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When you know the future, you live in the past.

by Ko Nakatsu

I’m trying to build a time machine to get back to the present, but I’m all out of fluxcapacitor. It’s a boring place to be, to know the future, but the anticipation of surprise, is what kept ninjas alive.

Here’s some tips on forecasting the future:

Few things that will try to derail and cloud your ability to effectively forecast the future:
1) The media generated hype (“the sky is falling!” type of articles)
2) Experts’ grandiose statements (“internet is dead!” type of statements)
3) Your own ego (just because you want it to happen, doesn’t mean it will)

A few rules to keep in mind:
1) Everything you forecast WILL happen. It’s a matter of when.
2) You can forecast the future of a culture and society, but not the future of an individual.
3) Things don’t disappear, they get replaced, by what, you decide.

Things to practice:
1) System thinking – relationships between the collision of concepts
2) Contextual thinking – relationship of potential scenarios
3) Evolutionary thinking – relationship between foundational beliefs and progressive change

Forecasting the future takes practice and an extensive understanding of everything relevant. The more you can quickly identify relevant topics in society, the better you’ll become at forecasting the future. There are tips and tricks to forecast the future, and I’ll be conducting a workshop at the Swiss Design Network Conference in Basel at the end of October, so come check it out.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010
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Curse of the Designer

by Ko Nakatsu

Design was making me depressed. I brought it up to Steve that the more I learned about how to see the world through the lens of the designer, the more energy was getting sucked out of me. Everything around me needed to be fixed, everything around me could be better, everything undesigned needed our help, and there was too much of it. This feeling, he called, was the “curse of the designer”.

We learned to ask the right questions and identify the problems of the world. Not only that, we were taught how to create the solutions. All of these problems in the world could be solved, given the right resources and energy. But without the lens of the designer, I would not know this. I would accept the world as given to me, with out care, a c’est-la-vie-attitude. Believing it’s fine the way it is, this is how it will always be, and that ignorance was bliss. The volume of problems is daunting and to know the solution overwhelmed by the inability to fix it, causes anxiety and frustration. This feeling of helplessness from the seemingly insurmountable problems is the curse. Or so I felt.

Steve pointed out that it’s not a bad place to be. Designers take joy in stepping into a vehicle and tearing apart the details and analyzing how things could be better. We take pride in the ability to empathize with users and poke holes in software interactions. We outwardly express out dissatisfaction with the world, that does not meet our high standards. It’s the first step in the role of a designer , to critique the culture, identify places in the built environment that should be changed and propose a solution. The “curse of the designer” is the sacrifice we make to see the world like no one else. We know what’s broken and why it’s broken, but not only that we know how to fix it, how to make it better. There lies the optimism. Designers are the leaders of progress and it’s our duty to embrace the curse and make the world a little bit better.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010
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How to Hasten Skill Development: Learn the Eraser

by Ko Nakatsu

My self-portrait looked like a hybrid of a comatose Native American and an Italian grandmother. I’m neither of those. I was a twenty-one year old Asian male. We had to pin-up our self-portrait on the wall for the entire class to critique. This was the very first assignment in freshman-drawing and I suppose the instructors didn’t want to intimidate us with anything too difficult. Everyone else in class had done hundreds of drawings of themselves in highschool-art, and you could tell. I transferred from the biology department from Mellon College of Science. In my biology classes like the “Sex-Determination Mechanism of Caenorhabditis Elegans” you just don’t need to know how to draw your face. This not-too-difficult assignment was a nightmare. Out of the 55 students, mine was the worst. Worst as in 54 of them were identifiable and so by default this last one must be mine.

