By Reena Jana - November 20, 2012
To celebrate the recent publication of the "Radical Openness" issue of Design Mind magazine, created in partnership with TED, frog welcomed two 2012 TEDGlobal speakers to the New York studio to share their work. On November 13, Ellen Jorgensen, the president and co-founder of community biology lab Genspace (pictured above), joined us for lunch and discussed how DIY biology is both a growing segment of the Maker movement and a compelling source for innovative new materials and fresh product and service ideas. On November 15, Catarina Mota, a TED Fellow and visiting scholar at New York University, shared her research into simple, DIY smart materials and announced a new initiative she is co-organizing to mobilize Makers to help develop humanitarian solutions. Both events were available via video- and phone-conferencing to frog studios around the world.
By Robert Fabricant - November 19, 2012
We live (and work) in a world that is saturated with design and innovation, and not just on the shelves of the Apple store. The language of design and innovation is increasingly standard business parlance. Many designers are justifiably concerned with this over-saturation, as design seems to be losing its distinct meaning as a catalyst for creativity, provocation, and change. In the process, designers are at risk of becoming just another flavor of consultant.
That is why we jumped at the opportunity to place a team of frog designers in an environment in which design has no meaning at all, a collaboration with the Girl Effect to improve the lives of adolescent girls.
This collaboration revealed a new purpose for design as an essential set of skills to help communities to solve their own problems—and the Collective Action Toolkit was born. What follows is the path we took from our collaboration to creating and releasing this toolkit, which is available to download for free from frog.
By David Sherwin - November 15, 2012
Today, frog is pleased to release the Collective Action Toolkit (CAT). The CAT is a package of resources and activities that enable groups of people anywhere to organize, build trust, and collaboratively create solutions for problems impacting their community.
frog developed the CAT to help groups of people create positive change in their communities. Inspired by frog's collaboration with Girl Effect and the Nike Foundation, the toolkit provides a dynamic framework that integrates knowledge and action to solve challenges. Designed to harness the benefits of group action and the power of open sharing, the activities in the toolkit draw on each participant’s strengths and perspectives as the group works to accomplish a common goal.
By Cormac Eubanks - November 14, 2012
One of the questions I get asked most often is from engineers looking to break into design. It’s usually along the lines of:
“I’m working as an engineer at a company on really technical aspects of projects and I don’t feel creatively challenged. I’d like to get more involved on the front end design side working at a design and innovation firm like frog. What should I do?”
Making the transition from hardcore mechanical engineering specialist to design engineer generalist is a tough one, but it is doable if you are really dedicated to making it happen. Luck has a lot to do with it, but here are a few tips based on my personal experience and the experience of people I’ve worked with.
By Azure Yang (杨曦) - November 14, 2012
现在回想起来，我是幸运的。在我刚决定要从事设计的时候，便能有机会加入了一家世界知名IT企业，从而开始了我的设计生涯，并在那里度过了我在这个行业里最重要的七年。在这七年里，除了使我更好地熟悉西方的文化、语言以及背景之外，还学到了当时较为先进的设计思维、方法以及流程。随着在工作中经验的积累，对设计理解得越来越深刻的同时，对于当时工作中的一些方法以及流程变得不怎么认同。比如说，在关于细节设计技术可行性的争论花了大量时间，又或者为了验证可用性测试依赖着大量用户，刻意去追求测试结果等等。我理解这些方法的逻辑性以及科学性，但这和我所知的设计相去甚远，它缺乏设计本应该有的创造性与魅力。就我看来，当时的体验设计，不论是流程还是结果，都更像是锤子——家中必备工具，需要时方便实用，但是平时却无人问津。那为什么体验设计不能更接近高跟鞋呢？为女生们增色添彩，每日扮靓必不可少。即使它比不上平底鞋的亲切，甚至有报道说它损害健康，但是每个女生都会有几双，不穿的时候也会勤加保养。
By TED - November 12, 2012
Polar explorer Ben Saunders took the stage the other evening at the TEDSalon in London to ask the question: "If everything is being done somewhere by someone and we can participate virtually, then why bother leaving the house?" A journalist had asked him that question weeks earlier. He discussed it in his talk through both his own experience of walking and skiing alone on ice for weeks at a time, as well as through the eyes of others who have ventured out answering what he termed "the call of the unfinished endeavor."
