Everything is what

1. The way you learn to eat shit is just
a little at a time. —James Victore
There is an unmistakable difference
between a bag of rabbit parts and a
rabbit. —RYAN NANCE
Indifference towards people and
the reality in which they live is
actually the one and only cardinal
sin in design. —DIETER RAMS

2. A DESIGN MINDSET/
Everything is What You
Make of It.

3. Design Thinking
Design Process
“A Design Mindset”
Design mindset =
Design Thinking

4. Design thinking basically states that:
Design process provides a new
innovative avenue for creating
solutions to problems in any
professional field or situation.

5. Design (verb) vs. Design (noun)
A very basic design process
1. Define the problem
2. Create and consider many options
3. Refine selected directions
4. Pick the winner
5. Execute
Building Up Many Possible Solutions vs.
Breaking Down a Problem Towards a Solution
With design thinking, you move
beyond what is expected.

6. What do You mean by
“a design mindset”?
A design mindset is using your
passion for good work to set the
stage for bringing thoughtful
design (verb) to every project.

7. Good work is the goal.
Communicating business ideas
Humanizing information
Simplifying complex information
Telling a story

8. Investing in our humanity is
the highest form of design.
Solving problems is the lowest
form of design.
—Matthew Butterick: Reversing the Tide of
Declining Expectations ///// via TYPO Berlin 2012

9. The Dilemma/t zero
The success of a project is often
determined by your gut reaction.

10. What are those gut reactions?
This is going to suck
I can’t meet this challenge
This person will just water down
ALL of my ideas
I’ve already done this 100 times
This isn’t a good idea
This is a hot mess (too complex)
-what are some other ones?

11. But, we have a
design mindset
AKA the Antidote to Poorly
Concieved Ideas/Projects

12. Gut Reaction:
This is going to suck
Antidote:
How can I make the project good?

13. Gut Reaction:
I can’t meet this challenge
Antidote:
What do I need to do, or who do I
need to work with to accomplish
this? Set all your goals and
expectations at the beginning and
focus on the individual tasks. Don’t
let the big picture distract you.

14. Gut Reaction:
This person will just water down
ALL of my ideas
Antidote:
I’m still working on this one, anybody?
Create something unexpected
that perfectly fits the project.
Push the boundary so far that
where they bring you back to is
still good work.

15. Gut Reaction:
I’ve already done this 100 times
Antidote:
Make it new! —Ezra Pound

16. Gut Reaction:
This isn’t a good idea
Antidote:
Can you reframe the idea to make
it good/effective? Can you reduce/
simplify the idea or focus it?

17. Gut Reaction:
This is a hot mess (too complex)
Antidote:
Copy that clients give you isn’t
final, so find the relevancy and
emphasize that.
@frogdesign: “We no longer need
content. We have too much content.
What we need now is relevancy” @
DataMinerUK ‪#sxtimemap

18. The anti-antidote:
Feedback

19. Listen Actively
Extract the real problem.
Provide a professionally
considered solution.
Most importantly, have a
concept for everything you do.

20. Moving Past
the Dilemma

21. Have a direction that conveys the
subject, context, and goals
This helps you deal with clients
that fight good work
Concept vs Notion vs Unfocused Cacophony
Clear Vague Shitstorm
Understanding Awareness

22. never stop at your first thought,
always work to improve and
generate more ideas
Get off the computer and don’t
begin on the computer
Sketch! Use pencil and paper!!

23. Before you hit send/save, look at
your work and ask yourself:
Is this a cop-out?
If so, slow down and take the time to create
good work. Chances are that it’s not an
unsolvable problem.

24. The way you learn to eat shit is just a
little at a time. James Victore

25. Why Do This?

26. Comfort =
happiness

27. Soft Power
While designers lack—and, as a profession, will
probably always lack—hard power, what they
possess instead as public communicators is
a great deal of soft power. By this I mean the
ability, through their work, to influence, mold
opinion, persuade, change behavior, initiate
and spread visual trends, shape the aesthetic
environment, and help to inform the public.
—RICK POYNER

28. If you aren’t fired with enthusiasm,
you will be fired with enthusiasm.
—Vince Lombardi
Only good work leads to
doing more good work.
—Michael Bierut

29. Thanks