“Meanwhile, we named our snake Miracle because it was a miracle my wife left it into the house”.
David Barringer
The Corner of Delights – This is my Blog. The links, the posts, the conferences, the dates, the friends, the videos, the photos, the texts, the articles, the favorites, the fonts, the ideas, the things, the web, the brands, the design, the family, as saudades, the references, and the things separated by commas. At the moment I’m translating all the main posts to English. Please be patient!
No final do ano passado e depois de a toyno já se ter pronunciado na emobile a Renata convidou-me para falar sobre cultura empresarial. Falei sobre a toyno, a With Company e sobre Design Thinking. É uma entrevista quase falada, sem grande edição, onde a coisa vai saindo em formato de “verdade”.
Seguem as perguntas. Algumas tratam também sobre a criação de uma cultura empresarial que valoriza a inovação. Sinta-se a vontade para responder apenas o que você se sentir confortável!
- De que maneiras o ambiente empresarial interfere no trabalho dos profissionais? Tudo funciona por processo de contágio. Se eu ando de gravata, os outros terão tendência para usar gravata. Se eu tiver uma parede branca imaculada ela terá tendência a manter-se assim. Nas minhas organizações, a With-Company e a Toyno Studio, as paredes são para colar e escrever. Os tapetes servem para sentar e não apenas para pisar. O espaço é sempre um reflexo da forma como pensamos. Se estiver descontraído, ajuda a que nos sintamos dessa forma. Se estiver colorido, é uma mensagem de que também as ideias o poderão ser. Uma janela com vista para o rio ou para um céu azul também ajuda a prolongar a criatividade, é o que dizem os especialistas. Eu durmo a sesta e ando de chinelos. Talvez seja um exagero.
- Como uma cultura de inovação pode ajudar pequenas e médias empresas? Não tem a ver com o nível de facturação ou com a quantidade de colaboradores. Tem a ver com cultura. Com cultura de mudança. Não interessa ter uma empresa pequena e achar-se ágil quando não há partilha ou vontade de envolver todos. A inovação está na vontade de mudar e de fazer diferente com significado. A vezes a falta de esperança nessas empresas é o factor que as faz olhar para fora à procura de quem venha fazer isso por eles. Olhar de fora para dentro ajuda sempre mas depois há que pegar e seguir em frente. É isso que do nosso lado tentamos sempre fazer. Não fazemos e entregamos. Fazemos com. E continuamos fazendo. A expressão é um pouco académica mas gostamos da ideia de “transferência de conhecimento”. Tentamos contaminar essas empresas com a nossa cultura durante o tempo suficiente para para que se torne enraizado, adoptado.
- O que é possível fazer para perder o medo de errar? Aligeirar. Retirar pressão do processo criativo. Atribuir confiança e acompanhar. Explicar porquê no caso de discordância.
- E quando um erro pode custar o futuro da empresa? Quando um erro pode custar o futuro da empresa? A resposta está no dia em que se faz a empresa. É sempre um risco. Sempre.
- O que difere o design thinking do modo tradicional de fazer design? Na tomada de consciência do processo de criação ou de resolução de problemas. Na cultura de equipa e de “invasão espacial”, na vontade mais assumida de olhar para o outro. Desenhar para o outro. Mas espera, isso não diva ser também o modo tradicional de fazer design?
- A geração Y está mais preparada para inovar? O que é necessário para ter ideias inovadoras? Eu nasci em 80 e considero-me um rapaz criativo. Amor e coragem.
- Como o setor moveleiro pode se beneficiar de uma cultura empresarial inovadora? O que é preciso repensar na produção e no desenvolvimento de novos produtos? O exemplo português é interessante. Parece que anda nos extremos. Há empresas novas, super inovadores e com pouca capacidade de sair e há empresas de peso que não se mexem, são chatas. Os exemplos de maior sucesso são os que vão tentando ligar a duas coisas. As pequenas que conseguem convencer as grandes de que vale a pena cortar uma placa a 45º – que talvez não parta o pedaço de cartão, que se pode coser com fios uma mesa a outra. As pequenas que arranjam argumentos em forma de aposta “vai ver que dá”. E depois há as grandes que fazem esse papel de, ou permitir que lhes dêem a volta, ou assumir que não existe massa crítica interna para inovar no produto e aí vão à procura. Há excepções, há. Mas é por isso que se chamam “excepções”
- Você pode contar um pouco da sua trajetória? Como entrou em contato com o design thinking, o que já realizou dentro desse campo e quais são os planos para os próximos anos? Eu sou designer de comunicação. Type freak. Criei a minha primeira empresa com 24 anos. Especializei-me em design de identidade. Estudei sobre marcas, sobre como pôr as marcas a falar com pessoas. Como atribuir comportamento a uma marca. Aprendi como pôr o coração no processo criativo e deixei o ego – provisoriamente – de lado e fui à procura dos outros. Foi aqui que surgiu o Design Thinking. A preocupação com o outro, com a necessidade do outro. O ouvir mais, o perguntar mais, o observar mais. O design thinking por ter um nome com mais estilo vendeu-se melhor e ensinou-me coisas que o design ainda não me tinha mostrado. Design thinking é assim um design em estado básico, didáctico. Um lado que ajuda.
Depois foi uma embrulhada. Meti na cabeça que queria trabalhar na IDEO e trabalhei. E não gostei nada. E depois voltei da Alemanha para Portugal para ajudar o meu Pai num negócio de peixe fresco. Peguei no que sabia de marcas e de processos de inovação, convidei o meu sócio da With-Company Tiago e, juntos, ajudámos essa empresa durante uns meses. Depois fiz a Toyno Studio com a Joana Brígido e em dois anos lançámos 15 produtos e fizemos duas exposições incríveis para centros de ciência. Coisas com peso, que levam tempo e queimam neurónios. “Toma, tens aqui uma palavra e agora inventa um conceito, uma história com altos e baixos e mete isto num espaço de 700m2 com 27 módulos interativos…e já agora, tenta convencer os adolescentes a passarem por lá”. Acho que não somos muito maus nisto. Temos uma equipa boa.
Depois da www.toyno.com vem a Peixaria Centenária (www.peixariacentenaria.pt). Pois é. Fiz uma loja de venda de peixe fresco com mais dois amigos, no centro de Lisboa. Acham que somos malucos, mas não. Acreditamos só que temos capacidade para fazer parte desta pequena revolução do comércio local aqui na cidade de Lisboa. E por fim, que isto já se está a alongar, a With-Company.com que junta isto tudo. Que faz os seus próprios negócios e desenha para os outros. Adoramos marcas, falar pelas marcas, pegar no coração dos fundadores dessas marcas e expôs-los numa mesa. Fazemos mandar tudo cá para fora. E não, não nos controlamos, mexemos nos produtos, nos processos e nos negócios dessa gente. Gente com a coragem suficiente para nos abrir as portas e o coração.
Se juntássemos 20 mães numa cozinha, criássemos umas dezenas de empregos para desempregadas, se convencessemos a malta que come mal a comer melhor, se levássemos os que comem à pressa na secretária para a relva do jardim municipal para um almoço em companhia, se não houvessem mais desculpas para sair de casa à pressa para ir levar os filhos à escola esquecendo e desvalorizando o pequeno almoço, se esta marca fosse de verdade e recebessemos uma sms pela manhã a lembrar do almocinho, se criássemos uma marca B2B capaz de nos deixar com um sorriso na cara e com vontade de comer de forma equilibrada e à séria todos os dias da semana comidinha da mamã?
Há projectos que ficam na gaveta porque não há vontade, outros porque não há dinheiro e outros porque…nem sei bem porquê.
