The future of design
Interesting parallels from the world of mechanical engineering. In this speech, John H. Lienhard argues engineers need to embrace: rapid trial and error, powerful cooperation, and a new way of seeing—citing examples as diverse as the design of Americas Cup's race boats, the legendary Skunkworks, and Medieval cathedral builders.
Some of the more interesting thoughts on each point:
- » Organizations don't like the error part of trial-and-error, and that's extremely bad for effective design…After all, you can't learn from your mistakes if you don't have the courage to make mistakes. And the only things it's possible to do right the first time are things you've already done a hundred times.
- » The most pernicious myth of design and invention is the myth of the lonely genius. Edison is the most famous case in point. Edison was self-educated and isolated by partial deafness. The myth was made to his measure. And he fed the myth all his life.
- » I am terribly afraid that the computer is so relaxing the eye of our mind that that eye will no longer serve us in the 21st century…The computer will create such a powerful illusion of visualization and creativity that we could well be in for another long dry patch.
And finally, Lienhard could be talking about the user experience design community:
"You and I know perfectly well that rapid trial and error—a rapid learning curve, rich in possibility—is the fastest road to good design. But it takes more courage than most of us have to go through the process. So we'll have to work very hard to hold on to that face of good design." ::
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