Few months later, I walked by a street vendors that’ll draw a very good portrait of you. Not the characture of you but the ones that actually looks like you. They’re usually asian for some reason. He was drawing a little girl seated, who was not particularly patient and probably forced there by their parents that can’t get enough of her cuteness. You could see the drawer over his shoulder… this was the perfect opportunity to learn the self-portrait skills that had crushed my ego! My plan was to gain insights into drawing a proper life-like self-portrait from THIS guy. So I watched him perform. His initial charcoal facial outlines didn’t look like the girl at all. But he erased parts of it, looked at her, drew some more, erased some more, and drew again. The process repeated. Eventually the charcoal drawing came to life and there it was 30 minutes and $15 later the little girl had been transferred onto a piece of paper. What struck me then was that the Eraser was just as important as the pencil.

They teach you to use a #2 pencil from the Kindergarten, but they don’t teach you how to use the pink nub that lies at the other end. The eraser used by the street-drawer symbolized something much greater than removal of charcoal. The use of that eraser gave me a peak into his mind. To use the eraser properly, it required the ability to Self-Critique. When you’re learning hard skills its important to be able to ask yourself “What’s wrong with this?” objectively look at your work, have an answer to fix it, and adjust as necessary. As a beginner drawer I didn’t know the answer. I can see my face on the page and know it was wrong but I didn’t know how to fix it. I thought it was all about drawing quantity, that if I drew twice as much as everyone else, I would be equal to them by the time I graduated. What quickly propelled me forward and made me just as good as everyone else, was learning how to user an “eraser”.

Ever since then, any new creative skill I try to learn, singing, playing guitar, fashion illustration, learning a new language or anything else, the faster I was able to identify how to use an “eraser” where I can objectively look at my own work and evolve as necessary, the faster my work became better. You don’t need to wait for an instructor or an expert to come around to give you feedback, you can give it to yourself, increasing the evolution speed and iteration until the rise of the perfect design. Everyone is taught how to use a pencil, but not everyone is taught how to use an eraser. The Eraser is the key to rapid skill evolvement.

Monday, September 20, 2010
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Drag Kings and Waffle Houses: The Design Preset

by Ko Nakatsu

The Nashville air was filled with country music and the extremely segregated feel of the city made me uncomfortable. Cowboy hats were adorned by the patrons of the Coyote Ugly saloon and line-dancing is still more popular than ass-grinding, both which I’m clueless how to do. The gem that I stumbled upon was the Hatch Show Print, a printer from the 1870’s specializing in woodblock printing. The beauty of it was that the old machines since that time were still in use to make the posters. They showed me around in the back area to look at the wall to ceiling woodblocks that they use.

It was my first time in the city and I met a couple of artists at Hatch Show that were nice enough to take me around town that night. They picked me up in a beetle buggie with an exposed smokey engine in the back. Inside were a couple of their punk friends who looked more Portland than Nashville. We spent too long at the sushi restaurant where we got free ice cream because they said it was my birthday and we missed the plan to go see a Drag King show at a mall. They knew about a Drag Queen show at some lesbian bar and so we headed there.

The drive was a little long and the cityscape started to disappear and only the forest was on either side of the highway. The fear part of my brain asked “what the hell are you doing? This might not be safe.” By the time I politely told that part of the brain to “fuck off. This is awesome.” we got off a random exit where the only building other than the bar was a Waffle House. We go in and it’s a crowded night. My first pint of beer came in a glass shaped like a pair of legs and a butt. The place was filled with the Nashville lesbian scene, large, flanneled, and built like a lumberjack. The five of us sat down at lounge area and told stories from our pasts and watched the drag queens and a drag king perform their hearts out. The entire night ended with some dancing, where we owned the dance floor til the lights came on, and a walk to Waffle House for some late night snacks. My unplanned hosts that took me under their wing drove me back to my hotel and we bid farewell, and like many people we come across in our lives, we never saw each other again.