Se alguém tiver vontade de pegar nisto, montar uma cozinha comunitária, criar um sistema de distribuição para empresas, dar emprego a mães desempregadas…eu dou a marca! (:
Há pouco meses, a Diana Lopes, uma das organizadoras do ARTEC do Instituto Politécnico de Tomar, convidou-me para planear uma talk sobre a”Génese”. Para falar de como ou de onde surgem as ideias.
Pois indo directo ao assunto, sinto que as ideias podem vir…
- do Amor. Quando estamos “embriagados” estamos mais envolvidos, acreditamos mais, ficamos mais obcecados, pensamos mais rápido, estamos mais atentos, mais sensíveis
- da Revolta. Quando estamos frustados e queremos mudar, quando estamos parados e queremos arrancar, quando estamos arrependidos e queremos fazer de outra forma
- da Procura. Quando sabemos que podemos fazer melhor e não dormimos, procuramos, lemos mais um parágrafo, trocamos mais uma palavra à procura do “naming” perfeito, pesquisamos o silêncio para deixar as ideias assentar
- por Acidente. Porque um avião se avariou e duas pessoas começaram a falar, porque se é mau na cozinha e um curso se culinária de transforma numa desculpa para começar a trabalhar uma nova marca
- pelas Pessoas. Porque muitas das melhores ideias vêm da cabeça dos outros. Dos amigos, dos clientes, dos colegas e dos colegas amigos, dos amigos clientes
- de uma Surpresa. Positiva ou negativa, de uma boa reacção a uma crítica – coisa rara
- da Resiliência. Quando se decide continuar depois das costas voltadas. Quando se decide continuar depois das costas voltadas. Quando se decide continuar outra vez depois das costas voltadas e quando se decide continuar até à próxima zanga de sócios…onde se decide continuar porque é sempre melhor acompanhado
- da História. Que vem de um projecto anterior que correu bem. De alguém que falou bem, de um vídeo que correu bem, ou só porque vale a pena repetir uma dupla de sucesso
- da Partilha. Porque se eu der o outro dá
- do Desafio. De dizer que sim porque se quer experimentar só porque se acha que sim
- da Paixão. Pela tipografia, pelas pessoas, pelos espaços, por uma boa desculpa para se começar algo
- dos Sonhos. Porque às vezes é mesmo bom dormir com o caderno ao lado da cabeça. Funciona como uma rede de pesca
- de um Objectivo Impossível. Que pode estar à distância de um email ou a 8 meses de uma luta esgotante
- da Amizade. Porque ao contrário do que diz o Adrian Shaughnessy – que admiro – e mais uma série de bandalhos, as empresas, as ideias, os copos e os projectos fazem-se de amigos
- da Consciência. Do estar ligado. Acordado. Informado. Preocupado. Atento
- de um Propósito. De querer algo porque é por bem. Porque é pelos outros. Porque é pelo crescimento pessoal. Porque vai ficar gravado
- do Caos porque acredito que os acasos vêm do caos mas não vêm ao acaso. Se estivermos permanentemente conscientes, conseguimos ver o que outros deixam para trás, conseguimos sorrir quando outros não entendem a piada, conseguimos vibrar quando outros não ouvem o vibrato, conseguimos saborear quando outros comem à pressa. Se ligarmos a consciência, todas estas pequenas subtilezas ganham a forma de ideias. Umas pequenas, outras grandes.
O que sinto é que as ideias não se medem em tamanho. Medem-se em distância. O que diferencia uma grande de uma pequena ideia, não é o peso, é a distância. A ideia cai-nos na cabeça e…como vem redondinha, foge um pouco. A que cai e fica por perto é um “objectivo comum”, está ali, pronta a ser apanhada, a que rola para longe, faz-nos levantar para correr atrás dela, fisgá-la, persegui-la. É nesse momento que se transforma e deixa de ser uma ideia. Passa a ser um propósito. As ideias que vêm do medo…perdem-se pelo caminho. O propósito é a subtileza que nos faz percorrer a distância daqui até… .
A few months a go I was invited to talk about “Genesis”. What a big word. They asked me to talk about ideas. Where do they come from. Ok, so going straight to the point, I feel that ideas can appear…
- from Love. When we’re drunk we are more engaged, we believe more, we get obsessed, we think quicker, we’re more aware, more sensible
- from Insurrection. When we’re frustrated and want to change, when we’re stopped and want to start, when we regret and want to do things in a different way
- from Search. When we know we can do better and we cannot sleep, when we search, read another paragraph, play with another word searching for the perfect “naming”, try to find the inner silence to let the ideas settle
- by Accident. Because a plane got broken and two people started talking, because someone’s terrible in the kitchen and a culinary course is an excuse to start a new brand
- from People. Because most of the best ideas come from the others. From friends, clients, colleagues, friendly colleagues and friendly clients
- from Resilience. When you decide to continue after a fight, when you decide to continue after a fight and when you decide to continue after a fight..until the next when you decide to continue to go along with your partners because its always better go along than alone
- from History. That comes from a previous project that went well. From someone who made a compliment, a video that ended up in style or because it make sense to maintain a team that worked so well the 1st time
- from Sharing. Because when you give you get back
- from a Challenge. Of saying yes to something theta you’ve never done before…and it just feels right
- from Passion. For typography, for people, for spaces, for a good excuse to start something
- from a Dream. Because sometimes its good to sleep with a not book next to the pillow.
- from an Impossible Goal that can be at a distance of an email or 8 months of a painful “fight”
- from Friendship. Because – going against what Adrian Shaughnessy (that I really admire) – and other morons say, the companies, the fun, the ideas and the projects are made out of friendship
- from Conscience. From being connected, awakened, informed, worried and aware
- from a Purpose. Of wanting something for the good, the others. For personal development. Because its gonna endure
- from Chaos because I believe the chances come from Chaos but don’t come by chance. If we turn on our consciousness we can see what others leave behind, we’re able to smile when others can’t get it, we vibrate when we feel the “vibrato”, we taste when others eat in a rush. Consciousness connects all these little things and ideas come to life. Small or Big ideas. What I feel is that ideas cannot be measured in size. Than can only be measured by “distance”.
The difference between a small from a bid idea its not the weight, is the distance. The idea “falls” into our head and since is round..rolls a bit. The one that stays closer its the small idea, a common goal, ready to be solved. If if goes further it will make us get up to go after her, to run, to dig, to chase her. In that moment that idea stops being a common idea and becomes a Purpose.
The ideas that arise by fear..get lost in the way. The Purpose its the subtleness that makes run the distance between going from here to… .
Todos já ouviram falar do “problemático” Bairro da Bela Vista em Setúbal. Poucos ouviram falar, no entanto, das acções que se estão a realizar para o reabilitar. Há um grupo de pessoas, encabeçadas pelo Nelson que trabalha com os mais jovens, dando-lhes formação para que possam ser eles, no futuro, a liderar “pelo exemplo”. Na manhã de domingo eu, o Tiago e a Catarina demos uma pequena contribuição. Tentámos passar algumas ferramentas que lhes pudessem ser úteis na gestão de potenciais problemas.
Gratificante. Obrigado Nelson pelo convite. Obrigado Tiago e Catarina pelos bons amigos. Obrigado Mateus pelas ilustrações.
Last Sunday we where invited by Nelson to facilitate a workshop with kids from a troubled neighborhood in Setúbal. The goal was to give these youngsters the the tools to better lead the future of their own community. This was just a small move in a broader action set up by Nelson and the Municipality of Setúbal. Thanks Nelson. This felt great. Thanks Tiago and Catarina, you (are) have great friends. Obrigado Mateus for the illustrations.
The first one shows a team mood throughout the development of a small project in October 2012. Like an experience curve, there’s always ups and downs and this will help us better plan the next workshop and the teams for the “down” moments. The other framework shows the wealth perception curve in a company over the last 20 years. Both of them are powerful tools. These “designs” are so simple, tough they make a huge difference when we’re trying to make a point. One advice? Print perceptions to get quick reactions.
