stuff IDers might want to read

[Anonymous]

@cg

@Anonymous

So where does that put us? Personally, I think it means the ID industry is ready for a revolution. I have no idea what it is, but I can’t wait for a creative entreprenual designer to identify the next generation of services people with our skills and passions can provide the business world.

I personally think the inevitable progression is Experience Design.
It’s becoming harder for ID alone to address usage in the digital age.

Experience Design is one approach. And a service providing one, at best, which requires designers to still be dependant on seeking clients ready to undertake such an exercise. Let’s take this one step backward, designers as framers of problems and definers of solutions, rather than problem solvers per se.

Now, the designer (s) provide the research for the client that when analyzed leads to the designer framing the problem to be solved - one portion of which is the design of the experience. So the role evolves into a broader role of identifying opportunities and developing products or services to leverage those gaps.

Style, then, becomes a non issue.

[ufo]

forced brand rather.


i see a lot of companies go out of their way forcing brands on objects that if you saw somewhere unrelated would probably fail the experience catgory before they reach the showroom. designers are becoming style monkies for creating a brand experience. it’s kinda like a monopoly game of brands except they’re trying to figure out where to put the object instead of where to put the idea. implementing an idea or a solution is riskier than fitting a brand so the experience is still fundamentally based on brand recognition and reverse. the reason for this is limited resources in design, its process, research, time, and finance.

[fueledbycoffee]

@Egg

What some call “experience” design I prefer referring to as “situational” design because, the evidence is in, more and more designers are being called on to creatively resolve just that - problematic material situations and environments…

…

…What designers need to remember in order to survive, evolve and prosper is that, at both the consumer and business levels, people have always-changing needs, desires and problems to be addressed. A multitude of different approaches are available to profitably serve these without necessarily forcing the purchase of a new product and the heavy baggage that invariably comes with it…

That’s the “Conceptual Age” Daniel Pink so optimistically refers to in his book. Much work remains to be done in ID to affect meaningful change, but the new economy will likely be one of ideas before machinery.

Wow. Well said.

[Anonymous]

… or they will look within and find their own way of design.

[Mr-914]

It’s ironic that while doomsday articles are posted on the boards that a company buying a US design consultancy is over on the Core blog. Sometimes it feels like people outside the profession have a greater appreciation for design than those in it.

That is not to say that western designers should kick back and relax. If you are a designer that only makes products pretty, you should realize that this can and will be farmed out increasingly to those who can do it more efficiently (cheaper).

Those who are working deeper in product development (what products should we make? What kind of pretty should they be?) should feel a little stronger. While some of these services can be performed overseas, there is nothing like feet on the ground. After all, when was the last time a Chinese advertising firm was hired to shift microwaves stateside?