Design is a field that brings together creation, imagination, and thinking about people and situations. When we learn how this field is organized, we’re better prepared for making things better. Design’s a funny word. As a verb, it describes an action of planning and creation. As a noun, it points to an entire field of …
The word design is all over the place; what does it mean? In this new series, I walk you through what design is, how it works, how to do it, and explain why you’re already a designer and how to become better at it. My mother recently told me that every time she hears the …
I might be writing this near the holidays in 2022, but the message I want to send is timeless. In times of disruption — which seems to be all the time — these are the lessons that my clients, friends, and family did best when they were heeded. They certainly worked for me. I love …
Four Holiday R’s: Rest, Reflection, Recovery, Reinvigorate Read More »
Disruption is often described in abstract terms with time horizons that look long enough to act on. What we see now is far different from that — faster and more intense. You might have had relatively few ideas of what artificial intelligence looked like until last week. That was when the news of ChatGPT made …
If you design or evaluate things, why not share what you know with people who design and evaluate things for a living? I believe designers and evaluators need to talk more. I’ve argued that the conversation between design and evaluation is worth having. As both a professional designer and evaluator, my work is a reflection …
Designing for living systems is an approach to creating things for a world in flux and generating benefit for it. In my last post, I used the term design for living systems to reflect a changing position in my design practice and one that I see reflected in the design challenges I see around me. …
The focus on human qualities in understanding design can come at the cost of disconnecting people from the world they inhabit. Don Norman, one of the most widely known designers, recently attracted a flurry of attention with his call for something called Humanity-Centred Design. The idea is central to his latest book. The argument that …
Humanity-Centred Design or Designing for Living Systems? Read More »
In this final installment on Principles Focused Evaluation, we look at how to connect our data with our designs. If I have principles and don’t follow them, do I have them at all? This question is something that Principles Focused Evaluation can help us to answer. It’s at the core of our work. The vehicle …
Principled or values-driven approaches to strategy only have value when we can put them into practice. In this latest post in our series on Principles-Focused Evaluation, we look at the nuts and bolts of putting principles into practice. It is a lot easier to speak of principles and values than to live by them. I …
A good principle can be a source of inspiration and guidance for action and accountability if we know how to develop it.
