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Like the Sirens’ song in The Odyssey, the web is full of temptations and distractions that threaten to lead designers and creatives astray. But rather than the risk of shipwreck, the danger lies in producing unoriginal, uninspired content that undermines the basic premise of design—that is, to communicate in an effective, innovative and aesthetically stimulating way and to illuminate new truths or provoke new ideas.

Is Design a Dying Art?

With the proliferation of content on the web, some see the state of design as regressing rather than progressing. Take for instance a recent article on Smashing Magazine: The Dying Art of Design. In the article, UX Designer and writer Francisco Inchauste discusses how “modern design tools and processes do more harm than good” when the tools themselves begin to replace the fundamental understanding of why a design solution is used or what fundamental problem is being addressed.

In the article, several problems are brought to light, including:

• A tendency to consume shallow content such as inspirational lists, tutorials and freebies rather than in-depth content. According to a poll conducted by Smashing Magazine, “Over 75% of the articles that designers read are either design tutorials or inspirational lists.”
• The positioning of how-to articles as “design tutorials” when really they are “tool tutorials” that teach only a singular aspect, leading designers to use a technique without necessarily understanding why it’s appropriate for a project.
• The growing use of cheap or free content, resulting in a lack of originality that begins to commoditize design and potentially lessen its value in the eyes of clients.
  

As the writer of the article sees it, the threat posed by these trends will potentially undermine design as an art and craft: “. . . designers will never be considered people who can solve problems for businesses and their customers and who can effectively communicate ideas. We will simply be a mindless pair of hands that knows how to apply some trendy colors and glossy effects to make things look nice. A technique with no purpose makes a design irrelevant. If design becomes irrelevant, then at some point we may be, too.”

Cultivating Strong Design Habits

Francisco, however, does offer some ideas and reminders of how to keep the design profession thriving and continue improving as an individual designer. He suggests:

• Creating your own assets, such as textures and graphics, rather than looking for fast and free ones that may be lesser in quality or lacking in originality.
• “Digging deep” in a book instead of clicking away on the web for shortcuts or quick tips.
• Devoting the time and money to attend a conference or event.
• Looking at tools and tutorials as “a means to good design, not the end.”
• Returning to sketching to flesh out a concept.
  

In addition to Francisco’s poignant reminders in the article, here are some additional ideas on how to continue fostering strong design habits:

• Step away from the computer and find inspiration in the real world.
• Join a local meet-up group where you can discuss ideas, projects and challenges with other professionals.
• Think back to why you wanted to become a designer and consider how you can continue to meet that goal every day.
• Go back to the basics. Don’t get immediately swept up by every trend and fad.
• Take the time to appreciate great design—whether it’s in a gallery, a book, in street art or on the web—and reflect on what makes it powerful.
  

Leveraging the Web to Strengthen Design

The web doesn’t have to be a threat to good design and original thinking, and design certainly doesn’t have to succumb to a death sentence as an art form. When used in the right context, online tools and content can serve to augment design thinking and provide a platform for elevating the standards rather than lowering them.

Francisco Inchauste ends his article with a relevant piece of advice: “We determine the type of information made available to us. Every click (and tweet) can be a vote for a better and smarter design community. Please choose wisely.”

The best attitude to have when trying to solve problems is that everything is negotiable. Just because someone says the car they want you to design must be red and ten feet tall, or done by Friday doesn't mean it actually needs to be those things. Most constraints people give us are soft and vague: they haven't been rigorously tested, pushed or probed to find the real boundaries. This isn't to say designers should do whatever they want. Some of the best designs in history came about because they were challenged by their clients. But good designers are masters at being creative about the creativity.

Perhaps, instead of the car being ten feet tall, what they really want is a car they can fit comfortably in, given that the client is the NBA Cleveland Cavaliers' Shaquille Oneal.

And perhaps it's not a red car they want, but just a car that looks cooler than their neighbors car. Or instead of it all being done Friday, only one important part needs to be done, but the rest can be done by Monday.

People confuse being specific with being accurate. Having details and numbers doesn't mean you understand why those things are the right choices.

The trick in creative work, especially with clients, is how to explore their constraints in such a way that you do not annoy them, but that you understand the problem sufficiently well that you get at core of the problems they need to solve. And then get them to happily acknowledge these are the true problems, rather than assuming their description of their problems is sufficiently well formed to be the true target. The reason why so many projects fail is the lack of this skill on all sides: clients, executives, designers, engineers and customers all stink at this process, and dismiss it as irrelevant.

