Designer's Most Significant Ability Is Context Definition

Expanding the notion of what it means to be a designer.

Designers most significant ability is to understand multiple contexts and, therefore, identify constraints. 

Designers are strategics that translate strategy into action. Design thinking-in-action.

The most important skill needed in most design fields is context understanding.
In a problem-solving oriented practice as design,it is vital understanding the context to identifying the constraints and limitations: It is a MUST if the final goal is to take an idea and make it real. So businesses are turning to designers when they want to find something new.

"Great designers bring ideas to life that will align the right solution to the concrete problem: To come up with the adequate solution, first you need to framed the context and its constraints..."

What is a failed design? The one that doesn't  work to solve the problem or request. It might be beautiful, espectacular, super-innovative... but if it's not the right solution for this particular situation, it is a failed design.

"The realization of a mature designer is that the act of making does not matter unless it is considered within the context that it exists". John Maeda  

Design With No Constraints Is Not Design. Identifying the right constraints that would provide the right strategy is vital.  What is design with no constraints? Is art.

I would say that mature designers, as Maeda pointed, are problem solving experts in multiple contexts: To take a more holistic view of how designers work, beyond the focus on the craft and the aesthetics, it's meaningful to point out how designers think -design thinking- and methodology which helps them cope with being THROWN into a situation/context as OUTSIDERS, understand what's the problem and their capacity to catalyzed the insights gathered into creative outcomes.

Design is one of the most empathic professions by necessity, because its own practice and its sucess is about understanding other professional practices and their intrinsic problems. (And their professionals and their particular idiosincracy).


"People who know a lot about a field seldom think to question the fundamentals of their knowledge". It is by questioning the obvious that we make great progress. This is where breakthroughs come from. We need to question the obvious, to reformulate our beliefs, and to redefine existing solutions, approaches, and beliefs. That is design thinking". Don Norman  

Designers are strategists able to translate strategy into action:
So businesses are turning to designers when they want to find something new. 

Design thinking is an essential business strategy. When deciding where to play and how to win, it's totally necessary to have framed and understood the context and the constraints...therefore, its opportunities.
Designers use data, metrics, product flows, and conversion funnels to understand contexts, observe behaviors and empathize with users... and art and aesthethics...and altogether is a great help to opening up new markets, reconfiguring existing ones and envision what would come next.

[Image: "Indonesia" film poster]

Design Thinking Insights | Marketing Universitario

Incorporación del Design Thinking en las Organizaciones

*Fomentando la MacroEmpatía en las organizaciones y en la práctica profesional

Desde cuándo el Marketing ha dejado de ser lo que era? 
Desde 2007 por lo menos.

La American Marketing Association AMA, nos da claves en la propia evolución de la nueva definición oficial. Es muy interesante: incluye "la responsabilidad del Marketing en la sociedad y en la creación de ofertas que tengan valor para los clientes, socios y la sociedad en general."

Es significativo que la definición de Marketing en 1985 fuera:

"Marketing es el proceso de planear y ejecutar la concepción, precio, promoción y distribución de ideas, bienes y servicios para crear intercambios que satisfagan objetivos individuales y organizacionales."

Y haya evolucionado a esta última definición oficial de Marketing de 2007  y de su "papel y la responsabilidad del Marketing en la sociedad":

"El marketing es la actividad, conjunto de instituciones y procesos para crear, comunicar, entregar e intercambiar ofertas que tienen valor para los clientes, socios y la sociedad en general. (Aprobado en octubre de 2007)

Es decir, que el nuevo papel del Marketing en la sociedad incluye la "creación de valor para clientes y sociedad en general" y no tanto "planear y ejecutar la concepción, precio, promoción y distribución de ideas, bienes y servicios" de 1985. 

No podría estar más de acuerdo.

Esa nueva necesidad de crear valor para clientes y sociedad en general es lo que está permitiendo que nuevos perfiles profesionales se vayan incorporando a los equipos de Marketing. Necesariamente. Los nuevos modelos de gestión necesitan orientar su práctica a las personas y el desarrollo de la empatía, como el Design Thinking.