O primeiro mostra o “mood” de uma equipa de trabalho no decorrer de um projecto em Outubro de 2012. Tal como uma curva de experiência, existem sempre altos e baixos. Este modelo ajuda-nos a planear melhor a próxima acção ou workshop e a preparar melhor as equipas para os momentos “baixos”.
A outra imagem mostra a percepção da saúde de uma empresa ao longo dos últimos 20 anos. Ambas as frameworks são ferramentas poderosas. Estes gráficos são simples mas fazem a diferença na forma como “fazem ver” a realidade. Muitas vezes basta um pequeno print para causar impacto.
Neste ultimo mês de dezembro a UL e a UTL lançaram-me um desafio. Desenhar um vídeo para a cerimónia de abertura do novo ano académico na Aula Magna. O objectivo era realizar um vídeo conceptual que sugestionasse a futura fusão entre as duas universidades. Um vídeo diferente do que tenho realizado. Mais “artístico” do que comercial, mais “ambiental” e menos emocional. Com menos tempo para pensar mais mais pensado, menos tempo para filmar mas mais filmado. Com menos gente mas habitado. Talvez com mais subtileza e substância. O resultado foi julgado com palmas pelos destinatários o que poderá não ter sido um mau sinal.
Obrigado Mariana pelo apoio e organização. Obrigado Bárbara, pelo design. Obrigado João, pelo motion. Obrigado a todos pelo “push”.
I was invited by the 2 main universities in Lisbon to design a video that could represent the future merging between them. The video is a bit different from my previous work. More arty than commercial, more environmental and less emotional, less time to think giving it more thought, less time to shoot but more directed, with less people bur more inhabited, a bit more subtle and probably with a little bit more substance. The result was judged with an simple ovation which is not a bad sign. Thanks Mariana for the support and planning. Thanks Bárbara for the design and João for the motion graphics. Thanks all for the great effort.
Esta foto foi tirada na sexta feira numa reunião com um cliente. O cliente é uma empresa ligada à produção com quem trabalho há muitos anos. O projecto tem o nome de código “cemique” e nos últimos meses olhei de fora com muita atenção. Tenho estado envolvido como mentor/orientador/crítico do verdadeiro trabalho da Bárbara e da Mariana.
Antes de “chatear” a B2R, lancei o desafio à Bárbara e à Mariana. Como aprender sobre Design Thinking? Como trazer inovação a uma empresa de um sector “bloqueado”? Como aprender a “aprender” com um cliente? Como aprender a lidar de perto com os problemas dos clientes? Fazendo. Enfrentado. Falando e ouvindo. Vivendo o que eles vivem. Foi isso que elas fizeram nos últimos meses. Quem olha para esta foto não as reconhece. Estou orgulhoso pelo que cresceram desde Outubro até esta data. Na “Oficina” não se fala de Design. Faz-se design. E estas meninas arriscaram aprender e quiseram trabalhar ajudando os outros.
Agora, depois das propostas recebidas e aceites pela equipa do cliente, vem a parte mais difícil. Saber levar essas ideias para a frente. Desenhar para obter retorno. Go, go, go.
This photo was taken last friday on a meeting with a client. A production company whom I work since 2005. The code name for the project we’ve been developing together is “cemique” and in the last months I’ve been only a bot more than a spectator. I’ve been more involved as a mentor/critic. The real work has been done by Bárbara and Mariana. Before convincing B2R to move forward with the project I’ve challenged Bárbara and Mariana on how to learn about “Design Thinking”, on how to bring innovation to a sector in decline, on how to learn from clients, on how to deal with their daily problems. They would have to learn by doing by facing problems, talking and listening and living what they are feeling. This was what these girls did in the last couple of months. By looking at this pic I almost don’t recognize them. I’m proud because they’ve grown so much since october. At our office we don’t talk about design. We do design. B and M took a chance to learn by helping others and that’s amazing. Now, after the successful proposals/ideas comes the difficult part. Knowing how to take those ideas forward and transform them into real profit. Let’s now design for profit. Go, go, go.
“Wanna shoot the Making Of for the 2013 Summer Collection? We like your language and you even know Zé, The Lisbon Tailor. Makes perfect sense. Would be great to have at the setting capturing all those kids running around wearing our brand. Let’s find the perfect sunny sunday and do this. What do you say?”
Os estudantes de Design da Universidade de Aveiro organizaram uma conferência/workshops para este último sábado. O objectivo era explicar o que é Art Direction. Não sei muito bem. Fiz algum trabalho de casa, umas perguntas no facebook para ajudar a desbloquear, wikipedia, falei com uns amigos que já passaram por “isso” de não saber bem o que é ser Art Director e depois de ganhar inspiração lá saiu uma ligação improvável que serviu de fio condutor para a apresentação.
Restaurantes. Primeiro o Entra, depois a Peisheirada e agora a Quermesse. Decidi abrir o “jogo” neste último e revelar um pouco do processo de criação da marca, dos ambientes e da experiência. Vamos na segunda semana de projecto e a expectativa é ter a comida na mesa no decorrer do mês de dezembro.
Parabéns ao Bruno e à Susana por terem a coragem de abrir mais uma porta num ambiente meio tristonho, obrigado à Joana Mateus e à Ana e ao Filipe da Oficina Colectiva por terem alinhado nesta aventura.
O nome de código do projecto é “Quer mesa? Para Quantos?”, o nome do restaurante é “Quermesse”. Podem seguir o projecto aqui: https://quermesaparaquantos.wordpress.com/
Restaurants. First it was “Entra“, then “Peisheirada” and now “Quermesse“. I’ve decided to show the process in this last one. Still on time to see the process of creating the brand, the environment and the experience. This is the second week of the project and we expect to have the door open mid December. Congrats to Bruno and Susana for having the guts to open a new business in this difficult economic period. Thanks to Joana Mateus, Ana and Filipe from “Oficina Colectiva” for going along and accepting this challenge.
Two days ago I’ve bumped against a short video of Bruce Mau explaining how he sees design as leadership method. “We imagine a vision and systematically build to that vision”. Today it was John Maeda….and again, design as leadership. I feel like saying that after a certain “amount” of experience, designers tend to go back to the basics. How does this sound? (:
Este projecto, como todos os projectos que tenho produzido, não começou com ideias. Começou com perguntas, com muitas perguntas. Perguntas com jogos, com desenhos, com desafios, com objectivos traçados, com reuniões e com apresentações. E mais importante que tudo, não começou longe do cliente. Começou, desenrolou-se e terminou com o cliente em todas as fases do projecto.
Depois do video da Lisbon Lovers fui convidado pela Associação de Mulheres no Desporto para produzir 3 vídeos para o projecto “O Jogo das Raparigas“.
Estes 3 vídeos, mais do que a ideia, são uma pergunta uma resposta. Mais do que revolta, provocação e desafio. Apelam a gente diferente e são tão “normais” como ver uma criança, adolescente ou mulher profissional de futebol a jogar à bola.
Funcionou? Sim. Multiplicámos por 15 o número de visualizações relativamente à última campanha.
Estamos na P3 do Público e na Bienal da Eslovénia no meio dos melhores projectos internacionais de inovação. É tudo muito bom mas importa referir que não fomos lá para porque temos umas fotos bonitas com uns post its colados à parede. Nos últimos 6 meses esta PME familiar recuperou motivação, melhorou a comunicação, não despediu ninguém, contratou um novo elemento, controlou as contas, reduziu em mais de 2/3 a dívida a fornecedores sem qualquer nova injecção de capital e encontrou umas belas novas dezenas de clientes através da exploração de um novo canal de distribuição. Nas últimas semanas, como todos sabem, o tom triste do nosso país trouxe de novo alguma apreensão…mas o Tiago Nunes e eu vamos voltar a ser os chatos do costume. 4 meses depois vamos voltar à “luta” com este projecto. Isto não fica por aqui.
