everlastingNow

Our job, at the end of it all, is to stitch back together the humanity that has been isolated by technology over the years. Ironic, no?

excellent interview presented on The Marketing Fresh Peel last week (april 21). in it, chris wilson interviews author and thought leader Marty Neumeier on his new book ‘The Designful Company.’ in it, the author presents great, unapologetic opinions of companies who are ‘designful’ in culture and action (the obvious, like nike and apple) and the not-so-designful but still deified (coke, microsoft, for instance). one piece of this conversation leaps out at me though. it’s a spot-on definition of design and its role in an organization:

We need to get past our view of the designer as a shaper of objects. The dictionary defines a designer as someone who plans an artifact or system of artifacts—in other words, the “posters and toasters” of the 20th century. This is too narrow. I prefer Nobel Laureate Herbert Simon’s definition: “Everyone designs who devises courses of action aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones.” In this definition, design is a way of thinking, and anyone in the company can be a designer, including the CEO.

Design thinking is about refusing to accept the easy answer. It’s about imagining new possibilities that weren’t on the table before, and prototyping those possibilities so they can be tested. It’s the difference between “deciding” the way forward and “designing” the way forward. Deciding only works in a stable market where innovation is a low priority.

imagine the new company culture, no matter the company, defined around design thinking like this. it’s probably this country’s number one advantage (if our only real advantage) culturally going forward. we should be celebrating this concept in every concept and company.

and we should debate vigorously how we create cultures within companies that allow for this. equal parts tension and inspiration, freedom and process, democracy and dictatorship. can they live in harmony? i think so. you just have to have designers who are articulate enough and business savvy enough to have the hard conversations along the way. at the same time, you have to have a management team who understands that design is a process that takes time and space. all families should live together and learn from each other every minute of every day.

the result is a company that evolves in harmony with its market, not the lumbering frankensteins that so many of us still are today.

thanks to jeff leitner for pointing this article out…

[podcast]http://www.manifestdigital.com/podcasts/BeHereNow-Capstone-3.mp3[/podcast]we’re in a moment that allows for tremendous change. to the dismay of some, it’s in fact demanded of us–how we work, who we work with, and the principles that guide us. having created a platform for new agency/creative thought, i have been speaking on the topic throughout the year. creatives are our new leadership and they don’t seem to fully know it yet.  in anticipation of some of the speeches i’m delivering and as a baseline for shared thought already presented, i have recorded an audio version of this presentation to get the core concepts out. the piece is included here and i welcome any insight or feedback on the topics established. there’s a lot more work to be done and we’re well into it now. as we have pieces and parts to share, i’ll continue getting them out here. for the more traditional impact to my own business, we’ll put out missives at manifest digital’s site proper.

we go live with the third episode of design in the moment.

[podcast]http://www.manifestdigital.com/podcasts/2009-04-14-Episode3.mp3[/podcast]

the genie is out of the bottle in terms of changing what an ‘agency’ is. the baggage with the word is heavily loaded and tiresome. i’ve written and spoken on changing the definition of the work frequently already this year. it’s nice to see the big boys coming along (and being called out by their clients). in a recent article at suite101.com, the topic is discussed by the likes of Euro RSCG and was recently a hot topic in Valencia at the ‘Festival of Media’ where topics like the role of media agencies were taken to task and speeches from agency network CEO’s indicated that they didn’t believe that they themselves could figure it out. Topics like ‘reverse internships’ are now celebrated where old talent is being required to sit with newly hired ‘kids’ to help figure out how this how internet thing works. it’s like the thrashing of a dying animal. can you change an agency of thousands with an approach like this?

at any rate, celebrating crispin, porter & bogusky, in some cases ideo, and agencies like manifest digital who are willing to reinvent how the work gets done and thereby completely ignore the ‘rules’ established by old-line agencies (media, ad, direct, digital, content, or whatever), makes for a much stronger solution. and more importantly, one where clients won’t say what could be the most damning thing i’ve seen in print/out loud in a long time:

Becky Saeger, chief marketing officer for Charles Schwab added that “if I were an agency, I would be really worried about being disintermediated,” a financial industry term meaning elminate the middle man. More worrisome, Saeger said: “More and more, agencies are almost in the way sometimes.”

i guess if you’re reinventing the word, you have to reinvent the business trappings around the industry. oh well. good for the consumer. good for the client. good for us.

[podcast]http://www.manifestdigital.com/podcasts/2009-04-07-Episode2.mp3[/podcast]

design in the moment continues with episode two as we find our way toward a workable format. we’re picking up some steam, getting to understand one another, finding common topics and heading into uncharted territory. designers take note! this is two designers finding their own voice as they begin to provide leadership to the broader untapped design community.

carolyn chandler speaks from the ‘red couch’ at sxsw. video posted! http://vimeo.com/manifestdigital

our first podcast for ‘design in the moment’ leads off with brief introductions for jim jacoby and jim cohen. we lay out plans for the upcoming recordings, topics for discussion, and establish baseline concepts that will guide our thought process.

[podcast]http://www.manifestdigital.com/podcasts/2009-04-02-Episode1.mp3[/podcast]

Our job is to ultimately design moments. Companies can live a purpose-driven life if we recalibrate them for living in a customer’s ‘now.’

Interactions are the building blocks of experiences. Experience in motion is the evolving ‘moment’ we each live in.