Would you let someone who speed-read a book on cardiology perform open-heart surgery on you? If you were attending a state dinner in Washington D.C. would you expect a gourmet meal prepared by the White House chef or would you be happy with a fast-food quarter pounder with cheese? When it comes to the products and services that we typically signify as having value, prestige, and even longevity, one single element factors into their creation: time. So why is it that design and the design processes, from ideation to development to implementation, are all happening on the fast track? The acceleration of all that we once knew to be a “process” has antiquated our vital senses and deprived us of appreciating the finer details. Join Mel Lim as she discusses how at today’s speed of life, culture is instant coffee. Learn why we must slow things down, simmer our thoughts, steep our strategies, and craft our ideas into existence. Do we want the master who designed and built Greece and Rome, or just trailer park Rapid Prototyping? Explore with Mel why it may be time to rediscover listening, waiting, observing, experimenting, and reviewing for relevancy. Be part of the conversation on whether or not it’s time to employ our bare hands – draw, design, and doodle -- and find out if we still have expertise in hands-on processes should technology ever go dark some day.

1. Turtle Design
in a Rabbit Age
by Mel Lim
twitter / @mellimdesign

2. Fast or
Fastidious?

3. Quantity or quality?

4. Gourmet or Fast-food?

5. So why is design
is happening on a
fast track?

6. Culture
Du Jour

7. Life is like instant coffee?

8. Chef Mario Batalior Chef Boyardee?

9. Chateau Margauxor Two Buck Chuck?

10. If we prefer the better, the
organic, the chef-inspired,
the majestic, the well-thought
out, and the details, then
why do we insist that design
be rapid, cheap, easy, and
just “good enough”?

11. Feeding
On-Demand
Thinking

12. “I WANT IT NOW!”

13. Are we amputating our
senses?

14. “What IS this?”

15. Is discovery instant noodle?

16. So…who’s the tool?

17. “Computer?...computer?”

18. Technology is a tool to
assist us, to improve our
lives, but it is NOT the
work itself.

19. Is Rapid
Prototyping
the ADHD
of design?

20. Will rapid + good enough
= valuable insights?
= set the right standards?
= increase accountability

21. IF…the discovery process is done hastily;
(who needs research right?)
AND the design can be done rapidly;
THEN…logically, the final production should be done in
the same manner….
WHICH BEGS THE QUESTION…
What do you think the client can expect in terms of
quality…Mac & Cheese?

22. • Proof of Concept
• Usability Testing
• Design flaws found at early
developmental stages
• Cost reduction/ effectiveness
• Expectations between users &
designers/producers can be aligned
earlier on
• Increased quality, development
efficiencies
• Stronger team work
THE GOODNESS OF RAPID
PROTOTYPING
• Failure to replicate real product or
system given amount of time &
budget
• Important touch points maybe
omitted to get a quick and cheap
working model
• Possible increased costs
• Design by committee
• Decreasing quality due to lack of
accountability & resources
• Designers/Producers may be too
attached to prototypes
THE NOT-SO GOODNESS
OF RAPID PROTOTYPING

23. If the users are happy with this
“rough” prototype, why do we
need to spend more money
“beautifying” it?
Just ship it!

24. “You’ve baked a really
lovely cake, but then
you’ve used dog shit for
frosting.”

25. “When you’re a carpenter making a
beautiful chest of drawers, you’re not
going to use a piece of plywood on the
back, even though it faces the wall and
nobody will see it. You’ll know it’s there
so you’re going to use a beautiful piece
of wood on the back. For you to sleep
well at night, the aesthetic, the quality,
has to be carried all the way through”
– Steve Jobs

26. Rapid prototyping is great for
ideation; proof of concept.
But ultimately, execution has to
be well thought out…

27. How to win
The Race

28. F**cking own it!

29. “Fail fast, fail often...”
REALLY?
“Failing quickly” might
be a veil to truly
accepting failures…

30. Failure should be a viable option.
Setting the right culture to accept
failure allows someone to put their
word and reputation on the line. If
failure is NOT an option, then it’s a
liability…
Then nobody will own anything.
Reference: “When did accountability become passe?” by Deb Scoffield 04/07/14

31. “You got it backwards.
Apple is NOT massively
handicapped by their failures:
failures are a mark of
creativity. No failures mean
insufficient creativity.”
– Don Norman, father of UX Design

32. Screw
Point A to B…

33. Can we rediscover…again?

35. “Temperament, in psychology, is thought to be the part
of people’s personalities that is innate, rather than
learned. This includes traits such as introversion or
extroversion.
Divergent thinking, however, is a process in which you’re
generating ideas by exploring many solutions—using
such tools as freewriting and associative thinking. This is
the opposite of convergent thinking, in which you’re
taking logical steps to arrive at a conclusion.”
The most logical way
is to be “illogical”…

36. “New ideas, perspectives, and the
big value creating opportunities
are in the gray areas between the
unusual suspects.”
– Saul Kaplan on Random Collisions with Unusual
Suspects, Founder of Business Innovation Factory

37. Remastering
Our Craft

39. “So what’s the real value in doing it by hand?”
“Driving a vehicle is a personal thing; you want it to feel
safe and trustworthy, but also like a companion you
wouldn’t mind spending a very intimate 30 minutes with
it every day driving to and from work. And while a
computer-generated rendering might be precise, a
computer model won’t tell you what it’s like to actually
experience a car’s design, standing next to it. People
still buy real cars. They don’t buy digital cars.”
— Moray Callum, Design Director of
Ford Motor’s North American brands

40. Rules of Mastery
• Fall in love with what you do
• Dedicate your life and breath to your craft
• Choose your heroes wisely and be that person that inspires you
• Be accountable; take ownership, without hesitation or thought of saving face,
of your mistakes
• Big is not always best
• View each failure as a stepping stone toward
constant perfection
• Work hard each groundhog day and deliver the originality
born of quality and consistency

41. Be the Turtle
my friend…

42. “Once you decide on your occupation,
you must immerse yourself in your
work.
You have to fall in love with your
work. Never complain about your
job. You must dedicate your life to
mastering your skill.
That’s the secret of success and is the
key to being regarded honorably.”
– Jiro Ono, Sushi Master & Owner
of a Michelin 3-Star restaurant
Be the Master Jiro

43. Be the Gao Shan Oolong tea…

44. Be the Daniel Day Lewis

45. Be the James Cameron

46. Crafting
Value

47. What’s beyond serving
a purpose…
How do you craft
“meaning”?

48. It’s the sticky gooey sweetness…

49. Let’s WOW again…

50. Make It Unforgettable

51. A Dash of Detail

52. An Element of Surprise

53. Delight with Craft

54. Do we still have
expertise in hands-on
processes should
technology ever go
dark someday?

55. Let’s talk!
twitter / @mellimdesign
email / mel@mellim.com
web / www.mellim.com