I’ve been working on this brand for a year now and “embranco” just launched their new website. Designed by Ivo Jaime and myself and developed by Cláudio Medina. Nice work guys.
September is month of Design Thinking! At least for me (:
Wednesday at the StartUpPirates and yesterday at FBAUL (Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Lisbon) for a little talk with Tiago Nunes. We’ve used the fishing for ideas project to explain the basic principles of Design Thinking and to share our findings (and troubles) on how to communicate and involve the client along the journey.
This was a short contribution to the Service Design Summer course organized by André Gouveia with the help of Cooperativa Criativa. These guys are responsible for some of the main events around service design here in Lisbon and are doing a great job.In the end I was able to comment of the final results of the 3 projects presented by the students and that was just the confirmation of that week’s intense work.
More “Design Thinking” still to come this month with the DConfestival in Berlin. The 1st international conference around the topic. Since I was a student there and I was also involved with the organization I can take someone with me for a special price! Feel free to contact me!
Tomorrow I will be presenting the “fishing for ideas project” at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Lisbonfor a service design course organized by “cooperativa criativa”. Check it out here http://servicedesignfbaul.wordpress.com/
This is what happened last wednesday at the StartupPirates event. These guys invited me to organize and facilitate the Design Thinking workshop…and I couldn’t say “no”.
I’ve invited Rui Simas (copywriter/comediant) and Joana Mateus (designer/illustrator) to join me in this challenge…and they couldn’t say “no”, also!
I have to say that part of the hard work – putting people on track – was already done. These pirates know how to keep people in motion and in good spirit.
For the workshop we took the classic “wallet experience” from the Stanford DSchool and reinvented it. Instead of building something individually we worked with groups, instead of wallets we adapted to the pirates scene andwe asked people to design “swords”, instead of one hour we gave them a bit more time. We (the facilitators) defined 3 different personas and 3 different well described swords – yes we had to do some extra home work – and made the groups design a new “tool” for us.
Seems like something like this could work with other topics. In the end a 1 minute pitch “a la Dschool Style” with the teams showing stunning creative work, and a 30 minute talk about the process by showing a practical case studie (http://fishingforideas.wordpress.com/).
The theme of the conference (IgnitePortugal) at Audax/ISCTE was Cultural Entrepreneurship and Creative Industries and I was invited to talk about one of my latest personal projects – toyno.
The drawing is from Vanessa Silva, she is part of this wonderful project called livescketching.
If your curious about the presentation have a look (portuguese only). I’ve tried to show the students that you don’t need that much money to create a new project.
Ok, I have to admit…it helps having some designers in the startup team!
Football is for everyone. By the end of the month these amazing girls will be on national TV.
Yes, Portugal eliminated Holland a few days ago but the color of the t-shirts was already chosen! Pure coincidence (;
It’s my pleasure to announce that the “fishing for ideas” project is among the best service/business design work selected for the final exhibition of 23rd Biennial of Design International – Museum for Architecture and Design in Ljubljana – Slovenia.
From around 450 entries we are in the run for the final award among other 90 candidates. It will be difficult since this is a contest with tradition in product design…still, it’s an honor to have the opportunity to be there to talk about our project, to be in the official design book and, most important, seeing our work being recognized as truly innovative.
We’ve applied for the “Globalisation” – Social Local (Categorie) and here are a a few words from the curators: ” Selected works for the BIO 23 exhibition show an impulse of how designers and the works they create are influenced by modern technologies, digitalisation and new technologies. Other selected works show contemporary designers embracing the resourcefulness of nature and its processes, while others display an amazing capability to use technology.”
Tiago is in Australia “being great”. This is your recognition. Thanks for those great months and we will work again in the future I’m sure.
Thanks also to all the people who helped us during this process. Online and Offline.
If you’ll watch the video probably you don’t need to read the text because I will be repeating myself. This video – the App – is the result of the last 3 months of the design thinking course at the HPI in Potsdam. Besides developing a concept and identity for the 1st International Design Thinking Festival we (Carol, Claudia, Daniel and me) ended up doing an application to be used by design juries to evaluate design projects.
A few months ago I read something from Don Norman where he said that he gave up being a jury in design (product) competitions because he felt everyone was voting based on aesthetics and not on the real value of the project – empathy through the user, usability, acceptance and intuition (based on experience).
Well, we believe we’ve found a way to convince Don Norman in to being a jury again.
We developed an application that basically allows design juries to rate projects based on some interesting criteria – intuition, human centeredness, simplicity/complexity, power of the idea and holism.
Through very simple and intuitive actions we can use the different exercises to generated a tangible number in the end. Measuring feelings…maybe not. But at least we can start a discussion.
Let me warn you that this is just a prototype. We had some 2 or 3 paper, iterate and built 2 or 3 physical/3d prototypes and ended up with this practical app (1st version) design in two short and busy days.
Some time has passed but we are willing to test this for real. Are you curious? Do you have some suggestions for new criteria? Would you use this for other types of evaluations? Do you think it’s ridiculous? Give us your hints and ideas!
Depois da minha última talk em Coimbra no PFC fui – de forma muito simpática – convidado pela Joana Baptista da Virtualnet para participar na segunda sessão do 10 prás 10 em Leiria.
“Procuramos pessoas que consigam inspirar”…suponho que isto tenha sido uma espécie de elogio (:
Estarei com todo o gosto a falar sobre “como podemos reflectir as experiências boas da infância na forma com vivemos e trabalhamos.” em Leiria, na Biblioteca José Saramago – ESTG – no próximo dia 31 de Maio às 10 pás 10 da manhã.
If possible, “watch” the video with your headphones on.
I wanted to try something different and so I went on vacations with a small handy camera. I didn’t take any pictures this time but I’ve shot close from 1000 short videos during those sixteen days. The camera I’ve used has a special feature. The sound. It has a digital built in microphone and this made me be more aware about sounds and sound of images.
I had no idea in mind for the composition or theme so I decided to gather as much information as I could. In the end and after some months I’ve decided to start looking at all the material I had and some patterns start emerging.
This is the 1st video of a series of 4 that are simply based on basic camera movements that point directions and ways to see things in different ways. POV exercises. The video shows no tricks or special editing. There’s no music composition. What you ear goes with what you see in those specific moments.
Prototyping a new packaging for Donko® from Toyno®.
I will be talking about this new project here in this blog in the following weeks!
Meanwhile: www.facebook.com/toynoproducts
Just remembered. I’m already explaining a little bit of the project here (only in portuguese for now):
We all have different backgrounds, most of us where raised in different social environments and ended up developing different activities in adult life. Another fact is that despite these differences we all went and where engaged in the same activities while we where kids.
In kindergarten we played, share a lot of experiences with the space and other kids around us, sleep during the afternoons to recover some power, engaged in activities with objects or everything around us and of course, made a lot of mistakes by taking chances.
As we grow old, our playfulness is gradually substituted by a lot of studying. We all want to be good students and spend a lot of time worrying about the future and normally focusing on one goal. Finishing university is always a promise for a good future.
In the end, almost everyone ends up focusing in one specific area of knowledge. We become isolated by digging our heads in some books or in different contrast monitors. We loose the idea of team spirit by ego demand and we are not able to differentiate ourselves from the ones next to us. No one’s is looking around. Everybody ends up doing the same thing.
I don’t want to focus on the societal or governmental facts of education but on the actual facts and changes perpetuated by the physiological changes in our brains. While we get old our prefrontal cortex develops and makes us more aware and focus while making decisions. The problem is that gaining more consciousness in our actions also makes us have more constrains while doing it. We become more afraid, blocked and limited by “judging” too much our own thoughts.