El Marketing Universitario requiere algo más que una práctica profesional excepcional. 
El Marketing Universitario necesita profesionales que aporten el valor añadido de la vocación y compromiso con la educación. Necesita profesionales conscientes del valor social de la educación y la importancia del impacto positivo que tendrá en esta generación de jóvenes y las que vengan. 

El Marketing Universitario necesita personas que tengan presente al cliente-estudiante  en cada detalle de su práctica y personas con la vocación de buscar fórmulas que equilibren los business goals con el compromiso adquirido con el cliente-estudiante: Han depositado su confianza en la institución educativa que representas y esperan recibir la mejor educación posible y comprometida.

He desarrollado mi carrera profesional en el sector del Marketing y la Publicidad como diseñadora, directora creativa y estratégica durante más de 20 años. He trabajado en proyectos más o menos complejos, que me han permitido estar en contacto con diferentes sectores de la sociedad, así como con diferentes públicos objetivos, clientes potenciales, targets...hace 6 años que trabajo en el sector de educación, y ya no me gusta llamarles target, potenciales ...: les llamo sencillamente, estudiantes. 

Mi definición de Marketing Universitario sería:

"El Marketing Universitario es la actividad profesional que aporta planificación, estrategia, comunicación y desarrollo de conceptos creativos que tienen como objetivo darle valor al estudiante en primer lugar, a la institución educativa y a la sociedad en general".

Y mi trabajo, del que pocas veces hablo, consiste en crear, definir y gestionar lo anterior...y hacer que todo lo dicho ocurra, que funcione:
La estrategia sea la adecuada de acuerdo a los objetivos establecidos
La planificación beneficie a la organización en su conjunto y al estudiante
La comunicación se transparente, efectiva y coherente
La conceptualización de las ideas nos permitan seguir avanzando en la aportación de valor al estudiante, a la sociedad y la institución.

Mi reto profesional más complejo es conseguir que todo lo anterior funcione como una gran orquesta perfectamente afinada con el único objetivo de contar la historia del estudiante y la universidad.

FOTO: Twitter Art Exhibit: Los Angeles

Toolkit for Designers Working in Business Contexts

Smile. You've got plenty of reasons to be happy!

My personal Design Thinking toolkit as a designer working as a manager in a business context, includes sense of humor and happiness and a positive attitude.  As Richard Branson, Virgin CEO, in his recent post , I believe too that happiness is a great measurement of success.

First inconvenient is that some colleagues believe that being happy is just the opposite of being "professional" because  they associate value creation and professionality with being serious and arrogant: I believe just the opposite (and thank God my boss thinks the same). Being happy and smile means that you are confident about what you do and the responsibility that you are assuming. It means that you care and respect  your audience. It means that you are focus in what you are doing. It means that you are going to accept errors and unexpected situations nicely. It means that you are stating that it's ok to make mistakes, we'll solve them. I'll go further: 

I don't know of any inspiring, visionary leader with no sense of humor...Think about it.

Being transparent about your emotions isn't a weakness, quite the opposite: Emotional intelligence is widely recognized as a leadership quality, and being confident about your emotions is part of it, but leaders are expected to maintain a poker face. I rather laugh and try to make sense through laughter. 

An a piece of advise: Don't mess with a happy person...don't get it wrong...It's a very common misunderstanding believing that "happys" are weak...no, no, very wrong! Acting appropriately at the appropriate time...


Designers and innovators need mental peace (and space), time, pace and a crystal clear state of mind to look upon our world, as Proust would say, with fresh eyes and develop new ideas  and insights... But creativity is a live learning, an exhausting and arduous process and it can be a long and sometimes dangerous journey if you have gone through learning the trial and error lessons! 
I'm not going to focus this post in the difficulties but in the joy of overcoming the obstacles that gave designers the opportunity to design their way out of them and learn some valuable lessons in return. 

