Icograda Seattle Design Week / Discuss

Mark Busse    says:

An inspiring talk given by Darrel Rhea in the morning session of Seattle Design Week Day One. NOTE FORM:

Main message: design is alive and healthy. The future is bright for design.

The global and business environment has shifted in a way that is embracing design and designers. Designers’ tools, processes, perspectives and intuitive mindset are deeply valued by business today.

You cannot be a designer today without being a caring person – it’s all about having empathy and compassion for the customer. Being intimate with the end user.

This must be authentic. Authenticity is critical and cannot be faked or designed.

10 years ago compassion and empathy would have been viewed as a weaknewss by the business community. Now they want and need it.

Designers' role is to touch human beings through experiences that moves them to a deeper relationship with other people, the environment and the world around them.

These days people already have enough “stuff”. They want products and services that we love. That express our values and provide meaning.

How will we respond and change the world? Depends on our personal ability to connect to our personal passion and inspire others. Depends on how we show leadership, facilitate conversations with others and demonstrate our worthiness and value. We all need to show up, do more, create opportunities and innovate using communication design. We need to take risks, learn and discover more.

Specifically:
1. Find your passion and follow it, even if it leads you away from design for a time.
2. Do your homework on what senior business mgmnt needs that you can impact. Don’t just focus on the design brief before you. Make yourself relevant.
3. Immerse yourself in the subject of meaning and experience design.
4. Develop your skills for listening to users and intimacy with consumers. It’s your job and cannot develop effective design without it.
5. Develop verbal skills. Write it. Sell it. Win conversations and inspire others. Teach, speak, express your opinion. Join Toast Masters. Talk to non-designers.
6. Overcome fear. Put yourself in harm’s way. Get over it. Be willing to fail. Helen Keller quote about avoiding danger and sticking your neck out.

History is not made by quite, polite people. Don’t wait for others to change the world. Be confident, aggressive, assertive and inspirational. And be grounded and relevant.

Rhea wants to inspire visual communicators to rise up and take a bigger role in business, society and culture. If we (designers) don’t bring heart and soul to business, who will?

Awesome.
Posted at 1:27PM, 14 July 2006 PDT ( permalink )