We end up suppressing creativity by thinking too much.
This means we loose the ability to think and act like children.
What I suggest is that by introducing little changes in the way we live our lives and even in the way we work, we can keep on being and acting like kids without compromising our “decision making” processes.
“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up”. This beautiful quote by Pablo Picasso sets the tone for some solutions or changes I would love to see implemented in more companies and that I’m already putting in practice today.
Play.
Playing gives us more energy and sends a signal to our brains that we are active. It increases our sense of freedom, brakes barriers by making us feel more connected to a group. Makes us feel we are physically part of something. Generates empathy by making us feel less ashamed.
Space.
Space plays an important role. It’s not by chance that Stanford DSchool just put out a book revealing the importance of a creative and friendly space and the way it impacts creativity. Space stimulates and potentiates interactions. Steve Jobs wanted to place the toilet in the middle of the company for people to bump on each other on their way.
Space can free your mind if it’s blue or it can make you go quicker if it’s red for example. Space is to be used with no restrictions. Go on the floor, walls, ceiling. Create your own space.
Learn by Doing.
When we are kids we learn by doing. While we still don’t rationalize we learn by tracing and mapping the interactions our body produces with the space around us. That’s how we learn. By doing and not by thinking. While using our hands we are creating physical memories that will be retained by our body and neuronal systems. Making our ideas tangible will have the same effect. We can detect and see and touch what we thought of doing by really doing it. And we can pretty soon detect mistakes we couldn’t even think about before having that tangible “product” in our hands.
Nap.
It’s not by chance that a lot of leaders and creative minds take power naps in the afternoon. Sleeping improves learning and working memory. It heightens our senses and creativity, it increases alertness and improves health. During our sleep is where our brains is silently making all the connections between the information we absorb at different times.
Ah Ah moments and more common during “nap” times!
Team.
While we are kids we love playing with other kids, without making to much judgment. Learning together and sharing ideas and building on ideas of others and “joining” others ideas was almost a sport while we where young. We can bring this spirit today by mixing different elements in a team. We don’t need to know the same stuff. We just need to find a common base to star a work or to put up a great multidisciplinary team.
Just bring on that kid’s spirit.
One last quote form Jonah Lehrer: “By thinking of ourselves as a child, we end up thinking in more child-like ways. The end result is that we regain the creativity lost with time.”
This text was the summary of the talk (How can we use our past to design a better future?) I gave with Inês Brito at the University of Zaragoza/Spain – March 2012
Confirma-se. O #PFC é das iniciativas e conferências mais inovadoras aqui pelas nossa bandas. Um conceito que foge e muito para fora do espaço fantástico do “Conservatório de Música de Coimbra”. Painéis interessantes e gente que sabe receber e resolver. Obrigado pelo convite e pela fantástica recepção. Melhor que tudo isto é trazer “gente nova” para Lisboa no bolso e no coração. Contactos e conversas que vão estar para ficar. Para o ano espero estar de volta a Coimbra.
Guta Moura Guedes, Ana Cunha, Rui Vieira, Diogo Teixeira e José Cabral foram alguns do nomes que no ano de estreia passaram pelo #PFC (Pensar Fora da Caixa) em Coimbra.
Não pude marcar presença no ano passado já não me lembro porquê mas fiquei com a pulga atrás da orelha. Este ano – no próximo fim de semana – vou como convidado e vou participar no painel: O Futuro do Analógico.
Partilharei o palco com a Telma Rodrigues da organização da #PFC, com o Florian Kaps (fundador e director de marketing da Impossible Project) – via Skype, Ludovic (Analog Nights) e a Rita Branco (Miolo). Ao que parece a organização da #PFC deixou-se fisgar pelo projecto “Fishing for ideas” e eu não disse que não. O tema interessa-me e muito. A Relação do digital com o analógico/físico é um tema recorrente nas minhas leituras e posts – por exemplo aqui e aqui.
A responsabilidade de ali estar é grande. A vontade é muita.
Outra das grandes surpresas é a presença do Sérgio Hydalgo – responsável pela programação musical da ZDB-Galeria Zé dos Bois – no painel “O Desafio da Programação e Curadoria”. O Sérgio é só um dos meus melhores amigos. Tocámos juntos em vários projectos musicais desde o final dos anos 90. Infelizmente – ou felizmente – deixámos as guitarras e microfones de lado. Eu dediquei-me à pesca e ele…continua ligado à música mas do lado de cá do palco.
Fica uma memória ridícula, não desses tempos, que o que por aí anda mete mesmo medo, mas uma “brincadeira” mais recente (2008) chamada PrincesseStephanie (a não perder – os vídeos no final deste post). Obrigado à organização da #PFC e até já Coimbra.
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Guta Moura Guedes, Ana Cunha, Rui Vieira, Diogo Teixeira and José Cabral where some of the names present in the debut of #PFC (Pensar Fora da Caixa) Conference in Coimbra. I couldn’t go last year but I was very curious about all the dynamics around this conference. This year – next saturday – I’ll be there as a speaker. The them for my panel is The Future of the Analog.
I will share the stage with Telma Rodrigues from #PFC, with Florian Kaps (founder and marketing director of Impossible Project) – via Skype, Ludovic (Analog Nights) and Rita Branco (Miolo). It seems that the organizers of #PFC fall in love by the “fishing for ideas”project and I couldn’t say no. I like the theme a lot and I’ve been writing about the relation between the digital/physical for some time now.Here and here for example. Big responsibility but a lot of motivation to join everyone for the weekend.
Another great surprise is the presence this year of Sérgio Hydalgo – Responsible for the music section at ZDB-Galeria Zé dos Bois – in the panel “The Challenge of Planning and Curatorship”. Sérgio is one of my best friends. We’ve played together in several musical projects from the end of the 90′s. Fortunately – or unfortunately – we left the microphones and guitars aside. I dedicated myself to the “fishing” business and Sérgio continues connected to the music scene but in a different side of the stage.
Check this ridiculous memory from a more recent past (2008). Thanks #PFC and see you soon Coimbra.
People ask me if it’s possible to measure the impact of the video? Well, I still don’t know if they’ve sold more t-shirts and mugs but the fact is that after 6 weeks they have more 4500 followers on Facebook. Spontaneous followers (around 3000 of them in the 3 weeks following the launch of the video). I’ve heard stories of people who showed the video in inspirational group meetings, friends who got to know this via online news (Vogue, Clix, Publico, Destak…). Friends who got to know this via friends of friends. Hundreds of anonymous people who wrote that they where identifying themselves with the images and the amazing song from Márcia. In some newspapers I was promoted form “designer” to “director” and from Rui Quinta to “Rui Quintas” – plural now! Thousands of shares online and in the end almost 100.000 views which for the portuguese reality it’s a big and valuable number. At a personal level it was also interesting. From this exposure I was also contacted for potential new assignments. I will give some more time into making “moving images” in the future. All of this was not bad. Not bad at all.
Great to see that after 5 years, Helpo still knows what to do and how to use the identity we created at that time. I’m very proud of what I’m seeing in this picture that was taken a few days ago. More important than that they are achieving the goals they had set also at that time for the children of Mozambique. Congratulations for the great work. Want to helpo?
About a year ago Zé asked for my help. “I have an idea. I want to present a campaign to the city of Lisbon”. I (almost) never question him when he comes with these “semi” crazy ideas. I try to help whenever I have time. One year after, Zé is probably the 1st blogger in the world to sign a campaign for a city. Congratulations again Zé. All of this because you have the courage to continue doing what you love. Thanks for the opportunity of letting me be the designer of your campaign. The campaign you’ve wrote, photographed and deserved.
