Nancy Duarte by doviknissim

doviknissim — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 17:43:27 +0000

Apologies for some of my grammer mistakes in my previous comment – I corrected some of them]

Jon, Matt, Nancy, Hi
Apologies for being late to the discussion …
Matt, Great Summary – great work!!
BUT I have questions that relate not just to this book, but for Nancy’s books in general
See life in not TED! Life is not Haas! and I know I am not going to surprise you …life is very different than TED/Haas. Earth-shuttering ideas have to travel great distances before they come to a crowd like TED’s crowd, who doesn’t ask questions, who doesn’t challenge the presenter’s qualifications and every piece of her great idea, who doesn’t shoot down her idea before she gets to her 2nd slide (actually before she presented her 1st)
See for us “young” graduates, It’s not always easy to give a presentation that will change the world….we don’t always have the track-record to “show the audience the way”.
In my life I have learned…. hope for the best, but get ready for the worst … and yeah things sometimes got ugly enough for me to learn some valuable lessons.
1. You have to earn the right to present your 2nd slide!
A presentation doesn’t start with your slides… or the time in which you present them. It starts way before that. In the announcement, or the pre-read, or the discussions you are having before that.
2. The crowd is sometimes very hostile: (they are nice about it though) but they challenge your qualifications, your judgment and your ideas (they almost always have a better idea than yours) and in some cases they won’t let you drag them through a long story before they understand why are you wasting their time.
3. Time is a scarce resource, a presentation is an expensive use of that resource, if a presentation is not impact-full – you didn’t just waste your time (I know you disagree)
But in my world… if you haven’t made an impact … you’d better not have presented (I mean it) and so you have to know you’ll be able to make an impact
My questions:
1. Any thoughts about what you “present” before your presentation (pre-reads, announcements, the gist of the presentation)- I happen to think that it is more important than your actual slides (I know – stupid idea, but nevertheless)
2. Any suggestions for how to begin a presentation to a crowd that you know would be hostile … hint … you don’t get to tell a full story.
3. Any suggestion on how to make sure you have an impact … or know ahead of time whether you can’t make an impact
I’d appreciate your responses.
Dovik