These are My Top Tens reasons to be happy and have a positive Design Thinking Attitude:

#1 reason to be a happy designer:  
The first and best victory is to conquer self. –Plato. 
This is a hard one but totally possible. It needs perseverance, will, empathy, modesty, forgiveness, acceptance, thrownness... This knowledge gained extends to everything you'd do. A creativity driven life needs a clear mind, free from past regrets so new ideas and insights would have space to grow.
(Ha,ha,ha...but this part was soooo difficult)

#2 reason to be a happy designer: 
Learning not letting yourself get frustrated by people. Sometimes don't fitting in a common stereotype can be so much fun! (Ha,ha,ha)

#3 reason to be a happy designer: 
Having achieve the ability to function in a hierarchy organitization while being a heterarchy at heart! (Ha,ha,ha) Haven't they noticed?

#4 reason to be a happy designer: 
Perseverance in following your intuition and imaginatively thinking and take the risk of predicting a solution. (Ha,ha,ha)

#5 reason to be a happy designer: 
Be human, be empathic. Liking and trusting people, no matter what!!!! (Ha,ha,ha)


#6 reason to be a happy designer: 
Learning the difference between being nice and being weak...and leaning to confront the great amount of people that haven't yet learned the difference. Being tough or elegant when needed (Ha,ha,ha)

#7 reason to be a happy designer: 

Cultivating patience: Learning to wait the right time, the right moment is an art. (Ha,ha,ha)

#8 reason to be a happy designer: 
Courage to fight for your ideas, your believes, yourself...Yes! (Ha,ha,ha)

#9 reason to be a happy designer:
Deep beliefs and a smiling Know-How...why not? Making sense through laughter is not weird, isn't it? (Ha,ha,ha)

#10 reason to be a happy designer:
Taking risks, failing, even making a fool out of yourself is ok...so what???? Let's try one more time...(Ha,ha,ha)


And the happiest AHA moment: 

YES!  "I made it and I'm still ME ! Isn't it amazing?" (Ha,ha,ha, ha,ha)

Let them think you are a fool and laugh! 

Happy New Year!

My inspirations:

Richard Branson: happiness is a great measurement of success 
Ranjan Malik: the fool and his kind of innovation
Reena Jana writing about John Maeda & The Art of Leadership

Jerry Seinfeld: How to Write a Joke

GK VanPatter Data Analytics meets Scrooge?

Maria Popova Brain Pickings Simone de Beauvoir on Ambiguity, Vitality, and Freedom

“The drama of original choice is that it goes on moment by moment for an entire lifetime.” by Brain Pickings

Delivering Unsolicited Meaning: First They Ignore You...And Then You Win

First they ignore you...by Mahatma Gandhi

What does usually happen when a design thinker delivers unsolicited meaning to an audience that is not prepared to understand nor listen to anything out of their system of knowledge?

First they ignore you, 

You'd probably find silence when sharing new ways of thinking about a situation and giving existing things new meaning.

Let's face it: Most of the innovations happen because mad designers and innovators are so stubborn! 

As a Design Thinking practitioner, I believe it's necessary to master a kind of passionate excitement about the "finding" of the idea or meaning, and the "fighting" for make it happen. It's a kind of "design thinking CORE" that, together with some others, make you say with security: 

“This is going to work”.This is the way to go. I know it.

Designers don't take a NO for an answer: It might seems at first they do, but it's just another designer's trick. It's a step back to reconsider a new strategy to try again, and again to make an idea HAPPEN. 

...Then they laugh at you, 

Too many professional still don´t know how to adapt to an ever-evolving business environment.

I understand that challenging the COMMON conceptual structure used in constructing theories is hard for both parts:

• As the "challenger", you better be ready to a "your analysis has no rigor", and a few pity faces feeling sorry for you.
• As the "challenged", please consider that rationality is necessary when analyzing any situation, but it's a part of the process of understanding, especially when trying to innovate and find meaning in a fuzzy problem.

This is why Design Thinkers are undergirded with hard-core analytical and a broader data gathering, that includes observation and sense making of society in general, people, technology, emotions and developing of insights. 

  

Most senior managers and CEOs would trust in strategic concepts and logical deductions based on their "logical data gathering": They use tools such as benchmarking, analytical data, etc., to arrive to solid conclusions. Executives construct theories using their rationality and their conceptual structure and culture. They come to conclusions that make a lot of sense for them because the sense they find is soooo similar of what they found last year, and the year before... only reinforces current knowledge and produces small improvements to the status quo. 