How I took this month to dedicate myself to a new and very important project. The name of this project could be “Giving a hand on the family business”. I invited my friend Tiago Nunes to work 3 days full time on this with me and the motivation to do this couldn’t be greater. My family works in the “fish” industry for more than 100 years and my father is working in this business for more than 30 years now. He run’s the oldest company in the market – 26 years. As everybody knows we live in difficult times and everything changed for the worst in the last years “economically” speaking. Besides that, the POS for the company changed brutally from the center of the city of Lisbon to about 40Km to the outside which means that all the transactions in this chain where inverted. People in the markets and fishing shops stopped going there to buy to the wholesalers and the wholesalers (almost all of them) stated working as distributors bringing the fish directly to these people. All of these changes are having a negative impact in the company and only a change in the processes and way of making business will change everything for the best. What we are trying to do is to develop an innovation process that will lead us to new ideas, new approaches. In the end we want to implement a sense of balance in the company and to make it more profitable and sustainable for the coming years. For me personally it’s a huge challenge to do this having all my family involved but the 1st days showed us that is possible to do great things (trust us).
These are just some insights on what this project is. There’s so much to discover along the way. We wanted to make this project public (with some limitations of course) and so we built a website with daily updates on the process.
We want people to navigate with us and to join us for this adventure. Feel free to share ideas, insights, things you’ll think will help us innovate.
This was our presentation at the University of Zaragoza for the Independent Design Week last monday. We talked about the importance of bringing the playfulness of a child to the development of the work we do “today”. We didn’t focus so much on the social/educational aspects and constrains imposed by our society but on the intrinsic physiological constrains produced by our own brains while we grow up. Can we be more innovative by integrating playful actions, playful spaces, group discussions and a nap in the middle of the day? We think so! And we didn’t take a nap in the middle of the talk but we were able to bring people on the stage to play and redefine the stage with us.
This video was showed at the Service Design Drinks – Lisbon. It was the result of the service we created in the last Global Service Jam.
The Global Service Jam is an amazing event.
Hundreds of participants worldwide have 48hr to design a service based on a surprise theme that is only revealed when the challenge begins. Join a team of multidisciplinary people you never met before. Get ready to sleep only a few hours. Be prepared to eat really quick (the food was actually really good). Open your mind to different opinions. Learn as much as you can from the “coaches” (in this case “cooperativa criativa“) and the external mentors. Get in contact with a lot of creative and fun techniques that will help unblock your way until you reach the final prototype. It’s interesting in the end to see the great variety of projects and to recognize that some of them have a real potential to be implemented. Great, great event that I will for sure repeat in the future.
For my first experience I was lucky enough to be in an excellent group with Vanda (the jewel), Ricardo (the IT guy), Gabi (the clusterizer) and Rita (the manager).
We created the “digories” service. A service where anyone can store digitally and physically their most important objects. Specially those meaningful objects that are passing from generation through generation. For those who want to know more about the project please watch the video and check the description on vimeo!
For more information or if you want to participate in the next GlobalServiceJam Lisbon jut follow the link!
It’s good to announce that I will be speaking at the INDEPENDENT DESIGN WEEK in Zaragoza (IDW Zgz) together with Inês next March 12th. We will talk on “How can future innovations can be so influenced by our own past and the importance of a society that values connectivity over isolation and creativity over guessed formulation”.
Thanks Gabriel for your invitation. Looking forward to meet your city.
In september 2011 I was invited by Lisbonlovers to produce a video for their brand. We brainstormed around the “feelings for the city” and in the end we came up with the concept of making a video as a postcard where basically you could pass to someone what you like the most about the beautiful city of Lisbon.
After this it was just fun. Helmets, vespa, going out with a camera, black board and some chalk a sardine and a lot of guts to approach all of those amazing people who contributed for the video.
Some weeks tuning everything, refining, finding the perfect rhythm for the video narrative, iterating again, trying to convince Márcia and EMI that her song was the perfect fit and just let things take their natural course.
In the end we just let love do the job. More than 10.000 views on Vimeo. Hundreds of people sharing and talking about it. 700 new fans on their Facebook page and counting…and all of this in just 4 days. I’m amazed. Thanks everyone for sharing this love.
In the last year I’ve been jumping between Lisbon and Berlin. I went to Hamburg and Munich. Prague. Thailand, Cambodia and Lao for vacations.
I’m kind of a quiet quiet guy who likes to have is own space to relax and reflect but after 8 months in Berlin – if I consider it as my base camp for this last period - I find myself sitting in the living room of my 3rd apartment here. What impact does this has in me? I’ve been thinking about this. Everything in Berlin moves really fast. Even the city itself moves fast. One year is cool to live in “Kreuzberg”, the next year will be cool to live in “Prenzlauer Berg” and I can predict that in two years maybe “Wedding” or “Schöneberg” will be on the run for the coolest place to live here. I’m not betting on “Neukölln” because that’s this years new trend and this means it’s already out of fashion. Being trendy in not trendy anymore.
Pedro just turned thirty three and he is a really nice person. He is not only a nice guy because he brought a great bottle of wine for the dinner at my place but also because If you could take empathy and give it a shape, Pedro would fit the description. A gentleman with hearth and sense of humor. A man who’s never alone because he likes to surround himself by friends and listen to a good story. If some people say that happiness is contagious. Believe me. He can contaminate you with his smile. Pedro is a faithful worker. He’s working in the same company for six years now and he is fine with that. He talks about the culture of the company and how that culture suites his needs and he never uses the word “change”. He is not unhappy with what he has. He is now in Berlin because his company was able to recognize that the importance of being in contact with a different culture, engaging with other people and methods has an impact at a personal level and influences positively the vision on the all structure.
Pedro is going back to Lisbon in a few weeks and he’s ready to go back to his normal environment where he still feels that he can change things around him for the “good”.
Back to my living room, sitting at my huge desk procrastinating and still absorbed by the latest Lana del Rey song. “- Lana del Rey? That’s so 2011.” This last sentence synthesises what someone said after watching me drooling while still looking at the computer. I was simply paralyzed by that sentence and since then I have been giving a lot of thoughts on this. Lana del Rey – maybe a product of the “old” industry – still haven’t put up an album out there and was already outdated. Why is this happening? Is this because our ego’s are more demanding than ever? We are reaching a peek where probably more than ever we don’t want to follow. We are expecting to discover the next big thing so that people end up following us. The question is that you need to keep up the pace and that means, giving a lot of time trying to find new stuff and slowly forgetting about the real good stuff. Everything is changing so fast that you don’t stick to anything anymore. We all wanna be “trend entrepreneurs”. Find something, put it out there, move to the next.
Why do we change so much? Every week I get an email from a friend who’s thinking about coming to Berlin. Every week I get to know someone from a different country and to be honest I don’t know how many creative people I have met in these 8 months, I’ve lost count on how many articles I’ve read about new “startups” and the fact that Berlin is becoming the new “Silicon Valley”, I’ve lost count on how many of those companies I saw packed in the same buildings but all of this isn’t necessarily bad. We know we can find creativity in the major cities and establishing theses connections with so many different people makes us more creative, agile and smart. Still I sometimes feel that some of these young entrepreneurs and “junior” companies are here for the gold and not for the passion of creation (not all of them of course). Some of these guys easily move from one seat to another because they quickly forget their vision others simply because they feel abused or fooled. Even the definition of “startup” is by itself an indicator of what you’re trying to design. Some years ago people would set up a company to be part of a system. To feed and to get food. Today it feels that most of the “startup” scene is feeding up itself with fast food. The “Get fat as quick as you can” approach has consequences. Fat people live less. Fast companies…I’m afraid that we can be entering the era of the “pop economics”.
