What Others are saying
Here is the latest buzz on “design thinking” and related topics from sources we trust. Enjoy!
Techno|theory Deathmatch: “Using Theory in Research” Read-along
January 18, 2022, 6:38 pm – A new cohort of EPIC members has just embarked on "Using Theory in Research"—a foundational EPIC Course taught by Kate Sieck, PhD (Senior Manager, Machine Assisted Cognition at Toyota Research Institute). We invite you to read along! In the first ... [ Read the full story ... ]
Foundations for Ethical Research
January 11, 2022, 9:35 pm – An EPIC Talk with and March 1, 2022, 4:00–5:30 pm GMT (8–9:30 am US Pacific Time) Free for EPIC Members Many business and organizational environments lack a strong understanding of ethics and institutionalized processes for ethical research practi... [ Read the full story ... ]
Andreas Hug, Board of Directors, Moholy-Nagy Foundation
January 6, 2022, 10:42 pm – Dezeen has named the Moholy-Nagy Foundation's redesign by Pentagram as one of its "top 10 rebrands of 2021." The following was excerpted from a conversation earlier this year between Moholy's grandson, ID alum Andreas Hug (MDes 2004), and Kristin ... [ Read the full story ... ]
Remembering industrial designer and ID board member Robert Blaich
January 6, 2022, 6:00 pm – By Andrew Connor Robert Blaich, a celebrated industrial designer and former board member at IIT Institute of Design (ID), passed away in September of 2021 at the age of 91. Blaich was a pioneer of design management who made an impact early in his ... [ Read the full story ... ]
EPIC2021 Video & Proceedings Now Available on Demand!
January 4, 2022, 3:53 am – Above: EPIC2021 welcome & opening from San Jose, California EPIC2021 Anticipation was the 17th edition of the premier global conference on ethnography in business and organizations. Now you can watch all conference presentations on demand, and rea... [ Read the full story ... ]
Ethnography for Organizational Change
January 2, 2022, 11:54 pm – An EPIC Talk with , Bayes Business School & , JC & Associates Feb 1, 2022, 4:00–5:30 pm London (8–9:30 am US Pacific Time) Free for EPIC Members Organizations are realizing that successful change requires the ability to understand work practices a... [ Read the full story ... ]
Little Dramas Everywhere: Using Ethnography to Anticipate the Future
December 30, 2021, 5:35 am – San Jose State University Workday, Inc. Netflix Inc. In this article, the chairs of EPIC2021 reflect on the idea of Anticipation, and what ethnography reveals to us that may not be readily apparent through other means. Looking backward at the year... [ Read the full story ... ]
How New is the New? Reflecting on How to Design for Tomorrow through the Case of Autonomous Vehicles
December 30, 2021, 4:10 am – An EPIC2021 Sponsored Panel by Waymo Moderator: (Waymo) Panelists: (Waymo), (IIT Institute of Design), (University College London) How do we anticipate the futures of the things we are bringing into the world, and the experiences they will help sh... [ Read the full story ... ]
Eyes on Tomorrow: How Pathfinders Help Facebook See beyond the Horizon to Build Responsible Products
December 30, 2021, 4:03 am – An EPIC2021 Sponsored Panel by Facebook Moderator: , Facebook Panelists: , Facebook Reality Labs; , Facebook; , Instagram Pathfinders, foresight strategists, and responsible innovation researchers help Facebook understand how cultures and communit... [ Read the full story ... ]
Feedback Fatigue: Re-designing the Research Process for Sustainable Insights
December 30, 2021, 3:52 am – An EPIC2021 Sponsored Panel by Atlassian Moderator: (Atlassian) Panelists: (Atlassian), (Atlassian), (Atlassian) & With nearly 6,000 Atlassians, achieving customer-centricity that’s meaningful, sustainable, and respectful of people’s attention can... [ Read the full story ... ]
Tutorial: Leading with Care—How to Support the Mental Well-being of Your Team
December 30, 2021, 3:48 am – & , Co-CEOs, Catalyst Constellations Leaders and managers develop care strategies and plans of action for supporting their teams, their people, and themselves. Overview This tutorial was conducted at EPIC2021. Exercises and discussions have been o... [ Read the full story ... ]
Tutorial: Ethnographic Video—Storytelling for Impact
December 30, 2021, 2:15 am – Instructors: (UX Researcher, Facebook), (Director, Real Ethnography) & (CEO, Reduct) An end-to-end approach to scoping, planing, shooting, editing and sharing video ethnography projects. Overview This tutorial was conducted at EPIC2021. Exercises ... [ Read the full story ... ]
Anticipating the Arrival of a Clean-Sensitive Driving Future
December 29, 2021, 11:32 pm – Rightpoint General Motors General Motors Rightpoint Rightpoint A leading automaker needed to safely study the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic upon driver and passenger experience to effectively prioritize future in-vehicle features related to clea... [ Read the full story ... ]
The Future of Business in a Post-COVID Landscape
December 29, 2021, 11:28 pm – Moderator: , ZS Associates Panelists: , Institute for the Future; , Institute for the Future / Diagonal; , Ogilvy; , Temple University Events of the 18 months have upended questions of the future and, for business, cast a new light on how it might... [ Read the full story ... ]
Redesigning the Social Safety Net
December 29, 2021, 11:24 pm – Moderator: , City of San Francisco Panelists: , University of California, Berkeley; , Monumental; , Canadian Digital Service The past two years have laid bare that we inhabit a world with enormous and increasing inequality. We've also seen a decre... [ Read the full story ... ]
The Future of Audiences & Mixed Reality Performances
December 29, 2021, 11:17 pm – Keynote Speaker: , Director of Digital Development, Royal Shakespeare Company Sarah Ellis is an award-winning producer, the Director of Digital Development for the Royal Shakespeare Company, and a fellow of the University of Worcester for her work... [ Read the full story ... ]
Exiting the Road to Hell: How We Reclaim Agency & Responsibility in Our Fights for Justice
December 29, 2021, 11:15 pm – Keynote Speaker: , Reboot Panthea Lee is a strategist, organizer, designer, and facilitator, and the Executive Director of Reboot. She is passionate about building transformative coalitions between communities, activists, movements, and institutio... [ Read the full story ... ]
Together we stand – joining forces to advance the industry as a whole
December 17, 2021, 9:32 am – Operating in the same market does not always make competitors. Despite the alcoholic beverages industry being heavily restricted by laws and regulations, it is also an industry with a lot of cooperation going on between different players. Especial... [ Read the full story ... ]
Saving the ‘little ones’ & our oceans
December 17, 2021, 9:23 am – Cabbage farmers with passion to innovate and work with various projects involving farming, nature, bees and handcraft, Sugar Daddies Co. based in Iso-Kyrö is a good case where linked missions influence business actions, strategy and decision makin... [ Read the full story ... ]
From business chemistry to perfecting food chemistry
December 16, 2021, 12:06 pm – Collaboration and co-creation between companies can spark new ideas, products and ways forward. Restaurants and their chefs have been one of the most active development collaborators of packaged food and beverage entrepreneurs, testing products as... [ Read the full story ... ]
