Essays & Articles
Why Criticism Is Good for Creativity
DesignA popular mantra for innovation is “avoid criticism.” Criticism, it is thought, kills the flow of creativity. We suggest that this infuses a superficial sense of collaboration that leads to compromises and weakens ideas. Effective teams do not defer critical reflection; they create through criticism
July 22, 2019
6 minutes read
Delightful Products for Healthy Aging
DesignMore people than ever are living long, healthy lives. The number of active, healthy oldsters is large–and increasing. Despite our increasing numbers the world seems to be designed against the elderly.
May 26, 2019
2 minutes read
Why I Don’t Believe in Empathic Design
DesignAn Article written for Adobe Blog. I approve of the spirit behind the introduction of empathy into design, but I believe the concept is impossible, and even if possible, wrong.
May 26, 2019
1 minute read
21st Century Design for Societal Problems. Combining Community and Domain Experts
DesignWe advocate a multi-step approach toward major societal issues, combining community-driven wisdom with knowledge of domain experts. Add an opportunistic, incremental approach to large problems, followed by continual attention to the fundamental principles of human-centered design.
April 20, 2019
9 minutes read
Inviting Workshop Proposals
DesignRequesting proposals for a workshop on Community-Driven Design (fort the ACM Designing Interactive Systems conference).
April 19, 2019
1 minute read
What Is the Future of Design (in 50 seconds)?
DesignA new talk,"21st Century Design: Addressing Major Societal Issues." I discuss what we in the UC San Diego Design Lab call "Complex Sociotechnical Systems." This "essay" is just the URLs of a 50 second video and the PDF of the slides.
January 26, 2019
1 minute read
HOW PIZZA COULD SAVE THE WORLD
DesignThe platform known as pizza has empowered people all over the world allowing them to satisfy their unique cultures and desires. It is a model for societal platforms that can indeed change the world.
January 9, 2019
6 minutes read
COMMUNITY-BASED, HUMAN-CENTERED DESIGN
DesignWe propose a radical change in design from experts designing for people to people designing for themselves, leveraging the creativity of communities to solve their own problems. People in communities best understand their problems and the impediments and affordances that impede and support change.
January 1, 2019
10 minutes read
January 2019: Books worth reading
DesignBooks I have read in the past few months: Eleven of them. At the end of the list, I select three (Papanek, Easterly, and Ramalingam) and explain why.
December 22, 2018
4 minutes read
If you can think of a clever solution in a few hours, assume many others have already done so.
DesignIf you can think of a clever new concept or solution to an existing problem in a few minutes or hours, then you should recognize that many people all over the world, many who have...
November 26, 2018
1 minute read