I’ve also met in the last months some really great people in Berlin (special reference to my friends from “What Would Harry Do?” and to all the people involved in the Stanford d.school workshop on “Entrepreneurial Spirit” with George Kembel) and Lisbon (amazing what Beta-i has done in such a short time) that are honestly trying to help some of these companies in being more sustainable at a long term and gaining more awareness on the principles behind their “designs”.
Sometimes we forget but we should give more value the ones who can stick to something for a longer period. Who are able to go through all the ups and downs of the first years. I get surprised when someone tells me he is working in the same company for 5 years years but in the end…shouldn’t we give credit to that? Weren’t these people capable of creating their own place at a small or big company or even creating their own project? Aren’t most of the successful examples about compromise and perseverance? Shouldn’t we all take the time to put our hands on things, to make our businesses grow more sustainable, to not loose track on our vision and to build a playground where we can design our own future?
I feel that one of the reasons that makes us want to change so much is when we feel we don’t have the power to change things anymore. And we should not loose anytime the feeling that we can still influence things around us.
There’s not so many genuine idols in the creative industries anymore. Yesterday’s idols created something we could grab with our hearts, today’s “new type” of idols create something that we can grab with our hands and egos.
If we think about it, and to see how things changed quickly in the last years, no one knows who the hell invented the MSN Messenger (in 1995) but everyone knows who invented Facebook, Craigslist or Google.
We are just changing all the time because we are not capable of maintaining our focus on what really matters…to us.
Decades ago the idols created art and today they create ways to pack things. Decades ago the music felt unpredictable and inspiring. Today the one’s who risk to do it are out of fashion by their second album because is not fun anymore. The one’s who still get it, live in the world of “copy paste” where everything is created do satisfy and not to surprise. I like Lana because in the industry someone understood that there was an intersection market between the perishable and the delightful. In the future my dear friend Pedro might still be working in the same company while we won’t be listening to Lana del Rey anymore – Unfortunately.
The end.
The 7 months in HPI School of Design Thinking are over. 3 main projects, 3 great teams. A lot of fun and hard work. A lot of struggle. A lot of stupid ideas. A lot of thinking. A lot of good ideas. A lot of friends. Connections for the future. A lot of bad days. Great days. Speedy presentations. Responsibility. Learning. Understanding. A lot of team work. A lot of awareness on your own process. A bunch of post-its and colorful pens. A knowledge sharing platform for kids in 3 weeks. 6 weeks developing a motivational campaign to bring adolescents to a boring exhibition and a 12 week project on the topic of design thinking that ended up in style with a website prototype, a working app for the iPad that measures empathy (-Is that even possible? Oh Yes!) and a big show with UFO’s flying around (we still want a magician to make us disappear in the end!).
I know it sounds a bit crazy but in the end everyone realizes that what comes out of it is gaining some more expertise on how to deal with problems and how to overcome them, how to deal with the different team dynamics along the way, how to manage potential clients and how to show them that it is possible to achieve success “via” applying different and sometimes more “abstract” methods.
In the end what we want and most of the times what we have is implementable ideas that will actually help the project partners being more innovative and profitable in the future. That’s is our hope.
And now…what’s coming next for me? I still don’t know but I’m ready. Big challenges? Bring them on.
Closing a Website, an App, a huge presentation and some big surprises for the final day.
I’m almost done with the Design Thinking course. What a race…
By the way, I love these guys.
Hi Louise,
I found this email somewhere on the web but I don’t know if this “Louise” is the one who wrote the book “Beyond the Brain“…well, I suppose it is so here I go…
I’m a brand designer who likes to read random books about different topics and I have to confess that I have this “thing” about the brain…maybe it’s because Damásio is Portuguese like me, Jonah Lehrer is entertaining and I really love his writings or Daniel Pink was able to fool me for some time (Daniel, no worries, I like your books)!
I was just amazed by what I’ve read from you. Sometimes it feels like everyone is wrong for such a long time and maybe that’s because of some individual obsession to go on with a strong belief (for example Darwin is right but what if he’s wrong?). You suggest that you believe and I find that so simple, amazing and convincing. It gives me more space to think that you can be right about this and it’s a “body-blowing” (: sensation (by the way, I was not looking at my keyboard when I wrote some of these words, and I also have to think the numbers with my fingers before I dial a number on the cell phone).
Thank you very much for inspiring me.
Hope to talk to you one day.
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Dear Rui
Please excuse the brevity of this message, but it’s right in the middle of exams, and I’m up to my ears in marking at the moment, but I did want to respond and say thanks very much indeed for your very kind words, and I’m so pleased you liked the book. I must say the nicest thing so far about writing it has been getting in touch with such a variety of people, from different fields, who have found something interesting in it.
So, as I say, sorry this is a bit brief, but thank you very much for taking the time and trouble to write.
(June, 16th – 2011) There are several reasons which lead me to write this post. 1. I’m not sleepy. 2. I’ve wanted to write about the role of design. 3. Erik Spiekermann will give a small talk to the HPI School of Design Thinking in two weeks and I remembered that I opened a lesson that I gave at IADE (Institute for the Arts and Design) in March this year with a picture from him and a quote.
In 2010 I wrote here that in 2000 I felt embarrassed when I’ve been asked about what design magazines I knew at that point. As the “pain” was so great at the time, I thought about using the same tactics with students from 2nd year in Communication Design from IADE to provoke them. I’ve opened the first slide with just a name. This name was “Erik Spiekermann”. I asked if anyone recognized him from the audience and the answer was… silence.
As I no longer show my portfolio, I do not like to repeat presentations and two days before I’ve had almost nothing prepared, I’ve decided to “use” that class as a “testing scenario” for some future presentations. Basically, I was able to get a group of students to contribute with “insights”, ideas, opinions and words to a talk I’ve been preparing for months for an upcoming Ignite Portugal.
Here we go.
The brain – right and left hemisphere – thinks. Daniel H. Pink put into “clear language” what neuroscientists found out in recent years. Phrenology has been left behind and the idea that our brain is an integrated and interchangable system is accepted by all. Even so, for those with a more visual mind – more to the right – the idea of seeing a 3D brain with highlighted areas as activated by stimuli is not so different to see a skull scratched in pencil.
Sorry scholars, but logic is the same, only the current one is based on scientific facts and not assumptions “romanticized” in the early nineteenth century. Recent articles refer the activation of areas on the right side of the brain when we are driven by something emotional and areas on the left side when we are tempted to rationalize. Despite these observations, I believe that non-overlapping one hemisphere over the other is essential for finding balance in a decision-making process and by doing so, we are favoring creativity.
Today’s design is not only the graphics design or product designers, it’s the design of entrepreneurial leaders who design processes, CEOs who design the future of an innovative company, of kids who design software, and these, we are tempted to ” think “, – curious – think more with the left hemisphere. Uhm … is it really? My left side doesn’t let me say yes.”
There’s no lack of ideas for my next talk on Ignite Portugal. A year ago I started writing some texts that sometimes I called “design chakras”, other times “pairing design”, other “Anatomy of a designer” and others “good design come in pairs”. Basically these texts speak about the relationship that our body (in pairs) might have with the way we relate to the design and how “we design”. The “essay” about the brain has already been registered (the one you just wrote) and the other texts are under construction (sometimes things get stuffed on the shelf longer than expected).
After Spiekermann (appetizer), the main course.
For each “pair” – starting with the brain (and here it’s supposed that we see the slideshare) – a question and subsequent response from the students. What’s the brain for?
Think, process, rationalize, decide, create, develop, structure, criticize. (… and I thought it was for garnish) and eyes?
Observe, analyze, transmit information, eating, collect feelings, analyze, decode, move images to the brain. (… But aren’t the eyes just to see?) … Ears?
Listen, hear, capturing information, intrude, orient, balance. (… oh, and to put those white headphones that everyone uses. Nipples? (this one was dangerous)
Excite, breastfeeding, bristle, seduce. (… ya … passion and such) Hands?