The fancy word for this is requirements elicitation. But it really just means thinking hard and carefully about requirements, understanding they are a kind of design unto themselves. Someone has to diligently sort through those that contradict, that are poorly formed as well as those that are unnecessary. Prototyping and sketching helps sort this out, but that's just part of the process.

The best book I've ever seen on this is Exploring Requirements, By G. Weinberg. It should be required reading for anyone who solves problems for anyone else. But the big problem is, of the few phrases more boring in this world than project management, requirements gathering is definitely one of them. It needs a slicker name. I hate jargon but I'd be all for something snazzy that gets them to care more about this kind of thinking. (Require-magic? Constraint-O-Rama? Hmmm).

Sometimes you can find a way to make two different constraints reduce down to one, making the problem simpler to solve. A constraint (e.g. requirement) might not be eliminated, but can be bent, shifted, twisted, rephrased, or entirely manipulated (See Kobyiash Maru) to serve your purposes.

A favorite example: for decades the problem with bringing the internet into developing countries was the expense of digging tunnels to put in power, phone and cable lines. The advent of cell phones, where towers are built above ground and no wires are needed, eliminated the constraints around digging and cabling. For many people in the world today their first phones, and first web browsers, are cell phones. A constraint was entirely eliminated by design.

Good ideas can sometimes eliminate seemingly immovable constraints.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Scott Berkun left his job working for Microsoft in 2003 to become a full-time writer and public speaker. He has written three bestselling books. His work can also be found in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, The Guardian, Wired magazine, National Public Radio and other media. This entry was originally posted here.

In the Information Age—with the internet at our fingertips and augmented reality no longer a topic for science fiction—knowledge is more accessible than ever before. Technology acts as a portal and distributor of knowledge and, in many ways, levels the playing field.

So, if knowledge doesn’t offer the edge it used to, what does? According to Tom Monahan, former ad agency bigwig and a creative powerhouse, it’s imagination that holds the differentiating power knowledge used to. 

When interviewed by HOWdesign.com back in 2008, Monahan commented that though we’ve come up with technology that “can do linear thought and come up with a conclusion,” that technology still “can’t use its imagination.”

How’s that for job security for creative professionals?

Imagination and innovation go hand in hand. In a previous post, we talked about methods for generating ideas and making innovation an action—becoming innovative in thought itself. So what if we flip the coin and look at innovation not from the individual’s perspective, but from an organizational point of view? What can organizations do to create an environment that nurtures and incubates innovative ideas?

Diego Rodriguez wrote an interesting article on businessweek.com, Happiness and the Art of Innovation, addressing how companies can support innovative thought. The gist: “help happiness bloom, and innovative behavior will follow.” Happy employees are more imaginative, more creative and more motivated.

Rodriguez goes on to talk about both personal happiness and achieving a state of mind referred to as “flow.” Summing up Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s concept of flow, Rodriguez says, “Flow occurs when the complexity of the thing you’re doing just outstrips your ability to get it done. In other words, it’s challenging, but not overwhelmingly so.”

As the article goes on to explain, happy people who are “in a state of flow” are more likely to innovate. Just as fearful employees are less likely to share ideas, bored employees are less likely to come up with new earth-shattering ones.

Read the full article here to learn more about the concepts of happiness and flow in relation to innovation and imagination. Then, see what you can do!  

We’ve all been there. Suddenly a project feels just like the last. It’s the same IA, the same design, the same headline, the same creative brief, all over again. And while you’re confronting that monster of monotony, the word innovation rings in your ears (mocking you, maybe just a little).

So what do you do when you feel like you’re banging your head against the wall? It’s easy to throw around that million dollar word—innovation—in meetings and goal statements, but how can you make it not a noun or an adjective, but a verb. How do you put innovation into action?

Here are some tips and tactics for moving past the burnout phase (you know, when you want to just stick your head in the sand) to look at a problem or project with fresh eyes.

1. Rephrase the question or problem you’re trying to solve. Better yet, write down a whole series of questions (aim for 10) relating to the problem/project.
2. Think in terms of action. Make a list of verbs describing what you want your product/design/copy/etc. to do (or incite other people to do).
3. Walk away (literally). Take a break and do something physical, even if it’s just a walk around the block. Let your subconscious do the heavy lifting for a little while.
4. Keep an inspiration folder that you can turn to when you’re stuck on a problem. Stash magazine pages, images, designs, layouts, ticket stubs, text and anything else you find interesting or inspiring in the folder.
5. Form a focus group to discuss the project.
6. Look at the problem from a different vantage point. How might the point of view of an ant on the ground or an alien from outer space provide some new insight?
7. Reconsider the methodology. Ask yourself, “How would _____ think about this?” For example, how would a scientist, a painter or the President approach the problem? 
8. Free write—grab a piece of paper, a pen and a clock and find a quiet space. For 10 to 15 minutes, free write on the subject at hand. Don’t cross out words or edit as you go. And above all, don’t judge your ideas. Just aim to keep your pen moving the entire time.
9. Change your self-talk or inner dialogue. Beating yourself up or constantly mulling over how impossible a task is won’t help. Instead, engage in a positive inner dialogue. Be confident that you will create an effective solution for the task at hand.
10. Find novelty—change your environment by heading to a new locale or listening to different music. See what kind of new associations or perceptions arise from the change.  

