Design and business can no longer be thought of as distinct activities with individual goals. Design the New Business is a film dedicated to investigating how designers and businesspeople are working together in new ways to solve the wicked problems facing business today.  The short documentary examines how they are joining forces by bringing together an international collection of design service providers, education experts and businesses that have incorporated design as a part of their core approach. Design the New Business features inspiring case studies and insightful discussions, helping to illustrate the state of the relationship and how it needs to continue evolving to meet tomorrow's challenges.

the beauty of complexity

Were really facing a paradigm shift in the sense that trees are no longer able to acomodate the complexity of modern world... The network is an alternative concept of beauty.

Manuel Lima, from Visual Complexity

the language of things

"Os objetos são nossa maneira de medir a passagem de nossas vidas. São o que usamos para nos definir, para sinalizar quem somos, e o que não somos. Ora são joias que assumem esse papel, ora são móveis que usamos em nossas casas, ou os objetos pessoais que carregamos conosco, ou as roupas que usamos. E o design passou a ser a linguagem com que se molda esses objetos e confecciona a mensagem que eles carregam. O papel dos desginers mais sofisticados, hoje, tanto é ser contadores de histórias, fazer um design que fale de uma forma que transmita essas mensagens, quanto resolver problemas formais e funcionais."

Here's a nice review of the book.

linen + encyclopedia-ish

I've always loved mood boards. They're such a fantastic way to translate visually a combination of aesthetic ideas that you would never be able to explain through words. I just put this one together and like how it turned out. The lovely pencil drawing is by Alicia Lynn.

change by design

Design thinking begins with skills designers have learned over many decades in their quest to match human needs with available technical resources within the practical constraints of business... Design thinking taps into capacities we all have but that are overlooked by more conventional problem-solving practices. It is not only human centered; it is deeply human in and of itself. Design thinking relies in our ability to be intuitive, to recognize patterns, to construct ideas that have emotional meaning as well as functionality, to express ourselves in media other than words or symbols.

-- from the new and very thought-provoking book by Tim Brown, Change by Design.

tim brown

Designers have perhaps been used to the idea that they design something that somebody else consumes. We have to get used to the idea that we're going to help to design something that other people will participate in.

-- Tim Brow (his interview with Debbie Millman is here)

nature as the ideal business environment

And now what we’re doing, 20 years later, through our eco-innovation center here at Tátil, is trying to get inspired again by the ecosystems, understanding how coral colonies and mangroves are sophisticated trading systems, where you see beings which have a symbiotic relationship, where they trade energy and matter in a completely sustainable way. We know it’s possible to be inspired by that environment, which is a business environment because it involves trading, to try and make it work in our reality. This direct comparison to coral colonies is interesting because they only occupy 1% of the planet’s surface, yet 50% of all the life there is in the oceans lives around these colonies. It’s very similar to our reality in the cities. Nowadays, in general, more than 50% of the world’s population lives in a region that amounts to something like 2% of the planet’s surface. So we can certainly have an insight from this complementary relationship between individuals, specially if we think that all natural ecosystems have full circles, with no loose ends. Nothing remains. While our ecosystems, if you consider a city, has all the ends loose, in a sense that all the energy we use, or 95% of it, comes from non-renewable sources.

- also from the brilliant video by Fred Gelli, a man who makes me proud to be in the field that I am.

design services made accessible

Design 99 is a storefront for new ideas, products, projects, and untapped talent.

Part retail space, part architectural design studio, Design 99 seeks to break the notion of contemporary design as expensive and inaccessible. From tricking out multi-family immigrant homes to posh downtown lofts, we approach each project with the same contemporary mindset- albeit different budgets- making contemporary architecture available to a wider public through over-the-counter design services.

Situated in the heart of Hamtramck’s commercial strip (Michigan), the Design 99 name takes a cue from the well-established 99-cent pricing strategy as well as the numerous dollar stores in the area, which are a constant source for inspiration.

type superwoman

issuu

I've been playing there now. Go see it big.

I think if you're starting early in the process by talking about your ideas for solutions, you're already not listening. I think you need to enter into any design project with that zen learner's mind of 'I don't know what I don't know'.

Kim Goodwin, General Manager and VP of Design at Cooper

white box

by Makoto Yabuki

[via]

seeing type differently / type factory

Absolutely stunning branding project work done by University College Falmouth student, Huda Abdul Aziz. Type Factory is a fictional typographic museum in South Kensington, London.

"The concept revolves around the theme of deconstruction. The brand values of the Type Factory identity are informative, engaging and dynamic. The brand promise is about seeing type differently. The design solution includes the logo, a booklet to promote the venue, advertising and applications within the museum."

this week's top 3

Thanks to the guys from "Massa Cultural" for featuring some of my work on their blog's Top#3 section. That was a nice surprise!

on how b-schools have failed

I remember reading "M.F.A is the new M.B.A" while I was a student at Herron and today's New York Times has proved to me again that this is a great time in History to be a designer and a right brain thinker.

But with the economy in disarray and so many financial firms in free fall, analysts, and even educators themselves, are wondering if the way business students are taught may have contributed to the most serious economic crisis in decades.

“It is so obvious that something big has failed,” said Ángel Cabrera, dean of the Thunderbird School of Global Management in Glendale, Ariz. “We can look the other way, but come on. The C.E.O.’s of those companies, those are people we used to brag about. We cannot say, ‘Well, it wasn’t our fault’ when there is such a systemic, widespread failure of leadership.”

(...)

“There is a need to broaden from the analytical focus of M.B.A. programs for more emphasis on skills and a sense of purpose and identity,” said David A. Garvin, a professor of business administration and one of the project’s authors.

(...)

Business education “accentuates the simple technical pieces,” said Ms. Samuelson of the Aspen Institute, and “ignores the real complexity and, frankly, the really exciting opportunities business has to be the driver of long-term prosperity.”

++++++++++++++

MFA is the new MBA was published in 2003 by Harvard Business Review's Breatkthrough Ideas for 2004. It's available for download here or you can purchase the article here.

the complexity of the credit crisis simplified

This project is the result of Jonathan Jarvis' thesis work in the Media Design Program, a graduate studio at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California.

who shot the serif

From typo/graphic posters.

how the human anatomy responds to poorly made design

[via] [link]

DIY grid wallpaper

A fantastic way to decorate and organize your desktop. Grids and type warm my heart. You can download an editable version and customize it to your needs, if you'd like.

[link] [via] By the way, this is just beautiful.

a type a day

Typodarium is a tear-off calendar showcasing 365 different fonts, the background behind its creation and several other interesting details. Fifty foundries and designers from all over the world contributed with their favorite fonts. "The result is a surprising insight into the inexhaustible world of letters and numbers. The front page, which is classic and functional, shows the date, while the reverse side diplays the background info, designers and reference sources". I tried to buy it, but looks like it's sold out.