I really shouldn’t be driving around an unknown city with complete strangers. That’s what they say. I don’t recommend hanging out with strangers to kids, ofcourse, but as adults we do have an opportunity to experience new stories if we allow ourselves. Being in an open state-of-mind as soon as we step out of the house, allows us to accept those serendipitous opportunities for mini-adventures. These experiences are shared over a pint of beer for the following years and that is the proof of a great experience. As designers we work hard about how to design the experience itself. What needs to happen though, before any designed experience is exposed to a user, is prepping the state of mind. I had to be open to riding around with strangers, I had to be open to a lesbian bar in the middle of nowhere, I had to want to go to a Waffle House at 3AM. Serendipity showed me the potential for the experience but as a participant, I had to be in the right state of mind. We should prep the users before a design is presented. The design preset may be the most important signifier of a design’s success.

Sunday, September 19, 2010
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Never Stop Dancing Until the Day You Die.

by Ko Nakatsu

Steve Wilcox of Design Science didn’t even talk about design. As a speaker at the 2004 Mideast Conference he talked about his travels through his Africa with his wife. I remember two things about the village he stayed in. 1) Everyone carried shotguns, that part was scary, but when there’s music 2) Everybody dances. Whether you’re a kid, super old, farmer, or tall white dude from America that owns a design firm, if you can dance, you dance. If there’s music, everybody dances.

Right around that time, I saw one of my favorite hardcore bands Planes Mistaken for Stars rock-it-out in some basement. The lyrics were pretty indistinguishable since the monotone-throaty-mumbling-screams gets lost through the mic, except when he points to the sky, and yells “This is your last dance. Fuck standing still.” Those words, resonated with me until it burrowed deep into my soul. So much so that I bought a t-shirt.

Dancing is like poetry for your body. You don’t NEED to do it, but you should. It’s fun, communal, and a good exercise. Regardless of your income, your place in life, you dance. Dancing is universal. Dancing is designed. Dancing is a necessity. Everybody dances and this is your last dance, so fuck standing still. Never stop dancing until the day you die. Never stop designing. Never stand still.

Friday, September 17, 2010
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Beware of Your Workforce Enemies

by Ko Nakatsu

The people that makes for a bad team member has nothing to do with their skill but has everything to do with their inner humanbeing. If they’re a bad person to begin with, you betcha they’re gonna be a terrible person to work with especially in a creative environment. The characters all have some fundamental flaw that makes them a terrible humanbeing. I included some tips on how to deal with them.

Enemy #1: Hot Air Blowers (HABs)
They talk and articulate pretty well in the business world. They enunciate their words and use appropriate hand movements when telling a story. They’re great as presenters. The problem in a creative environment is that it’s all about the output. No amount of talk is going to create a great design. When HABs head a group the projects usually fall to shit, as they will only give you abstract directions of fluff. HABs often come with an MBA stapled to their ass or a made-up masters like “Master of Design Methods”. They actually believe that their fancy schooling justifies their pay and position. The arrogant talk hurts your eyes becaues they’re so tired from rolling back all the time.
Solution: Don’t listen to a damn word they’re saying. Don’t let their bullshit taint your brain. Practice sifting through their BS for any useful information.

Enemy #2: Promise Breakers
I worked my ass off for the promotion and title upgrade. Running projects and doing part of her job. I made her look damn good. That manager didn’t fight for my promotion when the time came and broke that promise. She was preparing to leave the company and went into “not my problem” mode. Later I heard she had some disease that lacks empathy for other humans. Some people in management just don’t really care about your career.
Solution: Follow up, follow up, follow up. Make sure that people who make you a promise stick to their promise. In this case I should’ve taken my own career by the balls. I should’ve brought this up to people three levels above me. I should’ve done this sooner than later, I waited til my yearly review. If they value your work they’ll give it to you.

Enemy #3: Passionless Drainers
I have no idea how passionless people get into positions of leadership. They just don’t care, no heart in their soul. They command a team but work for the paycheck. This is absolutely demoralizing to the rest of the team.
Solution: Try to infuse energy from the ground up. If you don’t have the passion, who will? If they remain passionless and lead a soulless life, that’s their problem. Fight to keep yours.

