- Good design is innovative
- Good design makes a product useful
- Good design is aesthetic
- Good design helps us to understand a product
- Good design is unobtrusive
- Good design is honest
- Good design is durable
- Good design is consequent to the last detail
- Good design is concerned with the environment
- Good design is as little design as possible
Design is moving centre-stage in the eternal human quest to make beauty out of necessity
No amount of money, and no small amount of time, can buy taste.
Strong Opinions, Weakly Held - Bob Sutton
A post by Bijan included a quote from John Lilly, ‘Design like you’re right; listen like you’re wrong’. He suggested that it was derived from John Sutton’s one liner: “Fight like you’re right, listen like you’re wrong.”
But doing some research, Sutton seems to credit Paul Saffo for the original germ of this thought, which is his advice to approach the future with ‘strong opinions, weakly held’:
A couple years ago, I was talking the Institute [For The Future]’s Bob Johansen about wisdom, and he explained that – to deal with an uncertain future and still move forward – they advise people to have “strong opinions, which are weakly held.” They’ve been giving this advice for years, and I understand that it was first developed by Instituite Director Paul Saffo. Bob explained that weak opinions are problematic because people aren’t inspired to develop the best arguments possible for them, or to put forth the energy required to test them. Bob explained that it was just as important, however, to not be too attached to what you believe because, otherwise, it undermines your ability to “see” and “hear” evidence that clashes with your opinions. This is what psychologists sometimes call the problem of “confirmation bias.”
The design case turns out to be a specific example of the more general mindset, which is, in fact, what defines wisdom. And more importantly, in a world changing at the pace of ours, the core premise of resilience.
(Source: underpaidgenius)
Sir James Dyson stopped by our office to demo his new Hot Fan Heater. Are you a fan of his vacuum cleaners?
(picture via @noahr)
Another Picnic Table
Wouter Nieuwendijk and Jair Straschnow teamed up to challenge the traditional picnic table that provided easier access at the table and with a flip of the seat it converts into a comfortable lounge chair.
Found on The Fox is Black
It’s all about removing the unnecessary.
- Jonathan Ive, Senior VP of Industrial Design at Apple