Saunders was one of ten speakers featured at the event, which took place November 7 at the Unicorn Theatre, supported by TED partners Intel and frog. The evening's theme was "Exploring Possibilities," and the 220 attendees heard stories of exploration in an eclectic set of fields: from Saunders' extreme geographies to the frontiers of science, from the writing of a new national constitution to the creation of new markets.
By Tim Leberecht - November 9, 2012
When more than 800 leaders from business, academia, civil society, and government convene at the World Economic Forum’s Summit on the Global Agenda in Dubai next week, the Global Agenda Council on Values, of which I am a member, hopes to serve as the glue between the more than 80 Councils that are addressing the most pressing issue of our time. By engendering a cross-Council dialogue, the Council on Values can act as a bridge between the public and private sector, between different industries, faiths, cultures, and generations - and different sets of values.
In light of the financial crisis, growing social divides in many countries, and deepening mistrust in business, a multi-stakeholder dialogue on values is more important than ever. In our hyper-connected world, the consequences of our actions are more transparent and dramatically amplified, and the gap between values and behavior is increasingly open to public scrutiny and subject to systemic effects. Consumers and citizens demand more transparent, collaborative and inclusive models of value creation that produce well-being, happiness, and meaning as much as profits. However, it appears that even well-articulated and broadly supported moral principles are difficult to translate into day-to-day decision-making and into the behaviours observed by suppliers, dealers, customers, and employees, with their varying and often conflicting value systems.
By Ernest Beck - November 6, 2012
As technology disrupts established healthcare systems and the traditional patient-provider dynamic, frog introduces a prototype Connected Care Solution (CCS) that seamlessly connects doctors and patients and supportive communities. Based on a new patient-centered healthcare paradigm, CCS fosters a collaborative relationship between the patient, providers, and a social network to improve health outcomes and help achieve lifestyle goals. With a deep knowledge and expertise in the healthcare sector, frog designers, technologists, and strategists are exploring innovative and systemic solutions for the future of healthcare—today.
By Tim Leberecht - November 4, 2012
Happiness and well-being have entered the business mainstream as new indicators of economic progress. Bhutan pioneered the Gross National Happiness Index, the UN issued a Happiness Resolution, and the Harvard Business Review recently devoted a special report to the topic. A growing number of companies are looking into creating Big Data-enabled products/services that measure and enhance happiness/well-being, and a growing number of companies are beginning to leverage the potential of Quantified-Self-apps to improve workplace wellness (and productivity).
By Reena Jana - November 3, 2012
It was a truly terrifying Halloween this year, with superstorm Sandy hitting the East Coast. Our New York team at frog was particularly affected, as the studio is located in downtown Manhattan and was closed for five days due to extended power loss. Even more challenging: the personal experiences of our entire team. Most of frog NY was without power at home, too; many had to relocate temporarily to safe places to stay, often with generous friends and family.
Many neighborhoods in the New York City area had to cope with flooding and fallen trees (and, tragically, losses of life). With the entire subway and bus system, bridges, tunnels, and other transportation arteries shut down, it was often impossible and very dangerous to get around. This meant that even very basic services, such as food deliveries, were stalled (and with gas shortages, these and repair services are still delayed in some areas). We thank everyone in our global community for their kind concern, understanding, and support during such a difficult time.
Despite the extreme challenges, frog's creative, let's-improve-the-world spirit has been shining through. Throughout the storm and afterward, we shared reports with each other on the damage of the storm and offered resources to help those in need (which included many of us). New York frogs joined in on the relief effort in a hands-on way, by dropping off food, baby blankets, and diapers to collection efforts for storm victims, and by volunteering to clean up areas throughout the area, from Hoboken, New Jersey, to Red Hook, Brooklyn, to Riverside Park on the Upper West Side.