Enemy #4: Idea Stealers
I worked with a guy who would repeat someone else’s idea in a brainstorm a few minutes later, but reworded differently and claiming it as their own. I talked to my dad who was in the corporate space for awhile and he called them “Idea Stealers”. They do extremely well in a corporate environment because Idea Stealers are smart enough to recognize good ideas and will run to the right people to tell them the stolen ideas. Many of them do make it up to the leadership level where they plateau and just stop doing anything turning into Passionless Drainers.
Solution: Don’t give any ideas around these people. Try to work in an environment where you are comfortable sharing ideas. Learn from their mistake and give credit where credit is due.

Enemy #5: Ender Uppers
Some people in management ended up there because top management kept leaving. They never climbed the corporate ladder, they just waited until everyone fell off the rungs above them. They don’t have the technical skills to do the job, are not creative, can’t recognize talent, and have no leadership skills. They literally just showed up everyday and ended up in a position of power.
Solution: Don’t look up to them. Just remember that some people rise to power because they just waited in line, just like a Disneyland ride. It doesn’t mean they deserve your respect or their answers are right.

I have a few more people that I find difficult working with I’ll just name them and liste them below:
Johnny Twoface – They lie to your face and talk behind your back. They show a good side to management and throw you under the bus. You gotta just call them out.
Delusional Pursuers – Failure is as only good as the lessons learned. Their ego and lack of humility convinces them that they can do anything and so they fail often, but those same traits prevents them from learning anything.
Reckless Waster– Wastes company resources, careless about finances, doles out busywork.
Power Hungry Hippo– They’re passion isn’t design and the act of creation but alterior motives of success and fortune. No good in a team, no good for humanity.
Mind Lockdowner – They are completely set in their ways and you have to fight tooth and nail to convince them otherwise. They should not be working in a creative environment.
The Forgetters – They will just completely forget what they were supposed to be doing.
Change Haters – Usually of the older variety, they hate new ideas and embrace the status quo.

Thursday, September 16, 2010
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The Party for Creatives Started 10,000 Years Ago and Design is Late

by Ko Nakatsu

Everyone in my design class seemed to come from some kind of art background. I did not. So I started to study other creative fields to learn their theories, issues, and conversations. My conclusion is that there’s been a massive creative party going on for years, decades and millenia, but Design is so late to the party that everyone else has already gotten piss wasted, passed out, woken up, and is sobering up cooking brunch. The other creative fields are MILES ahead of design.

Food
The man who brought food to my attention was the great food writer and critic Michael Nagrant. His passion for food and talking about food was contagious. We’d sit at lunch and he’d talk about restaurants and delicious foodie topics and I’d listen. The parallels between cooking and design was obvious except that cooking had been evolving since the invention of humans. The food industry has been doing “experience design” since thousands of years ago. The food recombination process incorporates ALL of the senses, considers things in context, and deveoped the theories of great service “design” to near perfection. They have mastered all of the trendy design aspirations. And it’s STILL evolving. The restaurant experience has evolved to the point where there is so much accumulation fo experience and knowledge, that it’s not enough to go to school for four years, but you have to devote and commit to this artform for your entire life if you want to succeed. Design in its infancy has ALOT to learn from the food industry. When I blogged for Core77, one of the things I brought to awareness to the design scene was a special treat revealed to me by M. Nagrant, the one and only Alinea. This was before they had even opened their doors. They were still in their prototyping phase. From first glance it looks like it’s almost a year of prototyping, but in fact, it’s actually thousands of years of prototyping. Design has to respect and learn the process of a great chef if we want to be as great as the food industry in a thousand years.

Fashion
The Design world needs its version of Haute Couture. The concept cars or products produced by Droog are the closest to Haute Couture but diluted about a thousand fold. The fashion world, another industry that’s thousands of years old slowly evolved their aesthetics and experimented in countless changes. Some of their work is so ingrained in our culture that we don’t think twice about it. What is the designed use of a necktie, except for our cultural notion of professionalism? The fashion world now produces so fast that it releases works at a furious pace unmatched by any other industry. There’s a lot to be learned form the evolution of practically every piece of clothing in every culture.