...Then they fight you, 

A Design Thinking approach challenges the 100% rational methods...and that is... scary?
For some analytical thinking professionals I guess it is. But it won't go away: It's a fact that there are experts (innovator, design thinkers, scientists) who are able to identify industry trends and important big ideas way ahead of the rest of the professionals and, even more important, designers know how to network with other "interpreters" – customers, suppliers, intermediaries, designers, artists - who understand and shape the markets they work in.

A new approach means redesign the business as they know it. I guess that is scary too.

...Then you win. 

The “This is going to work” is a fact...two years later, the average time leaders need to understand unsolicited meaning delivered by one of those mad designers two years before...the problem is that, sometimes, it's too late.

And just for the record: 

1. Labelling people doesn't work anymore
2. Better listen the “This is never going to work” 
3. Some leaders just never get it....
4. Any business can commit to successful design thinking

My inspirations to write this post:

Changing the Rules of Competition by  Radically Innovating What Things Mean, by Roberto Vergant
The Generation M Manifesto by Umair Haque
THE END OF BLAH BLAH BLAH – END THOSE USELESS MEETINGS FULL OF TALK By Alexander Osterwalder

Be irrationally optimistic Jeff Haden
A new era of meaning By Tim Leberecht 

Design Thinking starts at the top 

BY JOHN MIZIOLEK

How Designers Foster Empathy

Magritte. Presence of Mind (1960)

So what else can designers do to foster empathy besides their human-centered approach and their Design Thinking process?

Work closely with business and deliver GREAT RESULTS that have positive impact on people’s lives AND meet the needs of the client.

Business and markets are now aware of the benefits that an empathic approach can bring to them for the pursuit of their goals...and these are good news for of all us because of the positive impact to people.

Reality shows that business culture and its impersonal language dominates most of the professional relations: How can empathy be nurture in such an impersonal and distant environment?.There is a need to build a new working model for contexts of diversity and professional interaction by creating a communication space with a shared language that would permit a real multidiciplinary team work. 

Design have accomplish the ability to put together sciences and design, and some designers are already working their way to get together business and design.

Nº1 TASK for designers: Develop empathy for business! 

• Working embedded in business environments. This will allows designers to get insights that may lead to a mutual better understanding. 
• Widen your knowledge of global markets, marketing, economy, etc., to be effective: just as you would if the task were to get an insight of another community.
• Some designers are reluctant to any partnership with business and prefer to focus on aesthetics: Don't you think that it would be a positive impact to business to bring some aesthetics to their culture? I believe it is a awesome challenge...
• Forget the believe that "my kind of knowledge is indescribable". Find the way to communicate. It's very possible. 
• Do you think that business culture is boring or...? This is another awesome challenge...and you can truly improve your "thrownness ability" by practicing in outsiders environments... 
• As a Design thinker, you can contributing with your know-how to get rid of boundaries between business and designers: Share your experiences and insights with your peers
• Learn "business talking" to understand them and try to "teach" them a more creative storytelling: But also you need to improve your communication skills to a less complex level, focus in engaging and empathying with people. 
• Help business to bringing more people into the conversation and foster interdisciplinarity, synergies and sharing knowledge.

And the most important of all:

Try to have fun while doing all of this!





My inspirations to write this post:

Design Thinking: Thoughts by Tim Brown

http://populardelujo.wordpress.com/ 

VIDEOS: 

Bill Moggridge 1943-2012 

Esteban Ucros on what-design-can-do

Experience Design: Brands, Designers & People

Madrid, sept 2012

Designing emotions.

Designing for human complexity.

"What are the motivations of a designer?, Why designers always want more?, Why designers feel responsible for their audience?, Why designing appears to be so easy?, Is there anything in this world that is not designed?

I was asking myself these questions after a month of intensive and exhausting design work.

Experience Design is an multidisciplinar, synergistic, empathic, "humantific" and aesthetically activity that also requires a complex management of oneself and the expected and unexpected environment to create an emotional connection between everyone involved in the experience itself: The brand, the audience, the designer and the team.

