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- One of the things that concerns me is the role
of design, not only in companies,
but in academics and in the world,
because I think design is far more important
than it's given credit for.
I think design is a way of thinking,
a way of solving difficult, complex problems,
a way of being creative,
a way of understanding all the different constraints
and opposing forces,
and coming up with a very sensible approach.
So why isn't design given more respect?
Why is design thought of as something,
"Well, it makes it pretty or it makes it maybe more usable,"
but it's something in the lower levels of the world.
Design is seldom the most important school
or department at a university.
It's seldom the most important part of a business.
Why is that?
Well, I think designers have to be educated differently,
and for that matter,
business leaders have to be educated differently.
We have to say that the way that we approach a problem,
which is called design thinking, is very powerful,
and can be applied to almost any problem, any field.
But not the design thinking that is sort of, advertises,
"Hey, take my course in design thinking"
over the weekend or just a few hours,
or maybe it's a week long for a long course.
No, that's the superficial part of design thinking.
It had the virtue of finally convincing people
that design was more than making something pretty.
The word "design thinking," the phrase,
was very important in making people realize,
"Oh, there's more to design than just prettiness."
But it also made people think,
"Oh, I can take this course
and now I understand design thinking.
And well, off I go."
No, that's like saying, "I wanna be a tennis player,"
and taking a course in tennis
and learning how to play tennis.
And so you may spend, even a few months,
learning how to play tennis.
That doesn't make you a professional tennis player.
The difference between an amateur playing tennis
and a professional is huge.
Absolutely huge.
So the difference between a professional designer
and someone who understands the little basics
of design thinking or what design might be about,
and a professional, is huge.
Why isn't design more respected?
Well, first of all, people don't understand that difference.
Second of all, designers themselves are at fault
because most designers,
if you take a professional designer,
where do they go, where do they get trained?
They went to an a school of art and design.
Why is design always placed in an art school?
Design is not art.
Art is where people do things to make expression,
to make a point, to give you a great experience.
But it's all done from the artist's point of view.
Design is not art because we do things for other people.
We do things for others, not for ourselves.
And we don't always do things that are physical.
So we don't always have to be a good artist.
In fact, for-
if I wanna make a better sewage system in a country,
being a great artist is not going
to make any difference whatsoever.
So we have other skills,
but we also have to be, understand history.
We have to understand politics.
We have to understand technology.
We have to understand people.
We have to understand economics.
We have to understand business.
We have to be generalists
and know a tremendous amount about the world.
Now the world is mainly made up of specialists.
Companies have specialized sections
and universities have specialized departments,
and each department has specialists within the department.
We have so many specialists
that one specialist doesn't even understand
what another specialist does,
even if they're in the very same department
or same division of a company.
No, we have to be generalists and designers are generalists.
And when you actually wanna accomplish something
in the world, it's the generalists who have to be in charge.
If you look at a company,
the specialists are in the divisions,
the ones who are generalists,
who can think across the divisions
and the way that their company works in the world,
they're the ones who become executives.
And so if you wanna become an executive,
you have to think more broadly than your field.
You have to be able
to think about the impact upon the entire company
and then the way the company fits within the,
if you will, the ecosystem of similar companies.
And that's what designers have to do to get respect.
- Thanks for watching.
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