Co-creating with bartenders
December 16, 2021, 12:01 pm – Already familiar with utilizing the expertise of bartenders in their earlier products, Kyrö Distillery Company decided to utilize the expertise of international bartenders in developing their bitters. After choosing seven bartenders as co-develope... [ Read the full story ... ]
Learnings from collaboration in times of calm & crisis
December 16, 2021, 10:57 am – Within 72 entrepreneur interviews, 37 DesignBites case companies reported 606 interactions with stakeholders outside of their company when describing their development efforts – we’ve analyzed what these reflect on during-crisis collaboration. In ... [ Read the full story ... ]
Experimenting during the pandemic
December 16, 2021, 8:59 am – CREATIVE RESPONSES OF FINNISH FOOD VENTURES AMIDST THE CRISIS Based on interviews from 24 Finnish food ventures and 844 Covid-19 related Instagram posts in March-May 2020 from 66 Finnish food ventures, we found that many companies were active expe... [ Read the full story ... ]
The food industry at large
December 16, 2021, 8:31 am – INGREDIENTS OF THE FINNISH FOOD INDUSTRY Interviewing 16 different types of food industry players, including suppliers, investors, cafes, restaurants, and retail chains, draws a picture of an industry with long traditions yet undergoing large tran... [ Read the full story ... ]
Denis Weil ends term as dean
December 15, 2021, 2:43 pm – Denis Weil (MDes 2001) will end his term as Dean at IIT Institute of Design (ID) this calendar year. He has served as Dean since 2017, first teaching at ID in 2005. During his term as dean, Denis has set ID on the track for continued success, work... [ Read the full story ... ]
University of Helsinki joins the Design Factory Global Network
December 15, 2021, 11:30 am – Third time’s the charm has never been more accurate. If you land at Helsinki Airport, you can get in your car and reach three different design factories within an hour. The Design Factory Global Network is honoured to welcome Viikki Food Design Fa... [ Read the full story ... ]
Challenges and learnings from experiments
December 9, 2021, 12:39 pm – Within 72 entrepreneur interviews, 37 DesignBites case companies reported 606 interactions with stakeholders outside of their company when describing their development efforts – we’ve analyzed what these reflect on during-crisis collaboration. COM... [ Read the full story ... ]
Test Kitchen ep 6: What are the challenges and possibilities in developing children’s foods?
December 8, 2021, 11:47 am – In this episode our DesignBites researcher Erika Perttunen discusses with Milla Westerling from Green Planet Astronauts and Sofia Laurell from Tiny Organics about developing healthy and plant-based children’s foods. How to develop and market them ... [ Read the full story ... ]
Hope and action with Mushon Zer-Aviv
November 30, 2021, 10:38 pm – By Kristin Gecan Episode 10, the last episode of With Intent's first season, is available now. (Subscribe now to get our second season delivered!) Mushon Zer-Aviv is an activist, artist, and designer. He's currently at work on devising new ways of... [ Read the full story ... ]
Meaningful work with Marina Gorbis
November 23, 2021, 8:52 pm – By Kristin Gecan Episode 9 of With Intent is available now. Marina Gorbis is executive director of the Institute for the Future, a place where business executives, policymakers, nonprofits, and others use foresight and futuring techniques to make ... [ Read the full story ... ]
Faith and permanence with Jon Veal
November 16, 2021, 7:29 pm – By Kristin Gecan Episode 8 of With Intent is available now. Jon Veal is co-founder of alt_, an organization that focuses on the power of community. The alt_ market, the organization's flagship program, has transformed abandoned spaces into a commu... [ Read the full story ... ]
Ruth Schmidt provides a new framework for behavioral designers
November 10, 2021, 5:50 pm – Associate professor Ruth Schmidt writes in Behavioral Scientist about the challenge of using behavioral science in systems design, extending thinking about behavioral planning shared earlier this year in Strategic Design Research Journal: To help ... [ Read the full story ... ]
Social arrangements with Kenneth Bailey
November 9, 2021, 8:23 pm – By Kristin Gecan Episode 7 of With Intent is available now. Kenneth Bailey, co-founder of the Design Studio for Social Intervention (DS4SI), and co-author of Ideas, Arrangements, Effects, talks about his approach to building a better possible worl... [ Read the full story ... ]
Remembering ID alum Richard Schultz, celebrated furniture designer
November 3, 2021, 4:58 pm – By Andrew Connor Richard Schultz (DSGN ’50), an inventive industrial designer who worked at Knoll, one of the world’s leading furniture manufacturers, and an Institute of Design alumnus, has passed away at the age of 95, reports the New York Times... [ Read the full story ... ]
Innovation communities with Michela Magas
November 2, 2021, 8:46 pm – By Kristin Gecan Episode 6 of With Intent is available now. Michela Magas has had a nonlinear career path driven by a focus on bringing people together to make deliberate decisions that enable long-term creativity and innovation. Those decisions m... [ Read the full story ... ]
How to Work From Home as a Designer
October 22, 2021, 10:15 am – If you have been working from home the past year or so, you are not alone! As you know, since the Covid-19 pandemic erupted, remote working has started to become a norm (due to safe management measures to mitigate the risk of wide-spreading...... [ Read the full story ... ]
We are looking for Junior Experience Designers! (Closed)
August 17, 2021, 11:32 am – The hiring for this position is now officially closed! Design Sojourn is a Design Led Innovation Consultancy that loves to inspire, impact and create better lives. We are currently looking for smart, dynamic, self-motivated Junior Experience D... [ Read the full story ... ]
Watch Steve on The Service Design Show
June 3, 2021, 4:34 pm – Thanks to Marc Fonteijn for having me back on The Service Design Show. The one-hour episode is embedded below and can also be found on YouTube. Everything in service design starts with user research. But as you’ve probably experienced often it’s c... [ Read the full story ... ]
Listen to Steve on the Nodes of Design Podcast
May 24, 2021, 3:18 pm – Thanks to Ravi Tej for having me on the Nodes of Design podcast. The 35-minute episode is embedded below and can also be found on the podcast site. In this episode, Steve shared wonderful insights on user interviews and why we do user interviews i... [ Read the full story ... ]
Video of my Delta CX AMA
March 24, 2021, 4:42 pm – I recently did an Ask Me Anything session organized by Debbie Levitt of Delta CX. The video is now online. We went for about 75 minutes and talked about learning to balance all different pressures when leading an interview, encouraging teams to su... [ Read the full story ... ]
What you asked/What they heard
March 18, 2021, 7:44 pm – In this video from 2016, basketball player Taurean Prince, in a post-game press conference, responds to a question about the team’s rebound performance with an explanation of how rebounds work. I can’t tell from this clip if there’s an actual misc... [ Read the full story ... ]
How Garfield Helped Me Make Peace With a Culture in Decline
