DESIGN THINKING AND COMPUTATIONAL DESIGN ARE ASCENDING

There are three kinds of design. We need to be specific when we use the word “design” because it’s a poorly designed word.

Classical design there’s a right way to make what is perfect, crafted, and complete. Driver/ the Industrial Revolution, and prior to that at least a few millennia of ferment.

Design thinking because execution has outpaced innovation, and experience matters. Driver/ the need to innovate in relation to individual customer needs requires empathy.

Computational design designing for billions of people and in realtime, is at scale and TBD. Driver/ the impact of Moore’s Law, mobile computing, and the latest tech paradigms.

The two growing categories of “designers” are those coming from Business and Technology. The three kinds of design are co-dependent — you must embrace at least two of these categories in order to win in this century.

Graphic of I and N of the word "in"

The Meaning of TBD

TBD means “To Be Decided” which is akin to how we’re going to see what happens as Technology Business and Design continue to converge in this century.

Technology lets us take advantage of “computational design” which involves algorithms, data processing, machine intelligence, cloud-based systems, and all the new ways of making products and services today.

Business has gotten more complex because of the many advances in computation over the last few decades — rendering lightning speeds in transactions and astronomical scales of customer engagement.

Design is a set of know-hows that has made things feel “better” for consumers, and its various capabilities are being tapped in every domain with hopes of making superior products and services to compete globally.

Archived Technology, Business, Design Articles

Gathering For Renewal

Technology, Business, and Design are converging so it’s an important time for us to all get (ready) together.

There’s a talent shortage at the TBD intersection.

We’re imagining a place where the three can better come together to create new businesses, and advance existing ones.

On November 16, 2015 we created a temporary cyberplace to experiment with an all-online gathering together with Potion Design and hosted by Paola Antonelli.

And in 2018 we tried out a live event, and it worked really well. It’s a work-in-progress and we’ll likely try it again. Learn more …