Essays & Articles
Podcasts and articles
DBWThe former Apple VP and University of California Design Lab director explains why leaders should take the “humanity-centered” approach and adopt sustainable technologies and business models.
April 19, 2023
1 minute read
Design for a Better World: Excerpts and videos from the Interaction Design Foundation (IxDF)
DBWExcerpts from my videos of IxDF on Design for a Better World. Plus a highly recommended video on the history of participatory design by Victor Udoewa.
April 17, 2023
3 minutes read
Where did the term User Experience (UX) come from?
DesignWhere did the term User Experience come from? When I joined Apple in 1993, my first title was “Apple Fellow,” which was a very high position that gave me absolute freedom to do anything I...
April 15, 2023
4 minutes read
GPT-4: We Are in a Major Technological Change
DesignYes, there has been much hype over the imagined powers and flaws of the new Large Language Models (e.g., Chat GPT-4), but the recent advances (that is, as of today in April 2023) indicate that there is a major transformation taking place that everyone needs to pay attention to. I call your attention to a brilliant article and an engaging video talk about the major accomplishments.
April 12, 2023
3 minutes read
A video and text summary of Design for a Better World: A talk for McKinsey & Company
DBWI thought that McKinsey did an excellent job of summarizing a video conversation I had with them for anyone interested in a quick overview of my book Design for a Better World.
April 12, 2023
1 minute read
Frontier Design Prize & Speech
DBWI received the Frontier Design Innovation award by the World Design Conference and the Shanghai Municipal Government. My acceptance talk is based on my book, Design for a Better World: Understandable, Sustainable, Humanity Centered (MIT Press, March 21, 2023: talk video is in the post).
September 24, 2022
5 minutes read
Taking a Stand for Ukraine
DesignThe Service Design Network has put together a small panel (6 people) of designers--two from Ukraine--to talk about what design might do for Ukraine. I am one of the six people: Here is my talk.
April 25, 2022
9 minutes read
Humanity-Centered versus Human-Centered Design
DBWHuman-Centered Design works well for mass-produced products and traditional products and services. But today, we owe our allegiance far beyond individual people -- we owe it to all humanity.
February 26, 2022
4 minutes read
To create a better society: The 2020 MP Ranjan memorial lecture
DesignThe great spiritual and humanistic power of design has been lost in its current emphasis upon business and industry. Design can be much more powerful than that: Design is a way of thinking that can be applied to almost any issue, but most importantly, to the major societal issues facing the world.
November 20, 2020
21 minutes read
The Future of Design Education
DesignDoes design education prepare designers to work with the multidisciplinary teams required for the complex issues of the 21st Century? Join us in rethinking design education. Help us find people who will provide diversity of age, gender, race, interests, socioeconomic status, and political views.
July 13, 2020
4 minutes read