March 3, 2021, 5:20 pm – Randomized Garfield comic #12323 using Censored template, inspired by @CensoredGarf pic.twitter.com/bhxehVAEW3 — Garfield Randomized (@RandomizedGarf) December 22, 2020 pic.twitter.com/d0xId6tb5j — pipe garfield (@GarfieldPipe) February 2, 2021 I ... [ Read the full story ... ]
Listen to Steve on the Enterprise Product Leadership Podcast
February 24, 2021, 4:19 pm – https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/iotproductleadership/IOT_039.mp3 Thanks to Daniel Elizalde for having me on the Enterprise Product Leadership podcast to talk about user research, especially in enterprise and industrial organizations. The audio (... [ Read the full story ... ]
Frederick Wiseman on observing natural behavior
February 23, 2021, 11:11 pm – This wonderful profile of documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman confirms my own experience with this frequently-asked-question about user research. “There’s a whole issue as to whether the camera changes behavior — the pretentious way of talking... [ Read the full story ... ]
How William Gibson keeps an eye out for possible futures
February 11, 2021, 4:23 pm – From an interview with William Gibson last year for the Mother Jones podcast. You’ve always had an uncanny ability to write about technology that doesn’t exist or certainly isn’t widely known, but that then comes to the fore. Do you study cutting ... [ Read the full story ... ]
Check out Steve on the Brave UX podcast
February 10, 2021, 7:15 pm – I enjoyed the chance to speak with Brendan Jarvis for his Brave UX podcast. The 67-minute episode is embedded above, and is on YouTube. In this episode… How Steve’s adapted his practice in recent years, as a result of industry changes Why should r... [ Read the full story ... ]
Steve interviewed for “People of Research”
January 21, 2021, 4:11 pm – Thanks to Research Loop for interviewing me as part of their People of Research series. The interview is here, and I’ve reposted it below. Big thanks for accepting the invitation, Steve, a pleasure to have you on #PeopleOfResearch interview series... [ Read the full story ... ]
Lee the Puppet teaches you about body language over video conference
January 14, 2021, 4:58 pm – User researchers are continuing to experiment with and be challenged by remote research, especially around rapport and building empathy. For help, check out this charming 9-minute video from puppeteer and sci-fi author Mary Robinette Kowal about b... [ Read the full story ... ]
We are Hiring Experience Designers and Design Thinkers (Closed!)
December 16, 2020, 3:29 am – Design Sojourn is a proven Design Led Innovation Consultancy passionate in radically transforming lives. We are growing our team in 2021! The post We are Hiring Experience Designers and Design Thinkers (Closed!) appeared first on Design Sojourn. ... [ Read the full story ... ]
Check out my articles on “Great User Research For Non-Researchers”
December 15, 2020, 7:59 pm – I was honored to be invited to be part of User Research Explained – A Charity Collection Of Essays For Pandemic Relief (To Benefit Doctors Without Borders). My contribution is Great Research For Non-Researchers, presented in three parts Planning R... [ Read the full story ... ]
To create a better society: The 2020 MP Ranjan memorial lecture
November 20, 2020, 10:32 pm – The great spiritual and humanistic power of design has been lost in its current emphasis upon business and industry. Design can be much more powerful than that: Design is a way of thinking that can be applied to almost any issue, but most importan... [ Read the full story ... ]
The creative ceiling
November 8, 2020, 11:33 am – There is a funny phenomenon that occurs in your creative career that no one really tells you or forewarns you about. It isn’t entirely explicit, although, perhaps I didn’t see what was always hanging above me until my focus gazed upwards from my n... [ Read the full story ... ]
izanami
October 10, 2020, 1:44 pm – The shinto goddess of creation and death, and a fitting representation to what feels like the death and re-birth of this blog. After many months (years??) of deliberation I decided to reach into the ashes to nurture a fresh new set of writing wing... [ Read the full story ... ]
Designing Clarity 03 – Did Apple just Disrupt Healthcare?
October 8, 2020, 7:28 am – Did Apple just disrupt Healthcare? More specifically, Health Tech? I would say Healthcare is one of those industries ripe for innovation disruption. It is a mature industry lead by large slow-moving organisations, that have been around forever. ... [ Read the full story ... ]
Designing Clarity 02 – Maish Nichani – The Digitisation Tipping Point
September 21, 2020, 6:09 am – Finally, episode 2 of the Designing Clarity Podcast is here! Sorry, it took a while as there was a lot of editing required due to signal dropouts and tech failures. We hope to improve our workflow and get it more streamlined for the next one....... [ Read the full story ... ]
Listen to Steve on the Why UX? Podcast
September 10, 2020, 7:56 pm – http://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/forcedn/whyux/30Steve_Portigal.mp3 Thanks to Helena Levison (“Queen of UX”) for having me on the Why UX? podcast to talk about Doorbells, Danger, and Dead Batteries. The audio (28 min) is embedded above, and availa... [ Read the full story ... ]
Steve contributed to “Remote User Research: 12 Tips from Experts”
September 3, 2020, 5:06 pm – There’s a really good range of ideas and best practices in Remote User Research: 12 Tips from Experts. Mine is below 2. Set expectations for your participants If you’re carrying out remote research via video conferencing tools, it’s always a good ... [ Read the full story ... ]
Designing Clarity 01 – Alrick Dorett – Captaining Yourself and Your Ship
August 25, 2020, 2:04 pm – Bam! Here comes the real first episode. The famous military strategist Sun Tzu said: If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you... [ Read the full story ... ]
Video of my Mind The Product AMA
August 24, 2020, 6:12 pm – I recently did a small Ask Me Anything session organized by Mind the Product. The video is now online. It runs about an hour and includes discussion about balancing quantitative and qualitative research in an organization that leans heavily toward... [ Read the full story ... ]
Designing Clarity – A Podcast Series for Innovating and Designing Your New Normal
August 24, 2020, 2:28 am – I am very excited to share the launch of my first podcast series with you! My team and I have not blogged much this year. We could not figure out the best format to get our thoughts across to you. We are not even... The post Designing Clarity... [ Read the full story ... ]
Read the recap of my Rosenfeld Media AMA
August 17, 2020, 3:54 pm – I recently did an “Ask Me Anything” session on the Rosenfeld Media Slack. We touched on subjects ranging from how to handle difficult clients, my favorite band, and recommended reading, to dealing with “heavy topics” in interviews and how to impro... [ Read the full story ... ]
5 minute video on Asking User Research Questions
July 28, 2020, 4:49 pm – Here’s my sub-5-minute video on Asking User Research Questions The post 5 minute video on Asking User Research Questions first appeared on Portigal Consulting. [ Read the full story ... ]
Read an interview with Steve in QRCA Views magazine
July 20, 2020, 5:41 pm – I was interviewed recently by Kay Corry Aubrey for QRCA Views magazine. The interview has been published online and in print (PDF). Take a look! The post Read an interview with Steve in QRCA Views magazine first appeared on Portigal Consulting. [ Read the full story ... ]
