Colin Harman's Posterous

A friend of mine Pete Amato shared  this with me and it's amazing how accurate it is. I couldn't help but share it. I now want to read the book Glimmer from which this is based.

 What can people in business learn from studying the ways successful designers solve problems and innovate? On the most basic level, they can learn to question, care, connect, and commit — four of the most important things successful designers do to achieve significant breakthroughs.

Having studied more than a hundred top designers in various fields over the past couple of years (while doing research for a book), I found that there were a few shared behaviors that seemed to be almost second nature to many designers. And these ingrained habits were intrinsically linked to the designer's ability to bring original ideas into the world as successful innovations. All of which suggests that they merit a closer look.

Question. If you spend any time around designers, you quickly discover this about them: They ask, and raise, a lot of questions. Often this is the starting point in the design process, and it can have a profound influence on everything that follows. Many of the designers I studied, from Bruce Mau to Richard Saul Wurman to Paula Scher, talked about the importance of asking "stupid questions"--the ones that challenge the existing realities and assumptions in a given industry or sector. The persistent tendency of designers to do this is captured in the joke designers tell about themselves. How many designers does it take to change a light bulb? Answer: Does it have to be a light bulb?

In a business setting, asking basic "why" questions can make the questioner seem naïve while putting others on the defensive (as in, "What do you mean 'Why are we doing it this way?' We've been doing it this way for 22 years!"). But by encouraging people to step back and reconsider old problems or entrenched practices, the designer can begin to re-frame the challenge at hand — which can then steer thinking in new directions. For business in today's volatile marketplace, the ability to question and rethink basic fundamentals — What business are we really in? What do today's consumers actually need or expect from us? — has never been more important.

Care. It's easy for companies to say they care about customer needs. But to really empathize, you have to be willing to do what many of the best designers do: step out of the corporate bubble and actually immerse yourself in the daily lives of people you're trying to serve. What impressed me about design researchers such as Jane Fulton Suri of IDEO was the dedication to really observing and paying close attention to people — because this is usually the best way to ferret out their deep, unarticulated needs. Focus groups and questionnaires don't cut it; designers know that you must care enough to actually be present in people's lives.

Connect. Designers, I discovered, have a knack for synthesizing--for taking existing elements or ideas and mashing them together in fresh new ways. This can be a valuable shortcut to innovation because it means you don't necessarily have to invent from scratch. By coming up with "smart recombinations" (to use a term coined by the designer John Thackara), Apple has produced some of its most successful hybrid products; and Nike smartly combining a running shoe with an iPod to produce its groundbreaking Nike Plus line (which enables users to program their runs). It isn't easy to come up with these great combos. Designers know that you must "think laterally" — searching far and wide for ideas and influences — and must also be willing to try connecting ideas that might not seem to go together. This is a way of thinking that can also be embraced by non-designers.

Commit. It's one thing to dream up original ideas. But designers quickly take those ideas beyond the realm of imagination by giving form to them. Whether it's a napkin sketch, a prototype carved from foam rubber, or a digital mock-up, the quick-and-rough models that designers constantly create are a critical component of innovation — because when you give form to an idea, you begin to make it real.

But it's also true that when you commit to an idea early — putting it out into the world while it's still young and imperfect — you increase the possibility of short-term failure. Designers tend to be much more comfortable with this risk than most of us. They know that innovation often involves an iterative process with setbacks along the way — and those small failures are actually useful because they show the designer what works and what needs fixing. The designer's ability to "fail forward" is a particularly valuable quality in times of dynamic change. Today, many companies find themselves operating in a test-and-learn business environment that requires rapid prototyping. Which is just one more reason to pay attention to the people who've been conducting their work this way all along.

Warren Berger is the author of "GLIMMER: How design can transform, business, your life, and maybe even the world" (Penguin Press). He edits the online magazine GlimmerSite.com.

Though that's the official "google echo and you'll learn that it's:" definition, for me it's something I've looked forward to for over a year. I didn't get to be a part of it last year, and figured this year I'd be flying solo coming out here to take in this experience, to learn, to meet, greet, and see what I could glean. However, now that I am writing this from our hotel in Dallas, I am joined by our Technical Director Andrew Hunt, our video producer/editor Tim Gosnell, and our K-5th Technical/Creative Guru Chad Schaub. Though coming here with just me would have been rewarding for sure, an experience like this is always best when shared. We all come to this bringing something different, but can learn from one another in ways that just one of us could never have learned.

I look forward to hearing some great speakers in the big keynotes and breakout sessions, some of which are guys/girls I've looked to for wisdom, advice, and inspiration for a long time. Getting to sit it on their talks or possibly even meeting them kinda makes my brain melt. Also there are people here who I've only communicated with through blogging or Twitter that I'll get to meet for the first time, so that's exciting as well. For me it will be a huge opportunity to network with relevant people who are eager for and passionate about the same goals that I am.

A few of the speakers:

I love this commercial.

I feel like I could watch it 100 times and it would make me smile each time. It's a brilliantly simple in concept, but the compositing work in it to get all the window reflections, shadows, motion-tracking etc looking as good as they do would take some serious effort. It's top notch. I have AT&T and could get on the bandwagon of their shabby network coverage, but this commercial somehow makes that all go away, at least for a second. Thanks Gene Wilder for singing that little tune to make me feel better...

Hey AT&T, maybe take the same awesome sauce you dabbled onto this commercial and lob a dollop onto your network. Just a thought...

What ya think? Watch it in HD if you think about it.

In other news, Despicable Me is hilarious, go see it. Here's a link to a little sneak peak.

That's right, I Colin Harman have a not so secret kinship with disc golf. Right now you may be asking yourself why you're continuing to read past that first sentence that is ever so riddled with loserdom, but I thank you for fighting back against your every instinct and making it to sentence two. No promises of it getting better from here.

As many of you know, I am a graphic designer and it is one of my favorite things to do. It is such huge blessing and a curse to get to do what I love to do for my everyday job. I get to come to work and do what I would probably be doing for fun anyway. How cool is that? However, the flip side of that is that when I am just 'designing for fun' it feels like I should be working. It's a weird thing, I accept it.

Enter disc golf. Something that has nothing to do with design, or graphics, or computers, or technical things, or things that most people would consider fun—but I love it. I love how mindlessly focused I can be whilst chasing an injection molded piece of plastic around a field (or semi-wooded area) for fun. Sure there's times it's hot as the inside of a cow's posterior (I live in VA, cow posterior is an acceptable form of thermal measurement, don't judge me), but I love it. 

What's the draw you ask? I don't know. I think for me it's due in part to the fact that it's a complete departure from my normal responsibilities and work routine. I get to be out in nature, in what God created, and just keeping score to see how I improve overtime. I know I'll never be a pro, win tournaments, or gain sponsorship, but it's mindless enjoyment for me.

I find that it's a healthy thing for me, it helps me do what I should do better, because it give me a chance to walk away, to disconnect, and to have a boundary in life. To most it's just a sport that youth pastors and the kids who play dungeons and dragons get to play to appear semi-athletic, but I love it.

So there's a look into the behind the scenes of my brain. I am a frolfer. What do you do that helps you disconnect from life for a second on a completely human level? Do you have those places that have nothing to do with your normal routine that you can say "this is my hobby, I do it for no other reason than personal enjoyment"? I know how good it is for me, so what is that thing for you?