Sage with Design

It can be trying to iterate another 25 designs after generating 100 of them. If you’re stuck, it may be time to approach the project with broader questions. When we ask different questions we get different answers, just like a different design approach will lead to a different solution. It’s the difference between: “How can I design a better chair for a trendy restaurant?” vs “How can I design a better seating experience at a trendy restaurant?” I look at the first prompt and think of a dining chair with good ergonomics. Designing for a better experience pushes beyond the chair. Now we can consider stools, yoga balls, foam seats, rugs, pillows, and all other things people sit on. The prompt can go further into the experiences related to seating, such as, approaching the seat, touching it, time being seated, turning in their seat, a foot rest, types of clothes against the seat, putting a jacket on it, the table, the floor, the location of the seats, an...

Great comedians, like Jerry Seinfeld, don’t try to make their audience members laugh non-stop. Stand up comedy’s purpose is not to make us laugh, laughter is a byproduct. Even Carlin and Dangerfield, who often did keep their audience laughing nonstop, were there for the same reason as the audience. It’s for the craft, it’s for stories, but mostly it’s for the knowing. Knowing Laughter, yes, but I would argue that the broader concept of communal laughter has potential to share a knowing. Both the comedian and the audience go to a theatre to experience belonging through human connection. Laughter is a vulnerable expression which is why topics that challenge our beliefs pair well with comedy. Being vulnerable with others, like laughing, is an opportunity to feel connection. We go to a comedy show not just to laugh, but to be around others who are like us. Additionally, human-centered product design does not exist only to identify and solve for user needs. Near...

Google has categorized much of my life. I use Google apps more than any other company’s. Google was the most approachable search engine throughout my childhood. When Bing released in 2009, I decided to stay with Google and this decision was the start of my journey under a Google umbrella. Two months ago, the umbrella’s handle cracked. Bing’s Ai integrated search engine offers more than Google, for now. For now, research on Bing is faster and conversational. Google I/O in May will be Google’s most public opportunity to regain the throne. It will have to be despite 1000 tech leaders condemning the rapid growth of Ai today, it will continue to develop. (And since when have American companies cared about ethics over capitalism?) This technology landscape is just noise to much of the public. There hasn’t been a tipping point. A company needs to release a new Ai feature that scares the public. It needs to show people that this is different from their phone’...

I’m stealing this story from Simon Sinek and running it through my filter because I can’t stop asking myself some questions it raised. This story reminded me that when I am at my best, I call on others to help me confront the challenges I cannot face alone. This is true with design and in life. Simon spoke about Phil Knight, co-founder and chairman emeritus of Nike. Phil stood up at a large conference and said to the crowd, “If any of you have ever run for exercise, can you please stand up?” Most of the room stood up. He said, “If you run at least once a week, please keep standing.” Most of the room sat down. He said, “If you run twice a week, please, keep standing.” More people sat down. He said, “If you run 3 times a week, rain or shine, regardless of the weather, or the temperature, please keep standing.” There was now a scatter of people left standing in the room. Phil looked out at them and said, “The next time you...

One of my favorite design stories is about the invention of the stop sign. I’ve told this story since before I went to design school. William Phelps Eno is responsible for the stop sign, but the dysfunctional city roads needed more than just stop signs. William created: modern day traffic regulations traffic circles pedestrian crosswalks one-way streets taxi stands pedestrian safety islands. William was 9 years old in 1867 when he was caught in a horse-and-carriage traffic jam and he felt frustrated that, “neither the drivers nor the police knew anything about the control of traffic.” Traffic continued to interrupt his life into the 20th century. It was no longer a rare occurrence in cities to see horses, carriages, pedestrians, bicycles and now automobiles all at one intersection. This lead to the first Traffic Safety Code and traffic plans for New York City, London and Paris. Then, the first stop sign was installed in Detroit, Michigan in 1915. Today, the stop sign ...

I found an interesting interview to research for a project, but the interview was in Japanese and I know zero Japanese. I opened Google Translate and found a button to translate my PDF. I didn’t know about this feature before, but it was accurate and fast. This quality of a translation for such a long interview would have taken hours of work 2 years before this technology existed. 200 years ago and it would have been impossible to translate these pages in the U.S. It’s a matter of years before some reality augmentation translates text for us on sight. In 200 years, language barriers will be an ancient problem. Society will look at the ability to speak to any person like how our society looks at braille, invented in 1824. Collaboration will be easier than ever because inclusivity ever follows good communication.

It’s what is said when the literal meaning of something is obvious. Like when you finally land on a good idea. It’s so obvious that this is the right solution, yet creating it was anything but obvious. You probably had to iterate 100 bad ideas beforehand, because bad ideas are the conduit to a good idea. The most important thing a designer can do is keep iterating. There will be something useful to build from in 100 thoughtful, bad ideas, you just need to see it.

For the first time in half a century, NASA will have humans on the moon next year. A lunar habitat will inflate near our moon’s south pole. It can support up to 6 astronauts and crew members will rotate out every 2 months. A permanent outpost will be established in 2028, called Artemis Base Camp. Better, more detailed, studies will be conducted. And, scientists will have a better view of the universe once a telescope is constructed there. A moon base is an old idea. In fact, the First Lunar Outpost (FLO) set the benchmark for moon base studies in 1993. So why now? Why is this project’s budget $93 billion through 2024? Space Force. Not the tv show, the real one. The Space Force that wants to extend its operations to the moon next year. Military and scientific studies have intertwined for centuries. Political concerns aside, of which everyone has many, this will be great for innovation. Millions of new challenges met by thousands of scientists and engineers. Consider how many ...

I fished all the time with my grandpa when I was a kid. It was a cornerstone of visiting my grandparents. I was 10 years old when we drove to Galesburg, Illinois for a few days to visit Tom, my grandpa’s brother. Tom was the reason for our visit, but our fishing gear found its way in the trunk with a, “you never know”. The next morning, we knew. We found our spot and hooked our worms. Before casting, I let out my line an inch more and my hand slipped. The line released and the lure dropped into the tall grass in front of me. When I reeled it in, a toad was on the other end of the line. Swirling and petrified, the toad was finally freed by my grandpa once he caught his breath from laughing. Out of all the fish I caught, this was my best catch. It’s unexpected. It’s shared. It presents a new kind of problem on an otherwise typical day. I told everyone about my catch. I still do. That’s because the best fishing stories don’t require fish.

Farm strength accumulates over years and years. You get it by working everyday past the point of exhaustion while tending to your land and livestock. Muscles develop extreme stamina from this behavior and often do not bulk up. As a result, folk with common-looking physique conceal superhuman strength. Farmers like this do not have a gym membership. They don’t even need to exercise. The strength they have is sustained through their work. In other words, being strong is just part of what it means to be a farmer. For the record, achieving farm strength is hard work. The hardest work. No one wants to be bad at something for months. No one wants to work when they don’t feel like it. But it’s a lifestyle when you push through those feelings. In exchange for working at it day-by-day, a unique kind of strength will accumulate.