The Future of Design Education
July 13, 2020, 9:22 pm – Does design education prepare designers to work with the multidisciplinary teams required for the complex issues of the 21st Century? Join us in rethinking design education. Help us find people who will provide diversity of age, gender, race, inte... [ Read the full story ... ]
Check out Steve on the Design Thinking 101 podcast
June 24, 2020, 5:22 pm – https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/designthinking101/DT101_048.mp3 I really enjoyed my conversation with Dawan Stanford for his Design Thinking 101 podcast. The audio (57 min) is embedded above, and available on the episode page. We talk about Stev... [ Read the full story ... ]
Check out Steve on the SHIFT podcast
June 9, 2020, 7:59 pm – I had a really lovely conversation with Kavita Appachu and Mike Kendall for the SHIFT podcast. The 56-minute episode (available as either video or audio only) is embedded above, and available on the episode page. Steve Portigal, Author, Speaker, a... [ Read the full story ... ]
21st Century Design (In 6 minutes)
May 13, 2020, 12:45 am – The 21s Century brings new challenges to design The implication? Design Education must change. [ Read the full story ... ]
"The universe is made of stories, not atoms"
March 19, 2020, 10:18 pm – A quote from the poet Muriel Rukeyzer's book "The speed of darkness." Why stories? Because they combine history and context, critical events and results, both good and bad, expected and unexpected all linked through causal explanations. Stories em... [ Read the full story ... ]
Recycling: A poor solution to the wrong problem: An essay in two parts
March 10, 2020, 12:26 am – A two-part essay: 1. why recycling is too complex for me (and perhaps everyone)to understand; 2. Why recycling is the wrong answer to the problem of waste. [ Read the full story ... ]
Changing Design Education for the 21st Century
March 10, 2020, 12:00 am – Updated: April 2, 2020. We recommend a procedure for updating design education through curricula that match their goals and abilities of every school, producing practitioner and academics who will fully realizing the value of design in the 21st ce... [ Read the full story ... ]
We are Hiring (2020)
January 28, 2020, 3:50 pm – Design Sojourn is an exciting strategic design consultancy passionate in helping our clients leverage on Design Led Innovation to make people's lives better. We have openings for Designers or Design Researchers with a strong background in Ethnogra... [ Read the full story ... ]
Why Designers don't have much power in companies
January 11, 2020, 7:43 pm – Every division of a company plays an essential role. Each has a different, valid perspective. To be successful, learn to balance the conflicting views and select a course that is best for the product, customer, and company, even if you must discar... [ Read the full story ... ]
The Design Thinking Process Paradox
November 4, 2019, 7:39 am – Designers or Design Thinkers often like to think that they require a certain level of “freedom” to allow their creativity to flourish. Indeed, the best ideas come when the mind is free from distractions: particularly in places like the shower or ... [ Read the full story ... ]
People-Centered (Not Tech-Driven) Design*
July 26, 2019, 10:25 pm – How did we reach the point where our technology is more important than people? How can we reverse this to ensure that technologies are designed with people in mind, more humane, more collaborative, and more beneficial to the needs of people, socie... [ Read the full story ... ]
The Four Fundamental Principles of Human-Centered Design and Application
July 23, 2019, 12:57 am – Human-centered design has four major principles: 1. Understand and Address the Core Problems; 2. Be People-Centered; 3. Use a Systems Approach; 4. Use Rapid Iterations of Prototyping and Testing. [ Read the full story ... ]
Why Criticism Is Good for Creativity
July 22, 2019, 12:53 am – A popular mantra for innovation is “avoid criticism.” Criticism, it is thought, kills the flow of creativity. We suggest that this infuses a superficial sense of collaboration that leads to compromises and weakens ideas. Effective teams do not def... [ Read the full story ... ]
Delightful Products for Healthy Aging
May 26, 2019, 8:52 pm – More people than ever are living long, healthy lives. The number of active, healthy oldsters is large–and increasing. Despite our increasing numbers the world seems to be designed against the elderly. [ Read the full story ... ]
Why I Don’t Believe in Empathic Design
May 26, 2019, 7:33 pm – An Article written for Adobe Blog. I approve of the spirit behind the introduction of empathy into design, but I believe the concept is impossible, and even if possible, wrong. [ Read the full story ... ]
21st Century Design for Societal Problems. Combining Community and Domain Experts
April 20, 2019, 12:36 am – We advocate a multi-step approach toward major societal issues, combining community-driven wisdom with knowledge of domain experts. Add an opportunistic, incremental approach to large problems, followed by continual attention to the fundamental pr... [ Read the full story ... ]
Inviting Workshop Proposals
April 19, 2019, 9:38 pm – Requesting proposals for a workshop on Community-Driven Design (fort the ACM Designing Interactive Systems conference). [ Read the full story ... ]
Overcrowded, by Roberto Verganti: In favor of criticism
April 14, 2019, 7:08 pm – In his book Overcrowded, Roberto Verganti argues that the rule "don't criticize" is flawed. Criticism is good -- it leads to radical innovation. This is an important book for designers: read it! [ Read the full story ... ]
Wishing All A Hap-pig Lunar New Year!
February 1, 2019, 6:53 am – It the time of the year where we look back, reminisce, reflect and appreciate everything that has happened to us in the past year. Therefore we would like to wish all our readers, friends, partners and clients a Happy Lunar New Year! Gong Xi Fa..... [ Read the full story ... ]
TR18-001 | Bring Home Methods: Additions to the Bootcamp Bootleg | Julia von Thienen, Hanadi Traifeh, Christoph Meinel, Antje Schubotz, Maximilian Diez, Simon Krogmann, Ahmad Bourazan, Anne Radunski, Arne Boockmeyer, Ramin Gharib
December 23, 2018, 10:44 am – For years, the Bootcamp Bootleg (d.school, 2010) has been a valuable toolkit to facilitate design thinking practice. The booklet shares methods for five process phases, or modes, in creative work. Teams are guided up to a point where they hold suc... [ Read the full story ... ]
Your strategy needs a minimum viable experience
April 15, 2018, 1:40 pm – Let’s all play a game of buzzword bingo. But instead, let’s name those words that denote practices which pragmatically improve our understanding of how we work, without resulting in confused shrugs. I’ll start: The ubiquitous MVP (minimum viable p... [ Read the full story ... ]
TR17-002 | Success-Failure Analysis: A Tool for Advancing Domain Knowledge - Design Thinking Style | Julia von Thienen, Anja Perlich, Christoph Meinel, Giovanni Corazza
August 28, 2017, 1:08 pm – Drawing on the Dynamic Creativity Framework and Failure Theory, this paper explores what it means to advance domain knowledge with creative ambitions. Failures are analysed as an extraordinary resource in the search for radical innovation. Success... [ Read the full story ... ]
Are you a designer, or just a facilitator?