Comic Books/Manga
Anime and comic books fulfilled the underground-nerd’s fantasies. But when the rest of America, the quarterbacks and cheerleaders also needed some fantasies to turn to, in times of war and recession with a high degree of uncertainty, where did they turn to? The fantasy and escape of DC and Marvel movies. The matured and saturated manga market in Asia where comic books have gained wider adoption as a story telling tool has influenced the style of almost every major US comic. The proportion of the faces and the body is starting to resemble the Anime and manga proportions. The rising world of 2-D graffiti is also taking quite a que from the Anime scene as well. Design can learn a lot from the style and storytelling of comic books to improve their own presentations as well as bringing some excitement and fantasies back into boring old designs.

Art
George Nelson’s “Learning to See” was what opened my eyes to art. One story is about man in a museum who is shouting loudly about a piece of art that is painted all white and how it’s worthless and he doesn’t understand it at all. Another man tells him to basically shut the hell up and that just because he’s ignorant doesn’t mean it’s not significant. I didn’t understand art until then. I was the ignorant man. Ignorance will not make you a good designer and will not help you evolve. Understanding art seems to be one of the keys to becoming a great conceptual representer.

I’m only beginning to scratch the understandings of other creative fields. Next up on my list are things like architecture, interiors, and poetry.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010
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the Idea Thrashing Method: Keep Your Mouth Shut and Your Hands Moving

by Ko Nakatsu

Keep things to yourself. Don’t tell anyone your ideas.
It’ll eat you up inside. The idea will thrash and fight to get out.
You’ll want to share your ideas with your friends, your family, your loved one. Don’t.
Don’t ever open your mouth and have the ideas dribble from your lips.

Only release your ideas through creation.
Execute your ideas so it’s no longer just an idea.
Then show people.

Keep your mouth shut and your hands moving.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010
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Where Creativity Gets Actualized: Third in Class

by Ko Nakatsu

No one pays attention to Number three. There’s Coca-cola, Pepsi, and uh…??? There’s Google, Yahoo, and uh…??? HP, Dell, and uh…??? It’s this third place underdogs that releases a greater percentage of creativity generated.

The Number One company in the industry is a tough spot to be. They don’t have much to gain, but they have a lot to lose. They have to invest in both staying at the top and growing their business. Fear of reduction in current clientele, damage to the current brand, and a extremely large stakeholder base, restricts the level of risk that a Number One can make. Creative solutions, by definition, is risky because it’s never been done before. If you have a customer base in the millions, that’s a lot of different kinds of customers. To make a product for all of them would need to genericize, not-be-offensive, and not have much character. It can be nice, but probably kind of boring. Every creative failure costs the company in more ways than one, every success a minor blip in stock price. Creative designs are harder to push and requires more than a compass to navigate the waters at a Number One.

The Second in industry has their own set of problems. The Second is always compared to Number One, and is constantly being harassed “why aren’t you more like Number One?”, “Number One did this, why aren’t you?” The creativity of the Second gets squashed by Number One’s gravity. “Are you sure you want to do that? Number One isn’t.” The Second also spends a great deal of time carefully studying and dissecting Number One’s success. Designs that get approved are often ones already in production by Number One.

Third in Class on the other hand are where Design strives and has a higher chance of output. Third in class is the Royal Crown, Bing, and Acer of the industry. They’re the creative misfits that no one pays attention to.

1. Unlike the Second, they don’t have the stress and pressure of imitating Number One.

2. They have less restrictions or worries like the fear of damaging their brand because it’s less established.

3. They have enough financial means to experiment with new techniques and methods that the Second or Number One is too afraid to try, and a fourth or fifth may not be able to afford.

4. The market doesn’t really pay much attention to you so you are free to fail. This is a good thing.

5. They have similar goals to the Second, they want to be Number One. So they work their asses off.

6. Third in Class has less money than Number One or the Second, so if they’ve invested in a design, they can’t afford NOT to release it. A Number One with a large capital, can spend time wavering back and forth, and then ultimately float the design investment under the bridge. The Third in Class will say fuck it, let’s just put it out there.

