A presentation at Design Camp® 2012 in in Nisswa, MN 56468, USA by Simon Collison
Designing the Designer
Destination
What do you think you’ll be doing in five years? Interview question
Doing
Are you in your work?
It took me until my 40s to realize: There’s no destination. There’s no ge ! ing anywhere. There’s just the going. Pa ! on Oswalt
The reason that most of us are unhappy most of the time is that we set our goals—not for the person we’re going to be when we reach them—we set our goals for the person we are when we set them. Dan Gilbert
Not necessarily slowing down, but rather just opting out of speed. Frank Chimero
Serendipity
Strengths & values
To progress and to create work of substance or even greatness, we each must start by knowing our values, our strengths, and the level of expertise we seek Strengths and values
I have not failed 700 times. I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. Thomas Edison
Our strengths find us
designer developer strategist writer educator manager web designer 100%
designer developer strategist writer educator manager web designer 100%
Learning
I’m self-actualised, without the stamp of approval from any guild, curriculum authority, or academic institution. I’m web taught. Colleague taught. Empirically taught. Jon Tan
The sad, beautiful fact that we’re all going to miss almost everything Linda Holmes
Cra "
Cra " smanship is a basic human impulse: the desire to do a job well for its own sake Richard Senne !
Tools
Tools are the scaffold for what we produce, the enablers. They help us bring our ideas to fruition. Our tools
The tool doesn’t make the cra " sman. Choosing the right tool for the right purpose is a technical and personal choice. Oliver Reichenstein
delight / emotion / surprise systems / constraint / restraint simplicity / complexity / focus context / reduction
Creative inquiry
Inquiring beyond the “necessary” to explore other areas, look at things differently, and bring these findings back into our work. Creative inquiry
Drone
New design principles
The web is not print.
The screen brings with it different kinds of challenges for visual design, some of which occur exclusively in interactive media. Jason Santa Maria, designer
It’s unrealistic to think our old methods can fill in all the gaps, but new interaction pa ! erns and visual languages emerge everyday. Jason Santa Maria, designer
These are the building blocks for our new design principles. Jason Santa Maria, designer
Systems
We don’t design web pages. We design system s.
Responsive
Ethan states that a responsive design is composed of three distinct parts: 1. Flexible grid 2. Flexible images 3. Media queries
The frame
The complete designer
Find problems and design responses. Not answers, not solutions. Responses.
Design is more than just a job.
Talent is cheap You have to be possessed, which you can’t will You have to be in the right place at the right time
The extra ordinary in the ordinary
Simon Collison / @colly / colly.com
Creative people have a need to inquire deeply into their craft, making new connections and discoveries along the way. We embrace process and measure work against personal values, aware of strengths and weaknesses. Responses are best when instinctive, not bound by tools or methodologies. Join Simon as he considers what makes designers tick, considering the decisions we make and the ideas we should embrace to help us make the cut.
for free. You
can too.