August 27, 2017, 1:37 am – A few weeks back I was standing in a room facilitating a large ideation workshop. Mid-session I found myself thinking, I am not sure if I enjoy this. Walking out of that workshop, I told myself that I entered into the design field to become… Read ... [ Read the full story ... ]
TR17-001 | A Short Theory of Failure | Julia von Thienen, Christoph Meinel, Giovanni Corazza
July 25, 2017, 7:16 am – Failures are a key concept in design thinking. They are discussed as a resource for learning, whereas fear of failure would be a major block to creative activity. We attempt to clarify the term by reconstructing “failures” as “inconclusive outcome... [ Read the full story ... ]
Culture eats innovation for breakfast
July 1, 2017, 3:18 pm – There are often times when I come to a sudden halt and find myself feeling stuck or unable to produce or execute work that I otherwise may feel confident and comfortable to complete. This happens to everyone at some point in their career, and more... [ Read the full story ... ]
The Asshole Survival Guide: My Latest Book
April 17, 2017, 4:19 pm – The No Asshole Rule was published 10 years ago. It focused on building civilized workplaces. Yet the most frequent question that it provoked were variations of "Help. I am dealing with an asshole (or a bunch of them), what do... [ Read the full story ... ]
Design generates growth here and now
December 10, 2015, 10:33 am – Far too many companies have a management approach that is too traditional to secure their long-term market value. Studies and think tanks from several countries point to strategic design as part of the answer, but many business leaders think that ... [ Read the full story ... ]
The design cluster aims to transform Denmark into an innovative society by means of design
December 9, 2015, 2:41 pm – In the design cluster D2i – Design to innovate, we are sharpening our focus with four new priority areas aimed at contributing to growth in Denmark. Our design cluster consists of companies, organisations and knowledge environments working togethe... [ Read the full story ... ]
TR15-002 | Manifesto: Design Thinking Becomes Foundational | Larry Leifer, Christoph Meinel
May 19, 2015, 10:33 am – With the integration of design thinking into engineering education, a missing link has been created between the science-focused, context-independent part of engineering and the human society-focused, context-dependent aspect. The latter area has l... [ Read the full story ... ]
TR15-001 | Building on a Stages of Change Model to Bring Home More Big Design Thinking Ideas | Julia von Thienen, Christoph Meinel
February 27, 2015, 9:30 am – Design Thinking is an approach to creating human-centered product or service innovations, based on a model of problem solving. Regularly, design thinking projects yield exciting visions for a better future. However, up to the present they often fa... [ Read the full story ... ]
The Dark Side of Scaling Up: Will You Want to Live in What You Build?
February 12, 2015, 11:21 pm – My Stanford colleague Huggy Rao and I devoted seven years to learning about what it takes to scale up excellence in organizations. We studied how leaders and teams build and identify pockets of goodness in organizations and spread such goodness... [ Read the full story ... ]
My Organizational Behavior Class: The Current Iteration
January 3, 2015, 7:13 pm – The first time I taught an introductory organizational behavior class was in 1980 or 1981. I was a second-year doctoral student in organizational psychology at The University of Michigan. I had no teaching experience (except for one guest lecture ... [ Read the full story ... ]
12 Books That Every Leader Should Read: Updated
December 17, 2014, 9:03 pm – I have been maintaining – and occasionally updating -- a list of “Books Every Leader Should Read” on this Work Matters blog since 2011. These are books that have taught me much about people, teams, and organizations -- while at... [ Read the full story ... ]
Open lecture by Silvia Grimaldi
November 17, 2014, 2:04 pm – Tellable Objects: Designing Narrative Product Interactions On Wednesday 19 November designer, researcher and academic Silvia Grimaldi will visit Kolding and present a series of techniques and guidelines to help designers think of the product exper... [ Read the full story ... ]
How Strategic Use of Design Connects Business with People
October 28, 2014, 12:08 pm – Arne Jacobsen chairs, PH lamps and blue fluted china. These are classic examples of Danish design. But design is so much more. Design includes – when used strategically – top executives going on observation trips far from vision statements and Exc... [ Read the full story ... ]
An effective diet starts with a saliva sample
September 24, 2014, 9:39 am – A newly started company may sometimes find it a challenge to target its business – particularly when its product is intended for an extremely broad group. The Danish-owned start-up Diet and Genes found help in understanding market mechanisms at a ... [ Read the full story ... ]
Film: Isover – from product sale to project sale
September 23, 2014, 1:16 pm – Watch the film and see how Saint-Gobain Isover through application of design thinking developed their business model. The company learned through a design consultation with D2i how to apply design thinking so they could identify their customers ne... [ Read the full story ... ]
Film: Easyfood – when design-thinking causes less waste and more growth
September 23, 2014, 12:35 pm – Over the years Easyfood worked increasingly more focused on design thinking and design methods in product development and innovation. The company has repeatedly sought help and inspiration for design thinking and accompanying innovation. They have... [ Read the full story ... ]
Film: Kruuse – supplier for the veterinary industry and design thinkers
September 23, 2014, 12:27 pm – At D2i we focus on how companies use design thinking in their different development processes. Kruuse A/S is an example of a company that works consciously with creative processes, designers and design thinking can initiate. Kruuse will among othe... [ Read the full story ... ]
A mobile space for innovation
September 22, 2014, 9:42 am – For the past 50 years, OJ Electronics has been producing electronic solutions for controlling heating and ventilation. When preparing an overarching, more closely targeted innovation strategy, the company came up with completely new ideas and spec... [ Read the full story ... ]
Kitchen users and designers deals with waste issues
September 22, 2014, 9:36 am – What started out as a no-obligation full-day meeting between the Danish kitchen manufacturer Kvik and a team of designers from Design2innovate quickly developed into something more exciting. The partnership has now resulted in the development of a... [ Read the full story ... ]
TR14-002 | A Design Thinking Process to Tackle Individual Life Problems (Created for Use in Behaviour Psychotherapy) | Julia von Thienen, Christoph Meinel
May 28, 2014, 7:13 am – The design thinking community has at its disposal a rich pool of teaching material to help students master the process of creative problem solving. We re-designed some of this material for use in a new context: behaviour psychotherapy. Here, patie... [ Read the full story ... ]
Random thoughts on the future and implications on corporations and universities
May 19, 2014, 3:26 am – I just got back from the Bay Area Maker Faire 2014. Looking at all of the cool maker stuff, the upcoming technologies and the startups pitching their next generation 3D printing robot drones has got me thinking about the future. I thought it wou... [ Read the full story ... ]
Random thoughts on the future and implications on corporations and universities
May 19, 2014, 3:26 am – I just got back from the Bay Area Maker Faire 2014. Looking at all of the cool maker stuff, the upcoming technologies and the startups pitching their next generation 3D printing robot drones has got me thinking about the future. I thought it wou... [ Read the full story ... ]
TR14-001 | Let’s Bring Home Even More Benefits from Design Thinking: Ideas for an Iterated Design Thinking Process Model | Julia von Thienen, Christoph Meinel
May 12, 2014, 7:39 am – Design thinking research has provided two good reasons for a revision of the design thinking process model. (a) Prototyping is now considered an important means for facilitating communication in all stages of the design thinking process. Therefore... [ Read the full story ... ]
Innovation Networks in Action: The Case Study of Intuit's Innovation Catalysts
May 2, 2014, 7:58 pm – I recently published a case study on the Innovation Catalysts. I was focusing on how creating a network for people to connect with upon completing innovation training can ensure the lasting impact of the training and ignite new opportunities to r... [ Read the full story ... ]