7. There’s a frantic focus to define themselves. So although their methods and techniques may not be clearly defined, this allows a great deal of flexibility to push for what you think will be a successful design towards that definition.

8. Not wasting time trying to be competitive with Number One, but spending time trying to leap ahead and be distinct from Numer One.

Consumers might want to still buy the Number One or the Second, but if you’re a designer starting out, I highly recommend learning and developing in a number three. Then when the time is right, bring that thinking to the first where they really need it. Or just help make Third in Class into Number One.

(PS, I would’ve used the example of Apple iPhone holding third place in global smartphone sales but since everyone uses Apple as an example for pretty much everything, I’ve refrained)

References:
third place search engine
third place cola
third place smartphone
third place PC

Monday, September 13, 2010
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How Bad Do You Want to Fucking Live?: Punk’s Influence on Design

by Ko Nakatsu

Hot Water Music Photograph by Ko Nakatsu © 2003

The intensity poured into the crowd as Henry Rollins, the Leonardo DaVinci of this generation, painted a vivid description of his world through the eyes of punk rock. He is seriously doing as much as possible, as one human could. The funny, sad, and enlightening stories from his Siberian trainrides to the world of the 80’s, was bizarre but uncomfortably familiar. It reflected back to us like the koans of Buddhism. India wasn’t on people’s radars back then but he went anyway; probably for no reason other than just-because-he-can. He described the poverty of renting sidewalks on the street to sleep and the now, all too familiar stories of kids begging for money. To gain the empathy of tourists for some change, some of the kids would even mutiliate themselves by cutting off an arm, taking out an eye. Henry Rollins, then shoved the story back in our face. “There are kids in the world, cutting off their arms for scraps, how bad do YOU want to fucking live?”.

So how bad is it that you want to live? What does it mean to live? What will you do to live? What do you need to do, to feel alive? Why aren’t you doing it?

Punk isn’t about the music, but the intensity that burns to ask questions of mortality of being alive and what it means to live. To question the status quo and give meaning. For me I design to live and I live to design. Punk’s always influenced my work and how I live. The following are lessons I learned from Punk that’s affected my design philosophy.

Punk Lesson 1: Don’t Sit on Your Ass: Go Forth and Design For Others
As the “social design” movement seems to be kicking into high gear, I’m very excited that we have the power to “be the change we want to see in the world” (quote by Gandhi, the punkest of them all, who gave a big pacifist-fuck-you to the status quo.) and while the rest of the world starves, dies from Malaria, hides from genocide, and is tricked into slavery, I sit in the comfort buxom of America writing about design. But, “I recognize the irony that the very system I oppose affords me the luxury of biting the hand that feeds. But that’s exactly why priviledged fucks like me should feel obliged to whine and kick and scream- until everyone has everything they need.” (quote by Propagandhi, the second punkest of them all.). Which is why designers should all use this given freedom and luxury to create solutions to make the world a little bit better. It’s punk to challenge the luxuries of our world and use our power to bring design to the global masses.

Punk Lesson 2: Without the good idea, the design is shit.
I can sum up the four years of my $160,000 education in one line from a song “Good frames won’t save bad paintings” by The Refused. What this meant to me is that the Concept is the most important ingredient in a design. Regardless of how “good” something is, whether its aesthetics, function, ergonomics, etc, it won’t save a bad Concept. It’s all about the Concept.

Punk Lesson 3: What You Love Is the Most Important
My last day at Nissan, instead of a thank you/goodbye/keep-in-touch email, I sent the lyrics from “South East First” by Hot Water Music to all the departments I worked with
“it never mattered who you were or where you worked
it never mattered who you were or what you earned
what mattered was what you gave and what you loved
what mattered was what you gave and what was learned”
Design needs to know what matters and this quote says what does, and does not matter.