Experience Designers need to understand and love their audience and need to be empathic from the heart: Empathy is a magical bond that can not be faked, otherwise there will be no emotional experience, just an exchange.

An Experience Designer also needs to developed managements capabilities with an strong focus on PR Communication skills:

Clients: Communicating complex ideas and insights to an audience/clients not familiar with creativity processes and creativity professionals.
Audience: Communication skills that would strenghten relationships between people that live the same experience and the brand

Designers need to control and manage the uncertainty of designing experiences for people as complex and unpredictable as oneself. 

Designers not only need to be able to deal with uncertainty: they need to enjoy it and include it as a vital part of their creative process. 

Experience designers have to be able to stay firm, confident about their critical thinking methodology applied in the process, and sure that the innovations that they have proposed are going to work out: They have to find out how to be able to transmit self-confidence in every decision. 

Designers have to learn how to feel comfortable working in an enviroment willing to transmit you their fears and insecurities in every stage of the process. It´s time to take control, it´s time to transmit your confidence, t's time to build trust.

Designers have to be confident leaders that create delusion in their teams; They have to pretend that what they do it´s not that difficult: If it would transcent to the rest of their team the real complexity of their management of unpredictability that involves any activity involving people's emotions, NO ONE WOULD TRY TO INNOVATE.


Management of complexity, unpredictability, and uncertainty inherent in any innovation or new model creation is what defines a XXI century designer.

When everything it's over, an experience designer reaches a nice sense of accomplishment, but onces again observes that nothing would have been possible without the participation and generosity of every person involved, and confirms that we better be humble or we will be anything at all.

And the designer moves on quickly to the next project and looks forward to the next challenge... By the way, I read that now Tim Brown of IDEO, talks about designing DNA .. . I am in! ;)

What drives designers?

It's all about people 

El Diseñador de Experiencias, Su Público y La Marca

Madrid, septiembre 2012

Diseñar emociones, diseñar para las personas

"¿Qué mueve a un diseñador?, ¿Dónde encuentra la satisfacción el diseñador?,¿Por qué los diseñadores siempre quieren abarcar más?, ¿Por qué el diseñador se hace responsable de su público?, ¿Por qué un diseñador se atreve con todo?, ¿Por qué diseñar parece tan fácil?, ¿Hay algo en este mundo que no se diseñe?, ¿Se puede diseñar de espaldas a las personas?".

Todo esto me preguntaba después de un mes de trabajo intenso y agotador.

La respuesta que me doy a mi misma es que el diseño de experiencias es una actividad multiciplinar, transversal, sinérgica, empática, "humantífica" y estética que además requiere una capacidad de gestión compleja de uno mismo, del entorno, de lo previsto y de lo imprevisto con el objetivo de crear conexiones emocionales entre todos los implicados en la experiencia: la marca, la audiencia y el propio equipo. 


El diseñador necesita conocer y querer a su público y lo tiene que sentir de verdad, de corazón: es un vínculo empático que no se puede fingir y que ha de ser honesto, real, porque de lo contrario no habrá experiencia, solo un intercambio.

El diseñador necesita controlar y gestionar la incertidumbre que supone diseñar con objetivos concretos para personas tan complejas e impredecibles como uno mismo. Y necesita ser capaz de disfrutar con esa incertidumbre hasta el punto de que forme parte del propio proceso creativo. 

Un Experience Designer necesita desarrollar capacidades de gestión y comunicación interpersonal:

Clientes: Necesita comunicar ideas e insights complejos a unos clientes no familiarizados con la creatividad y sus procesos. Audiencia: Necesita see capaz de desarrollar habilidades comunicativas que faciliten la creación de lazos afectivos entre las personas que comporten la misma experiencia y la marca.

El diseñador ha de ser capaz de mantenerse firme, seguro y confiando de que las innovaciones que ha ideado van a funcionar porque es el resultado de un critical thinking objetivo y metodológico y tiene que conseguir transmitirlo al equipo en todas sus decisiones.