Innovation Networks in Action: The Case Study of Intuit's Innovation Catalysts
May 2, 2014, 7:58 pm – I recently published a case study on the Innovation Catalysts. I was focusing on how creating a network for people to connect with upon completing innovation training can ensure the lasting impact of the training and ignite new opportunities to r... [ Read the full story ... ]
Walt Disney and Brad Bird on Why They Want to Make Money
March 7, 2014, 12:06 am – I was exchanging emails with a colleague that used to be at the Stanford d.school and now works with schools. He menionted Brad Bird, which reminded my of an interview that Huggy Rao and I did with him in 2008... [ Read the full story ... ]
Why Big Teams Suck: Seven (Plus or Minus Two) Is the Magical Number Once Again
March 3, 2014, 5:28 pm – I also posted this piece over at LinkedIn this morning. It offers a simple lesson, but one that is often disregarded, and in turn undermines the team and organizational performance, creates dysfunctional conflict. and weakens social bonds. In 1957... [ Read the full story ... ]
The Writing Life And Scaling Up Excellence: You Are What You Do
December 27, 2013, 11:42 pm – A few years back, one of my closest friends at Stanford, Steve Barley, made a comment that I still think of often “If you are what you do, then I am a sociologist.” Steve was making a general point (drawn... [ Read the full story ... ]
Essentialism; It Will Make You Think and Might Even Make You Less Crazy
December 8, 2013, 3:08 pm – Greg McKeown's publisher sent me an advanced copy of his book Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less. I said I would look at for a possible blurb (I don't do advanced praise for a lot of books, in part, because... [ Read the full story ... ]
Huggy Rao, Scaling, and Me: An Excellent, Exacting, and Eccentric Adventure
November 27, 2013, 5:16 pm – During the seven years that Huggy Rao and I worked on Scaling Up Excellence, we got involved in some pretty unusual situations – at least for two rather staid old professors. We did everything from working with a company that... [ Read the full story ... ]
Three Hallmarks of Good Performance Evaluations
November 24, 2013, 8:18 pm – Phyllis Korkki of the New York Times wrote a piece this Sunday for her Workstation column called Invasion of the Annual Reviews. It emphasizes the risks and downsides of annual reviews, and she quotes me quite a bit -- I... [ Read the full story ... ]
Creativity,Inc. by Pixar's Ed Catmull: One of the Best Business Books of All Time
November 22, 2013, 7:12 pm – Ed Catmull has been one of my favorite senior executives for a long time. I admired him from afar after reading about him in David Price's excellent The Pixar Touch. I admired him even more after talking to people at... [ Read the full story ... ]
Scaling Up Excellence: The Problem of More
October 9, 2013, 4:34 pm – This is reprinted from the Harvard Business Review site. A big thanks to Julia Kirby for the wonderful editing. Start talking about the challenge of “scaling” with people, and you’ll find the term gets used to mean a lot of... [ Read the full story ... ]
James G. March: Organizations aren't Rigid, They are Impressively Imaginative
October 7, 2013, 4:28 pm – Stanford's James G. March is arguably the most prestigious living organizational theorist. We are reading his 1981 classic paper "Footnotes to Organizational Change" for my scaling up excellence doctoral class. There is one paragraph in this paper... [ Read the full story ... ]
Back at HBR, the Joys of Writing, and Continuing the Scaling Conversation
October 5, 2013, 6:37 pm – Earlier in the week, I did my first post at HBR.org in over 2.5 years -- my last was in January 2011. I was pretty shocked that it had been so long -- my last post was about a story... [ Read the full story ... ]
TR13-002 | Jumpstarting Scrum with Design Thinking | Christophe Vetterli, Falk Übernickel, Walter Brenner, Thomas Kowark, Franziska Häger, Jens Krüger, Jürgen Müller, Hasso Plattner, Barbara Stortz, Vishal Sikkha
September 23, 2013, 9:25 am – Customers have become more demanding in terms of customization, speed, and involvement with the value proposition of today’s services and products. This means that in order to remain competitive, companies need to re-design their existing developm... [ Read the full story ... ]
F.M. Cornford's Complete Principle of the Dangerous Precedent
August 28, 2013, 9:51 pm – I was tried to get this out over Twitter, but breaking it into pieces ruins it. If you want to read one of the most spot on, timeless, and funny books about organizational politics, check out the F.M. Cornford's 1908... [ Read the full story ... ]
Scott Berkun's The Year Without Pants: Funny Title, Silly Cover, Seriously Well-Crafted Book
August 22, 2013, 6:43 pm – Several months back, Scott Berkun's publisher sent me an advanced copy of "The Year Without Pants" to read; it is a pretty silly title and as you can see, the cover is pretty wild too (I love it). Scott's last... [ Read the full story ... ]
Dysfunctional Competition, the Knowing-Doing Gap, and Sears Holdings
August 21, 2013, 9:56 pm – A compelling and instructive story on Sears Holdings appeared in BusinessWeek last month -- they own Sears stores, Kmart, Land's End and a host of other brands such as Craftsman tools, Kenmore appliances, and DieHard batteries. It is written by... [ Read the full story ... ]
Delta Airlines Shows How to Apologize
July 15, 2013, 4:30 pm – Please forgive my months of silence. I appreciate all the folks who have asked if I am OK (I am fine!) and who have urged me to start blogging again. You will start hearing more here about what I've been... [ Read the full story ... ]
Lessons from Leading the Innovation Catalysts
May 30, 2013, 6:15 pm – I have a fantastic job that I love. I know that I'm lucky, but I also have aligned my work to my strengths and passions.My current job is as the Leader of the Innovation Catalysts at Intuit. I've been a part of the Innovation Catalyst program her... [ Read the full story ... ]
Lessons from Leading the Innovation Catalysts
May 30, 2013, 6:15 pm – I have a fantastic job that I love. I know that I'm lucky, but I also have aligned my work to my strengths and passions.My current job is as the Leader of the Innovation Catalysts at Intuit. I've been a part of the Innovation Catalyst program her... [ Read the full story ... ]
TR13-001 | Design Thinking Research - Building Innovation Eco-Systems | Christoph Meinel, Larry Leifer
April 19, 2013, 6:44 am – This is the introductory chapter of the fourth volume “Design Thinking Research – Building Innovation Eco-Systems” edited by Hasso Plattner, Christoph Meinel, and Larry Leifer to be published in the series “Understanding Innovation” of the Springer. [ Read the full story ... ]
Beyond the PhD - advice for PhD students and grads who want to get into Industry
March 16, 2013, 9:53 pm – I recently spoke on a Panel at USC at their "Beyond the PhD" conference. I was struck by how academia hasn't really changed much in it's preparation of PhDs for the outside of academia (clearly, of course, USC recognized this, thus put on the con... [ Read the full story ... ]
Beyond the PhD - advice for PhD students and grads who want to get into Industry
March 16, 2013, 9:53 pm – I recently spoke on a Panel at USC at their "Beyond the PhD" conference. I was struck by how academia hasn't really changed much in it's preparation of PhDs for the outside of academia (clearly, of course, USC recognized this, thus put on the con... [ Read the full story ... ]
UX Influence & Innovation
March 16, 2013, 7:42 pm – UX Influence & Innovation from Wendy CastlemanA talk I recently gave at the Walmart Global UX Summit on Gaining influence as User Experience Professionals within corporations by empowering others with your tools. [ Read the full story ... ]
UX Influence & Innovation
March 16, 2013, 7:42 pm – UX Influence & Innovation from Wendy CastlemanA talk I recently gave at the Walmart Global UX Summit on Gaining influence as User Experience Professionals within corporations by empowering others with your tools. [ Read the full story ... ]
12 Books Every Leader Should Read:Updated
November 26, 2012, 9:13 pm – I first posted this in 2011, but I update it now and then. Note I have removed two from the list: Men and Women of the Corporation and Who Says that Elephants Can't Dance? They are both great books, but... [ Read the full story ... ]
Kurt Vonnegut, Joe Heller, and a Great Thanksgiving Message
November 22, 2012, 5:53 pm – It is Thanksgiving morning here in California and I was thinking of all the good things in my life I have to be thankful for, just as I know that so many of you are thinking today. I thought it... [ Read the full story ... ]
Two talks I gave and haven't posted here...
