Introduction to Design Strategy Professor Jon Kolko
Design is in the middle of
an enormous professional shift.
For years, design was about form giving, aesthetics, and styling.
During this period, design was a big deal – to designers.
As technology got cheaper, our world got more complicated.
Designers made things easier to use.
“The new breed of ‘user experience’ designers – part sketch artist, part programmer, with a dash of behavioral scientist thrown in – are some of the most sought-after employees in technology.”
Design was also at the heart of the “innovation” conversation.
Innovation gave us a seat at the big-kids table.
Now, design-as-innovation is recognized as a driver of economic growth and policy success.
“To win the future, we must out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world.”
We’re really good at designing products. We’re really bad at picking what to design.
We work on some really stupid stuff.
Design lives in a context of traditional, outdated business ideas:
market-driven vision
Design lives in a context of traditional, outdated business ideas:
responsive “competitive” roadmaps
Design lives in a context of traditional, outdated business ideas:requirements
We need a new way to think about designing products.
“Even in school I never took a class on how to balance a checkbook. They
never taught us any of that. Because learning the history of the Alamo was
more important for the 8 billionth time… A real adult knows how to handle
your money, knows how to be on your own, and be responsible for your
money and how to budget things... which I know nothing.”
Paige
“I hate budgeting, it’s really hard reigning myself in and keeping myself on
some sort of track… I’d like to pay off my credit cards as soon as possible
because it is a cloud, it is something hanging over my head... [But] in the
moment of choosing to buy something or not, it’s really easy to make that
decision–yeah fuck it, I don’t care–I want this now…”
Carl
Observation
Immediate gratification, delayed anxiety.
Insight
There is no satisfaction in future benefits. We need to feel immediate value to be satisfied.
Value
We will reduce the anxiety
caused by debt in the lives of young adults, and empower them to change their behavior and achieve a better financial future.
I'm kind of secretive. I have gone to the hospital and I don’t tell my sons
because I want to take care of myself. Why should I worry them?
Annette
She’s going to look at me like I’m insane; “What do you mean I can’t drive that
car?’ Um, I think as long as she can talk she thinks she can drive.”
Martha
Observation
A conflict of interests over aging.
Insight
Elderly individuals fear asking for help because taking others’ time and resources will result in being robbed of their own independence.
Value
We will create a safe space for open discussion of aging-related topics.
decision making
I used to be a psych major, they have one of the best psych programs. But I
wasn’t liking it that much. I switched majors my junior year, you have to have
a major that makes money, so I knew I wasn’t a business person, and I wanted
to be a therapist, because girls like to talk about their problems, and I thought
I would be a good therapist, and then I get into college and was like this isn’t
what I signed up for…
Shanae
I started off in engineering, but it was too difficult, I kind of searched around
sophomore year for another major and took a class in economics and I liked
it, so I switched. So I'll graduate, and hopefully find a job and then probably
keep that job for like 2 or 3 years. I've got a friend of my mom who has been
mentoring me. He's like an entrepreneurial dude–he helps me figure out how
to go about doing stuff, in like searching for a job.
Jacob
After graduation, I’ll get a job or get into graduate school. If I want to stick with
psychology, I'll get a masters degree in it so I can become a certified
psychologist, or I might stick to the original plan and go to law school. After I
make the decision, pretty much the rest of life happens after that. You know,
be a lawyer, finish school and make sure you make enough money to support
yourself and do fun things. And then you just get old.
Desiree
Observation
Students don’t know.
Insight
Students feel that college determines the “rest of your life,” and describe pressure and an urgency to constantly push
forward.
Value
We minimize anxiety around the academic experience, and help students identify their hidden passions and interests.
We need a new way to think about designing products.
What is Design Thinking & Design Strategy?
Ethnography Synthesis Prototyping Non-Linear
Ethnography
Immersion in the cultural and human context of a problem
Synthesis
Making meaning through inference and reframing
Prototyping
Hypothesis validation through generative, form-giving activities
The Output: Design Strategy
Ethnography Synthesis Prototyping
Design strategy
Jon Kolko
Professor, Austin Center for Design
jkolko@ac4d.com @jkolko