Punk Lesson 4: Play at Eye Level
Punk is about equality. Elitism isn’t tolerated and icons and heroes are to be scoffed. There is no distinction between audience and musician, which is why they play at the same level, and not up on a stage (the real deal anyway). Inaccessible design or elitist design is never going to be for the masses. Keep it at eye level, on equal footing.

Punk Lesson 5: Design Is Not Design Without Ethics
Fugazi/Minor Threat was never a fan of capitalism and so has never made merch to sell at shows. At the request of loyal fans, they reluctantly pressed music and sold their music, but they didn’t want to be owned by some record label so they started their own. They were a large part of the DIY movement of today which combatted mass commercialization and the removal of ethics that was inherent in mass-consumed goods. DIY went hand-in-hand with a set of ethics. Now the ballistic Etsy missle, is full charge ahead raising craft DIY WITHOUT the ethics. Individual copycats galore, trying to make a quick buck, undermining the design process. Design without an infusion of ethics will be guaranteed to do humanity an injustice.

Punk Lesson 6: Design for the Unpopular
Glen E. Friedman and Ed Colver are a couple of the most prolific photographers of our time. Glen Friedman photographed portraiture for unknown musicians like Public Enemy, Beastie Boys, Ice-T, Black Flag. Ed Colver captured the rising culture of the punk rock shows of the early 80’s. They became popular in the 90’s because they did stuff that no one bothered doing at the time. Design things that you love, though it may be unpopular, the world will appreciate it later. Unpopular design won’t make you famous, it won’t make you rich, but you won’t regret it. As HWM said, “Live your heart and never follow”.

Punk Lesson 7: Stop Being Sarcastic and Ironic
Punk always gave a big ol’ middle finger to the mainstream media so it’s no wonder that every flyer was a mishmash of cut-up clippings and text from existing media. Your punk rock friend at Kinko’s would make your photocopies a thousand times for you, free of charge. The master of this art form in the visual scene was Art Chantry, who made flyers for Nirvana, Mud Honey, and every other punk-grunge band of Seattle. In music terms, Girltalk’s work is totally punk. Mixing up things you’re not supposed to mix got pretty popular in design but it came out as Ironic-Williamsburg style. That’s not punk. If you’re going to do it, mean it.

Punk Lesson 8: If You Are a Designer, You Are Automatically Not Special
So the urban legend goes that a few friends just stole some band’s gear that they left outside. The friends took it home and sat on it for a while and then thought “we have all this music equipment, we should make some music”. The Sex Pistols was born. The point of punk was that ANYONE could play the songs, and it’s still true today. I can teach you how to play pop-punk Blink or GreenDay songs in one sitting. Just like punk, anyone can design. Design is accessible to anyone. Design can be done by anyone. Design IS done by everyone. So I never think I’m all that special being a designer.

Punk Lesson 9: Do not $ellout
Don’t do things for money. It keeps it authentic. Do take money if you think you deserve it.

Punk Lesson 10: Change Starts with the Consumer
By the time I got to Nissan, they’d already been talking about building an Electric Vehicle. Consumers wanted it and so the market responds. I had protested and faught against corporate designs that were oppressive like child labor by Nike in the 80’s and 90’s, or biodesigned foods. I never quite gauged how effective protests and consumer opinions were. So I thought I could make a bigger difference from the inside creating great designs that helps people and participates in the market-game. The truth is that both is important. You need people on the outside raising awareness and desiring good and ethical designs. Then you need the people inside to design it and convince the business-types “hey, the consumers really want this”. Business isn’t evil or good, it’s just devoid of ethics. Design and Research is where you can infuse the humanity. Companies sometimes try to slow down individuals or groups, but they can’t stop a movement. They’re smart, they always join the winning team.

I want designs to have the Punk attitude. It’s rare that I see a design that makes me grab my hair in utter confusion and ask “WTF!?” Designs, so good that it brings me to tears. I want designs like that. That emotion, the rawness of punk, is what’s missing in my designs, and am working to acheive.

Sunday, September 12, 2010
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