Blog frogs on the road
By Jon Kolko - March 11, 2010
It’s both amazing and hilarious to consider that being human, or treating people well, or interacting with one another, is now in-vogue in big business. We did a turn with quality (“we need to make things well!”) in the 80s, optimization (“we need to track the supply chain and distribution chain!”) in the early 90s, the internet (“bricks and mortar is dead!”) in 2000, and now it’s All About Social. But when you unwrap “social”, you start to realize that it’s a container for some major, powerful, and fundamental aspects of human life. It’s not a business construct, as was six-sigma or ERP. The stuff we mean when we talk about “social” is the stuff of life, and it’s natural. And so I find it both amazing and very, very funny to observe how fundamentally hard it is for some people to “manage social” and to understand the role social plays in the context of business.
Blog frogs on the road
By Various frogs - October 3, 2009
Over the past few days, IIT held their annual Design Research Conference. The conference, run and organized entirely by the students of IIT’s institute of Design and led by graduate students Tal Shay and Kate Pemberton, brings together practitioners and students in an intimate setting to discuss issues of design, research, business, culture and society.
I gave a talk that I’ve been building and refining for the past few months, entitled “A new global design intellectualism: predicting – and avoiding – the commoditization of design research.” The talk articulates what I’ve observed over the past decade as a repeated cycle of offshoring, responsive process innovation, and cultural expectations point to the demise of a particular skill or set of methods in the United States.
Blog frogs on the road
By Various frogs - September 26, 2009
I've just returned from the IDSA conference in Miami, and I'm both convinced that, in ten years, there won't be an IDSA conference to go to - and that isn't a bad thing. I don't mean this in a disparaging sense; I enjoyed the conference, caught up with old friends, made new friends, and learned a bit. But a trend that I've observed at past conferences is only more evident this year, and it's patronizing to continue to skirt what is becoming increasingly obvious: the IDSA has served a valuable role in the evolution of design as a professional discipline, and has helped advance the field to a point where the IDSA is now essentially irrelevant. Design has outgrown “Industrial Design”, and a professional organization cannot exist only in the form of self-maintenance.
Blog frogs on the road
By Various frogs - April 11, 2009
As a Design Researcher, hearing Jan Chipchase’s talk at CHI was inspiring. He discussed his nuggets of discovery around the world and told the stories with beautiful photography.
Jan brought up a range of contrasts that I found interesting. He made the point that innovation often happens at the socioeconomic extremes - with technologically advanced cultures as well as very impoverished ones. As he describes, “when the cost is so low, acting becomes easy.”
Blog frogs on the road
By Various frogs - March 5, 2009
Two Planes, two Trams, a presentation and a bicycle adventure later I have returned from a week in Amsterdam. After waiting 33 years to travel across the Atlantic I think this was a great opportunity for the Dutch to experience new language, culture and expand their worldview… or maybe that was the other way around? I guess what I am trying to say is I think minds were broadened on both sides. Amsterdam greatly expanded my world view offering up the mature soul of an old world city defined by canals and long in the ground rain soaked cobbles traveled by equally numerous young and energetic denizens offering up endless and open hospitality. For my part I hope I brought a fresh and more accurate definition of Cowboy Diplomacy.
