Step it up on leadership
Finally, designers have arrived at the executive table, making key strategic decisions and helping to shape the direction of companies, writes Kate Aranowitz of Google Ventures in a good read in FastCo. But using that new power can be tricky. Now that designers have arrived where they should be, Aranowitz sees problems ahead:
“I see us paying too much attention to the “design” part of the role and not enough to “leadership” – defending our own interests without deeper understanding of the businesses and broader contexts we must operate in. I’m concerned that if we don’t step it up on the actual leadership part, we’re in danger of losing the seat at the table.”
9 ideas shaping the future of design
To the same end, Co.Design asked design industry leaders what trends they thought would impact their work the most. And, while designers and architects can tend to go high on phrasing and low on substance, the magazine has done well to distillate some interesting insights:
“Our profession is in between ‘utopia and oblivion.’ It will be oblivion if we continue focusing on minor aesthetic problems.”
Has Apple lost its design mojo?
The idea that designers can make is almost synonymous with Apple, which created the gold standard of all design cults. But has the magic left the building? asks Rick Tetzeli in Fortune. He answers: “Don’t believe the naysayers”.
“The volume of grumbling about Apple design has been loud of late. And the chatter can’t simply be dismissed—because if Apple design is truly in trouble, then the world’s most valuable company is in trouble. […]But here’s the thing: Pick just about any time in Apple’s history, and you’ll find a similar set of worrying choices and seeming failures—even during those halcyon days of Steve Jobs’ triumphant second tenure at the company.”