Feel, touch, learn, work, express, speak, appreciate, cherish, projecting, defend. (but isn’t the hand only to play with the mouse?) Balls? (… read with a squeaky voice ‘cause it will hurt)
Breed, the fruit of life, courage, to seed, testosterone, fun, fragility, creativity. Legs?
Support, move forward, move, strength. (… and to use IADE – we had 7 floors to the top – stairs when the elevator failed) Feet?
Root, kicking, stumble, tap, dance. (… and walk as well, let me at least get the credit for this).
The answers get to be creepy (in a good way) coming from a 2nd year class… and the most curious feeling is to sense that their intuition tells them almost everything they need to know until the end of their careers and that for them to to get to these conclusions it does not take 40 years of experience and 5000 books. If the “talk” comes to happen one day, the authorship will be fairly shared with my “peers” (forgive me but I had to make this quibble). Thank you.
Basically, the message I want to convey is that sometimes we, professional and trained designers, forget that there is life beyond the eyes and worse than that, we forget that there is life beyond us. I think we should all make an effort to drop, soon enough, our “Gegos” (giant egos ®) that undermine our profession’s future and make us – designers - to continue to occupy the chairs facing the wall…
Customers are mean because we don’t want to know about them, work is bad and we blame the boss, the briefing is a piece of shit and we blame the creative director. Design cannot be about complaining, design is about asking questions and listen, collect data, change the point of view, is to get hands-on, is to do the job in two different ways to see which one is the best one, is being able to draw what and who you want to become and how you want to do it. I believe that leaving our eyes for in and outside our bodies we are able to understand much more clearly our role as designers and then take a key step to understand what design is at its most complex form.
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São vários os motivos que me levam a escrever este post.
1. Estou sem sono.
2. Ando com vontade de escrever sobre o papel do design.
3. O Erik Spiekermann, vai dar uma small talk à HPI School of Design Thinking daqui a duas semanas e lembrei-me que abri uma pequena aula que dei no IADE em Março deste ano, com uma imagem e uma citação dele.
Em 2010 escrevi aqui que, em 2000 me tinha sentido envergonhado quando me tinham perguntado quais as revistas de design que conhecia. Como a dor foi tanta na altura, pensei utilizar a mesma táctica com alunos do 2º ano de Design de Comunicação do IADE. Abri o primeiro slide apenas com um nome. Esse nome era “Erik Spiekermann”. Perguntei se alguém o reconhecia e…silêncio da plateia. 1-0.
Como deixei de mostrar portfolio, de repetir apresentações e dois dias antes não tinha quase nada preparado para levar, decidi “usar” aquela turma como cobaia. Basicamente consegui meter um grupo de alunos a contribuir com “insights”, ideias, opiniões e palavras para uma talk que andava a preparar há meses para um dos próximos Ignite Portugal.
O cérebro – Hemisfério Direito e Esquerdo – pensa. O Daniel H. Pink pôs em linguagem terrena o que os neurocientistas desbravaram nos últimos anos. A frenologia ficou para trás e a ideia de que o nosso cérebro é um sistema integrado e comutável é aceite por todos. Ainda assim, e para quem tem uma mente mais visual – uma mais à direita – a ideia de ver o cérebro 3D iluminado por zonas activadas por estímulos não é tão diferente de ver um crânio riscado a lápis. Desculpem-me os estudiosos mas a lógica é a mesma, só que a actual é baseada em factos científicos e não em suposições romantizadas do início do Século XIX.
Artigos recentes sublinham a activação de zonas do lado direito do cérebro quando somos estimulados por algo emocional e zonas do lado esquerdo quando somos tentados a racionalizar. Apesar destas observações, acredito que a não sobreposição de um dos hemisférios sobre o outro é fundamental para um equilíbrio na tomada de decisão e no desenvolvimento do processo criativo. A criatividade assenta na distribuição das massas e não no contrapeso. O design de hoje não é só o design dos gráficos ou designers de produto, é o design dos líderes empreendedores que desenham processos, dos CEO’s que desenham o futuro de uma empresa inovadora, dos putos que desenham software, e esses, somos tentados a “pensar”, – curioso – pensam mais com o hemisfério esquerdo. Uhm…será mesmo? O meu lado esquerdo não me deixa dizer que sim”.
Ideias para levar ao Ignite Portugal não me faltam. Há um ano atrás comecei a escrever uns textos a que, às vezes, chamei “design chakras”, outras vezes “pairing design”, outras “anatomia de um designer” e outras ainda “good design come in pairs”. Basicamente estes textos falavam da relação que o nosso corpo (aos pares) pode ter com a forma como nos relacionamos com o design e com a forma como “fazemos design”. O “ensaio” sobre o cérebro já aqui ficou registado e os outros textos estão em construção (às vezes as merdas ficam mais tempo na gaveta do que o esperado).
Depois do Spiekermann (appetizer), o prato principal.
Por cada “par”, - a começar pelo cérebro (e aqui é bom que se veja o slideshare) – uma pergunta e consequente resposta dos alunos. Para que serve o cérebro?
Pensar, processar, racionalizar, decidir, criar, evoluir, estruturar, criticar. (…e eu que pensava que era para enfeitar) e os olhos?
Observar, analisar, transmitir informação, comer, recolher sentimentos, analisar, descodificar, passar imagens para o cérebro. (…mas os olhos não servem só para ver?) …ouvidos?
Ouvir, escutar, captar informação, cuscar, orientar, equilibrar. (…ah, e para enfiar aqueles phonezinhos brancos que TODA A GENTE usa) Mamilos? (esta era perigosa)
Excitar, amamentar, arrepiar, seduzir. (…ya…paixão e tal) Mãos?
Sentir, apalpar, conhecer, trabalhar, expressar, falar, apreciar, acariciar, projectar, defender. (então mas a mão não é só para brincar com o rato?) Balls? (…ler com voz mais fina que isto vai doer)
Procriar, fruto da vida, coragem, semear, testosterona, divertimento, fragilidade, criatividade. Pernas?
Sustentação, andar para a frente, mover, força. (…e para subir as escadas do IADE quando o elevador avariava) Pés?
Raiz, pontear, tropeçar, sapatear, bailar. (…e caminhar também, vá deixem-me ficar ao menos com os louros desta).
As respostas chegam a ser arrepiantes (num muito bom sentido) vindas de uma turma do 2º ano…e o mais curioso é sentir que a intuição lhes diz quase tudo e que para tirar estas conclusões, não são precisos 40 anos e 5000 livros.
Se a “talk” chegar algum dia a acontecer, a autoria será justamente partilhada com os meus “pares” (perdoem-me mas tinhas de fazer este trocadilho). Obrigado.
No fundo a mensagem que quero passar é que por vezes, nós, designers de formação e profissão esquecemo-nos que há vida para além dos olhos e pior que isso, esquecemo-nos que há vida para além de nós. Acredito que todos devemos fazer um esforço para deixar cair, ainda cedo, os “Gegos” (giant egos ®) que minam o futuro das nossas profissões e que fazem com que continuemos a ocupar as cadeiras com vista para…a parede. Os clientes são maus porque não queremos saber deles, o trabalho é mau e a culpa é do patrão, o briefing é uma merda e a culpa é do director criativo. Design não pode ser queixume, design é fazer perguntas, é ouvir, é recolher dados, é mudar o ponto de vista, é pôr as mão na massa, é fazer de duas maneiras para ver qual é que dá, é saber desenhar o que quer ser, o que se quer fazer e como se quer fazer. Acredito que ao sairmos dos nossos olhos para o nosso corpo e para fora dele conseguimos entender de uma forma muito mais clara o nosso papel enquanto designers e aí dar um passo fundamental para entender o que é o design na sua forma mais complexa.