April 27, 2012, 2:23 pm – These are two webinar format talks that I gave over the last 9 months that I neglected to post on my blog. Actually, I've been neglecting the blog completely for a while. Perhaps its time to revisit...Shift: 5 lessons for changing a corporate cu... [ Read the full story ... ]
Two talks I gave and haven't posted here...
April 27, 2012, 2:23 pm – These are two webinar format talks that I gave over the last 9 months that I neglected to post on my blog. Actually, I've been neglecting the blog completely for a while. Perhaps its time to revisit...Shift: 5 lessons for changing a corporate cu... [ Read the full story ... ]
TR12-001 | Design Thinking Research Report | Christoph Meinel, Larry Leifer
March 27, 2012, 6:40 am – This is the introductory chapter of the third volume “Design Thinking Research – Measuring Performance in Context” edited by Hasso Plattner, Christoph Meinel, and Larry Leifer to be published in the series “Understanding Innovation” of the Springer. [ Read the full story ... ]
Go through training to be your customer
June 28, 2011, 3:49 am – We all know that when we aren't our customer, we make design choices that often don't really resonate with the customer. This can be especially true if you are highly tech savvy and your customer is not. In some cases, we are designing for audie... [ Read the full story ... ]
Go through training to be your customer
June 28, 2011, 3:49 am – We all know that when we aren't our customer, we make design choices that often don't really resonate with the customer. This can be especially true if you are highly tech savvy and your customer is not. In some cases, we are designing for audie... [ Read the full story ... ]
Deep Customer Empathy Method: Be the solution
June 7, 2011, 10:08 pm – Want to understand the relationship between your customer and your product? Here's a method that might reveal some good insights. Use bodystorming with your customer and have them teach you. In this case, you play the role of your product. Ask y... [ Read the full story ... ]
Deep Customer Empathy Method: Be the solution
June 7, 2011, 10:08 pm – Want to understand the relationship between your customer and your product? Here's a method that might reveal some good insights. Use bodystorming with your customer and have them teach you. In this case, you play the role of your product. Ask y... [ Read the full story ... ]
Get first-hand experience with the task to understand the experience
September 23, 2010, 3:32 pm – I've worked with a lot of teams who have been trying to design a feature or product to help people with a particular task. Oddly, I often find that people on the team have not tried the task itself, either with their solution or with any other me... [ Read the full story ... ]
Get first-hand experience with the task to understand the experience
September 23, 2010, 3:32 pm – I've worked with a lot of teams who have been trying to design a feature or product to help people with a particular task. Oddly, I often find that people on the team have not tried the task itself, either with their solution or with any other me... [ Read the full story ... ]
AIGA D.Talk on The Rise of Service Design
September 17, 2010, 4:38 pm – Last night I attended a panel at AIGA on “The Rise of Service Design”. It was a packed room, reflecting the general interest in this topic. The session was moderated by Josh Levine (Great Monday) The panelists were: Chris McCarthy (... [ Read the full story ... ]
AIGA D.Talk on The Rise of Service Design
September 17, 2010, 4:38 pm – Last night I attended a panel at AIGA on “The Rise of Service Design”. It was a packed room, reflecting the general interest in this topic. The session was moderated by Josh Levine (Great Monday) The panelists were: Chris McCarthy (... [ Read the full story ... ]
Make your life an integral part of your customer's life
September 16, 2010, 8:32 pm – We all want our products and services to be important to our customers. So important that they are integral; the customers can't live without them! Since this is our aim, we need to really be intimate with that customer's life. Talking with them ... [ Read the full story ... ]
Make your life an integral part of your customer's life
September 16, 2010, 8:32 pm – We all want our products and services to be important to our customers. So important that they are integral; the customers can't live without them! Since this is our aim, we need to really be intimate with that customer's life. Talking with them ... [ Read the full story ... ]
Become the Customer for Deep Customer Empathy
September 15, 2010, 3:12 pm – About a year ago, I wanted to understand the big deal about Farmville... it seems that 1% of the world's population plays Farmville. I know that it leverages some of the key components of gaming that make it compelling (check out slide 8 on Byron ... [ Read the full story ... ]
Become the Customer for Deep Customer Empathy
September 15, 2010, 3:12 pm – About a year ago, I wanted to understand the big deal about Farmville... it seems that 1% of the world's population plays Farmville. I know that it leverages some of the key components of gaming that make it compelling (check out slide 8 on Byron ... [ Read the full story ... ]
101 Ways to get Deep Customer Empathy for Design Inspiration and Insights
September 13, 2010, 2:51 pm – Okay, so I'm not going to list all 101 right now. What I am going to do is start a series where I will be talking about these 101 ways. My goal is to write about at least 2 per week... but, before I start, I thought I'd lay some context:Why do y... [ Read the full story ... ]
101 Ways to get Deep Customer Empathy for Design Inspiration and Insights
September 13, 2010, 2:51 pm – Okay, so I'm not going to list all 101 right now. What I am going to do is start a series where I will be talking about these 101 ways. My goal is to write about at least 2 per week... but, before I start, I thought I'd lay some context:Why do y... [ Read the full story ... ]
Necessity as the mother of invention
August 20, 2010, 6:50 pm – I'm sure you've heard the Plato's phrase "Necessity is the Mother of Invention".. .A couple of weeks ago, I was introduced to someone who once again drove this home. His name is Matthew Browning. He's a nurse and founder of a really cool web a... [ Read the full story ... ]
Necessity as the mother of invention
August 20, 2010, 6:50 pm – I'm sure you've heard the Plato's phrase "Necessity is the Mother of Invention".. .A couple of weeks ago, I was introduced to someone who once again drove this home. His name is Matthew Browning. He's a nurse and founder of a really cool web a... [ Read the full story ... ]
Understand Your Customers' Minds
July 12, 2010, 2:40 pm – In some ways, this method isn't at all new. Yet, the video articulates it and the benefit so well... [ Read the full story ... ]
Understand Your Customers' Minds
