For most people, design is an amorphous idea – something creative-types do, disconnected from the world with their heads in the clouds, while the rest of us are forced to deal with reality and cold hard facts. Design is something done by tormented geniuses, making uncomfortable looking furniture in Amsterdam or peculiar logos in London.
What people don’t realise, however, is that design is what keeps our world running – or causes it to crash. The closest thing we have to replicating nature, design fundamentally impacts our lives every day. And, to the misunderstanding of most, a deep understanding of those cold hard facts are what separates good design from bad design.
“Let me put it this way,” says Chrissy Lawrence of Evil Designs in Ellenville, New York: “The Florida recount during the 2000 United States Presidential Election wasn’t primarily the result of nefarious plotting or political manoeuvring. The recount happened because the Florida ballot and voting process was poorly designed.”
For most of us when design works, little is made of it beyond the initial, “Hmm,” regardless of its impact on our daily lives: putting radio controls onto a car’s steering wheel, double-sided tape, or a USB drive that fits on your keychain.
Exceptions include revolutionary products ranging from the iPhone to Post-it notes, but for the most part good design causes little more than a quick smile across a userÕs face. But when design fails it’s another story entirely. “Think about the things that drive you crazy over the course of the day,” Lawrence continues: “Having to pull open a door while leaving a coffee shop, even though your hands are filled with steaming beverages; parking lots with only one exit; road signs that force the driver to take his eye off the road; DVD packaging. All of those are failures in design.”
Indeed, design – good and bad – could be thought of as the oil that keeps a car’s engine running, either well or poorly. But what of the car itself? Perhaps design needs to be thought of as more than just a process, object, or function. Maybe, design just…is.
Design is
Writing a list of historically great designers is a futile task: there’s no universally accepted definition of design, so most great artists, musicians and architects fall under the category of great designers. And, as most design is done in teams, it becomes even harder to further segment the list.
Instead, we need to look outside – literally – to the environment we live in. Regardless of your belief system, something created our world – be it God, physics, natural selection, or anything in between – and whatever did it, did a pretty good job.
From the process of ocean currents, to the balance between predator and prey, to the complexity of photosynthesis, nature works. It is the pinnacle of design – perfectly functional – so in a sense, nature is design and design is nature.
Design is what makes the world work, and it is what makes the world fall apart. Design is everything we do (work, play, school, government, war), everything we use (computers, pens, towels, cars, houses), and everything we experience (art, books, food, music, movies).
Therefore, we need to treat design differently. Design can’t simply be something done by right-brained eccentrics. It has to be something we all do in every decision we make.
Design isn’t just creating the physical objects we use; it is creating the world we’ve chosen to live in. Which is why we need to move past the “spark of genius” or “eureka” concept, and focus on what Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO, calls “Design Thinking.”
IDEO is one of the great design firms of our time. They have literally shaped the world around us, with a client list including some of the most innovative and disruptive companies whose products we use daily: 3M, Apple, Microsoft, Nike, Marriott, Procter and Gamble, Nokia, Toyota, Whirlpool and Xerox.
But they’ve become more than that.
Instead of simply designing products for these companies, IDEO has redesigned itself into a consultancy that helps companies, non-profits, and government organisations change the way they think. IDEO teaches them “Design Thinking.”
As Brown puts it in his book, Change by Design, “The mission of design thinking is to translate observations into insights and insights into products and services that will improve lives.”
Design thinking is a process that focuses on enhancing an experience, rather than simply creating something new – using robust data (both subjective and objective), repeated testing, and a worldview that looks at how the new design will not just change that particular experience, but also life around that experience.
As an example, let’s redesign public transport in a major city which already has both bus and rail services.
Our first step would be to experience what already exists. Ride buses, get on and off trains, pay with cash, buy a pass, run late, ride late, experience the beginning and end of each line. We would talk to passengers, drivers, counter clerks and security.
We would spend time at the headquarters to understand the operations. We would examine the legal implications and complications, and we would talk to government officials to learn transport’s impact on public policy.
Then we would look at the hard data – the numbers, schedules, fuel costs, payroll, revenue and expenses.
And, as we were doing all of this, we would brainstorm, take notes, and begin thinking: how can this be better, how can I take what works and expand it, and how can I remove or replace what doesn’t?
Then, we would create something new and test it. If it failed, we would try something else, and if we succeeded we would test it over and over again.
Eventually we would have our best solution. But that would just be the beginning, because public transport affects and is affected by so many other processes, such as where people work and live. So then we would research that, and go back to the drawing board.
Designing the future
Design is no longer a solo practice – and no longer does it focus on a single interaction (between user and product). Design is complex and messy, but impacts every moment of our lives.
This is why the 2010 ACTE Global Education Conference in Berlin (3-5 October) will feature a keynote presentation from Fabio Sergio, Executive Creative Director at frog design – one of the worldÕs leading design firms.
Sergio will offer attendees an understanding about how design is evolving to tackle ever-larger issues, and the implications of good (and bad) design on business and travel. He will examine the pain points for business travellers and what the future travel experience will look like.
For a long time, design has been thought of as the process of the genius, the lone designer atop the mountain, waiting for lighting to strike. In some instances that is still the case, but, design has changed and continues to change. As society better understands the power of networks, and shifts towards a new norm in thinking that everything is connected, design will become more important than ever.
About ACTE
The Association of Corporate Travel Executives represents the global business travel industry through international advocacy efforts, executive level educational programmes, and independent industry research. ACTE’s membership consists of senior travel industry executives from 82 countries representing the €463bn business travel industry, serving more than 12 million business travellers worldwide. With the support of sponsors from every major segment of the business travel industry, ACTE develops and delivers educational programmes in key business centers throughout the world. ACTE has representation in Africa, Asia-Pacific, Canada, Europe, Latin America, Middle East and the United States.
For more information about ACTE visit www.acte.org, telephone +1 703 683 5322 or email info@acte.org