Además, tiene que  aprender a sentirse cómodo trabajando en un entorno a veces adverso, dispuesto a transmitirle sus miedos e inseguridades en cada fase del proceso. No es el momento de dejarse llevar: es el momento de crear confianza.

El diseñador tiene que ser un líder confidente que convence al equipo que le rodea de que lo que hace no es tan complicado, hacer que parezca fácil lo difícil: si transcendiera la complejidad real de su gestión y la variable impredecible que implica un proyecto en el que pretendes formar parte de la vida de otras personas apelando a las emociones, NUNCA SE CREARÍA NADA NUEVO porque ningún jefe se atrevería a validar el proyecto. Es por eso que una de las capacidad imprescindibles para que un diseñador tenga a su alcance proyectos de mayor envergadura y alcance social es precisamente su capacidad de convencer con argumentos racionales y en su propio lenguaje a su audiencia, sea la que sea.

Es la gestión confidente y tranquilizadora de la complejidad y la incertidumbre inherente a cualquier innovación y creación lo que define al diseñador del siglo XXI.

Cuando todo ha acabado, lo que le quedada al diseñador es la constatación de que la gestión de la complejidad ha sido emocionante, pero NADA hubiera sido posible sin la participación y la generosidad de todas las personas implicadas, y la certeza de que, o somos humildes, o no somos nada.

Y el diseñador pasa página rápidamente y comienza a proyectar otros diseños que implique volver a empezar con el reto de idear y gestionar lo aparentemente imposible...Por cierto, he leído que ahora Tim Brown de IDEO, habla de diseñar también el ADN...yo me apunto! ;)


¿Qué mueve a un diseñador? 

It's all about people.

What Do Customers Want? Brand Experience and Branded Content

Customers ar collectors of Experiences

2012. We all are consumers of experiences.

Welcome to the Social Media Revolution

The common denominator of all of us is that we share our lives within our circles
of trust as never before. Being social it's about sharing. And we like it.
By sharing our experiences, we fulfill personal, professional, ideological needs: photos, ideas, trips, video, family, events that tell our story  and reveal who we are, what we know, where we want to go, our dreams, goals... And we learn from the experiences of others, too. 

Sharing our experiences enriches us individually: we are developing new social capabilities and  skills. Surprisingly, a tacit respect happens in most social media and groups.

After several years managing our personal social networks, we have literally put together a VISUAL overview of our life experiences. We could say that we have a global vision of our lives like never happened before in the history of human kind. 
It's an opportunity to personal growth: The natural next step is to analyze the pieces of our lives -the collection of our experiences-, to improve it: "What  experience am I missing? What experience I would like to accomplish? How could I complete this aspect of my life?, Always going on vacation to the some place so the same photo year after year? 

We have reached a point when everyone is a designer of their own life: to keep on building oneself up, we need content that would add value and complement our expectations. We are some kind of collectors of experiences that want to enhance our life project. 

We need contents to feed our social media.

Social Media is about people. 

CONSUMERS ARE ASKING FOR BRAND EXPERIENCE AND BRANDED CONTENT BUT WE - brands- ARE NOT BEING TRUST WORTHY AND WE ARE NOT BEING CAPABLE OF UNDERSTANDING  WHAT COSTUMERS NEED.


And brands.
Everyone living on this planet  is a consumer since birth:  We all have brands that are meaningful to us and are part of our circle of trust, because they deserved it  because they have met the prerequisites required for any relationship based in confidence:

• It is a reciprocal relationship
• It will not betray my trust
• It 's authentic
• It gives me love-value
• We share the same values ​​
• It respect me and wants to know me better
• Optimism and hope
• A BRAND that brings to my life what I need.

And what happens when someone in whom you've trusted, betrays you in any of this points?

• kick him/her off our circle of trust
• Share the betrayal with whom would like to hear it
• Prevent to our friends from him/her
• Won't give a second chance 

What do costumers want?
We want brands to be meaningful to us and capable of adding real value to our lives ... brands trust worthy that won't betray us and smart enough to see that engagement is possible only in a  WIN-WIN relationship ... like in all relationships that work ;)

Illustration by Mae y sus preciosos vinilos