July 12, 2010, 2:40 pm – In some ways, this method isn't at all new. Yet, the video articulates it and the benefit so well... [ Read the full story ... ]
iPad, Kindle and Paper - Reading Speeds and Immersion
July 2, 2010, 4:56 pm – Jakob Nielsen just released a study on iPad, Kindle, Paper and PC reading rates.I have issues with this study, but it's interesting. As a user of Paper Books, PCs, a Kindle, and an iPad, I can definitely say that I have some preferences. But, wh... [ Read the full story ... ]
iPad, Kindle and Paper - Reading Speeds and Immersion
July 2, 2010, 4:56 pm – Jakob Nielsen just released a study on iPad, Kindle, Paper and PC reading rates.I have issues with this study, but it's interesting. As a user of Paper Books, PCs, a Kindle, and an iPad, I can definitely say that I have some preferences. But, wh... [ Read the full story ... ]
Innovation Lessons from Visual Perception and Walks
June 9, 2010, 7:20 pm – I was just out on a walk at the lovely Shoreline park, just behind where I work. I was walking along, thinking about Innovation challenges, and passively observing the world go by.One of the things I noticed was the phenomenon of Motion Parallax.... [ Read the full story ... ]
Innovation Lessons from Visual Perception and Walks
June 9, 2010, 7:20 pm – I was just out on a walk at the lovely Shoreline park, just behind where I work. I was walking along, thinking about Innovation challenges, and passively observing the world go by.One of the things I noticed was the phenomenon of Motion Parallax.... [ Read the full story ... ]
Digging for innovation diamonds
June 2, 2010, 4:12 pm – This morning on NPR, I heard a story about Einstein’s brain. Bear with me, this is relevant to innovation…Apparently,Einstein’s brain was fairly normal, except that it had an overabundance of a type of cell called a Glial cell. When I was taught... [ Read the full story ... ]
Digging for innovation diamonds
June 2, 2010, 4:12 pm – This morning on NPR, I heard a story about Einstein’s brain. Bear with me, this is relevant to innovation…Apparently,Einstein’s brain was fairly normal, except that it had an overabundance of a type of cell called a Glial cell. When I was taught... [ Read the full story ... ]
Is your culture inhibiting your creativity?
May 26, 2010, 7:28 pm – I'm giving a talk tomorrow morning on the impact of working environment "culture" on creativity and capability to design great solutions. This is an update on the one that I gave a little over a year ago at the Design Research conference in Spoka... [ Read the full story ... ]
Is your culture inhibiting your creativity?
May 26, 2010, 7:28 pm – I'm giving a talk tomorrow morning on the impact of working environment "culture" on creativity and capability to design great solutions. This is an update on the one that I gave a little over a year ago at the Design Research conference in Spoka... [ Read the full story ... ]
Apparently, Nothing Trumps the Power of a Personal Experience
March 12, 2010, 12:06 am – A small group of executives was given a vast amount of data about a problem they were tackling about employee engagement. They looked it over and set it aside. Then, they had frank conversations with a couple of individual employees. They came aw... [ Read the full story ... ]
Apparently, Nothing Trumps the Power of a Personal Experience
March 12, 2010, 12:06 am – A small group of executives was given a vast amount of data about a problem they were tackling about employee engagement. They looked it over and set it aside. Then, they had frank conversations with a couple of individual employees. They came aw... [ Read the full story ... ]
Soaking rain of ideas in a brainstorm
February 23, 2010, 5:21 pm – I thought I'd take a moment to reflect on brainstorming. Sometimes brainstorms are wildly successful, and we come up with really new ways of approaching a problem/solution. Other times, it seems like brainstorms don't really generate much of any... [ Read the full story ... ]
Soaking rain of ideas in a brainstorm
February 23, 2010, 5:21 pm – I thought I'd take a moment to reflect on brainstorming. Sometimes brainstorms are wildly successful, and we come up with really new ways of approaching a problem/solution. Other times, it seems like brainstorms don't really generate much of any... [ Read the full story ... ]
Following Objects
February 12, 2010, 5:49 pm – When studying a new area, we often talk with and watch people doing whatever it is we're interested in. For example, if we were interested in Shopping, we might talk with people about their shopping habits, watch them shopping (maybe going with t... [ Read the full story ... ]
Following Objects
February 12, 2010, 5:49 pm – When studying a new area, we often talk with and watch people doing whatever it is we're interested in. For example, if we were interested in Shopping, we might talk with people about their shopping habits, watch them shopping (maybe going with t... [ Read the full story ... ]
Cool New Trend in Resumes
January 9, 2010, 8:57 pm – Looking for work? Got a resume? This is for you:Why be boring and staid like everyone else in the pile of resumes? Why not show your uniqueness, creativity and visual thinking design skills in creating a visual resume?One of my favorite blogs is ... [ Read the full story ... ]
Cool New Trend in Resumes
January 9, 2010, 8:57 pm – Looking for work? Got a resume? This is for you:Why be boring and staid like everyone else in the pile of resumes? Why not show your uniqueness, creativity and visual thinking design skills in creating a visual resume?One of my favorite blogs is ... [ Read the full story ... ]
Do I listen to what I say I do?
December 21, 2009, 8:55 pm – Anyone who studies behavior knows that what people say is not what they do. More evidence reported in the NY Times shows that what people report listening to isn't what they actually listen to. [ Read the full story ... ]
Do I listen to what I say I do?
December 21, 2009, 8:55 pm – Anyone who studies behavior knows that what people say is not what they do. More evidence reported in the NY Times shows that what people report listening to isn't what they actually listen to. [ Read the full story ... ]
Visualizing You.... leveraging the internet to break down your name
October 2, 2009, 4:02 pm – This shows 3 iterations of "Wendy Castleman". It is a pretty cool visualization from MIT:It combines all of the data on the internet related to your name and creates a "digital DNA map". It seems to change every time I do it... and it combines me... [ Read the full story ... ]
Visualizing You.... leveraging the internet to break down your name
October 2, 2009, 4:02 pm – This shows 3 iterations of "Wendy Castleman". It is a pretty cool visualization from MIT:It combines all of the data on the internet related to your name and creates a "digital DNA map". It seems to change every time I do it... and it combines me... [ Read the full story ... ]
Author: Jan Schmiedgen | Last modified: September 29, 2015