So, what works for you? What strategies do you use to move from stagnation to innovation? We’d love to hear your ideas!

Let’s take a quick (completely unscientific) poll here.

How many of you carry a sketchbook around with you?

Now, how many of you have traded in your old Moleskine or scrap paper for a digital sketching tool (or you’re holding your breath until there’s a tried and true stylus for the iPad)?

Whatever mode or mechanism you choose, what’s the role of sketching as part of the creative process, and how is technology supporting—or maybe even changing—that process?

Most designers and visual artists rely on sketching for a number of reasons. In her post Prisoners of Logic on Design Observer, Jessica Helfand talks about sketching as “a clearinghouse of subconscious thought,” a way to (ideally) move past logic and experiment with freedom of form. On another note, visual and web designers may use live sketching in meetings to make the discovery process more engaging, dynamic and collaborative. Sketching is also an integral step in designing user interfaces and experiences (and we’ve talked before about the pros and cons of computer-based sketchy wireframes).

And, of course, since designers of all types are pre-programmed to show, not tell, sketching is simply part of the thought process.

With that said, we’re interested in knowing what you find more useful—old school pen and paper (like Jason Robb on UX Booth supports in this blog post) or digital tools like Cintiq or Brushes on the iPhone? (And while you’re contemplating that question, check out this time-elapsed video showing how Jorge Colombo drew The New Yorker’s June 2009 cover by virtually finger painting using Brushes. . . it’s pretty sweet.)

So the question remains: does the convenience of a multitasking tool like a phone, digital display or software win out? Or do you relish the tangible nature of hand grasping pen? Whichever you prefer, the only non-argument seems to be that sketching remains a prevalent and important part of design in all forms, whether as a problem-solving approach or simply a means of finding inspiration—and maybe even sheer enjoyment. 

Image: Jorge Colombo’s June 2009 cover for The New Yorker was created using Brushes on the iPhone.

So this may be a few days late, but if you’ve slacked off in the New Year’s Resolutions department (like yours truly), then the resolution generator is just the ticket. At least you’ll have some creative answer in case the boss, a client or your cube mate asks. . .

My resolution according to the New Year’s oracle: “Stop. Collaborate. (And Listen.)” Vanilla Ice couldn’t have said it better himself.

Some other good ones, whether as resolutions or just simple daily reminders, include “Do what I love,” “Talk more, Tweet less,” and (my favorite of the bunch) “Frost cupcakes.” Who could argue with those?

From Swiss railway stations to the Michelin Man, design inspiration is everywhere. Thirty renowned creative professionals, including architects, designers, authors and brand leaders, talk about what inspires them most and what problem design should solve next on the site Thirty Conversations on Design.

In short video clips, these luminaries discuss a range of ideas and issues, challenging other designers to think broadly and design cultures, not just objects.

Thirty Conversations on Design is a great place to turn to stimulate ideas and reignite your enthusiasm for design.

With simple—but unexpected—facts scrawled in a childlike hand and accompanied by playful illustrations (somewhat reminiscent of Hugh MacLeod’s business card drawings), the website Learn Something Every Day is full of surprises. Even if you already knew that David Bowie has a spider species named after him, perhaps you weren’t aware that you can make diamonds out of tequila. (But don’t try it at home.) Or that an ostrich’s eye is bigger than its brain. If you’ve ever been around kids, you’re probably not too surprised to learn that a four year old asks around 400 questions a day. But did you know children grow faster during spring?

Check it out yourself to learn something ironic, surprising or even enlightening on a daily basis.

Typographer and illustrator Jessica Hische delivers a new hand-crafted decorative initial cap five days weekly. For noncommercial use on websites or blogs, these Daily Drop Caps are just the thing to add a touch of refinement or a dash of panache to your online musings.

How often does empathy factor into your business strategy? How frequently do you withhold any judgment of new ideas? How often do you build prototypes or storyboards to really let a concept speak for itself? How many ideas in your business truly grow from the ground up?

If you’ve adopted design thinking as a paradigm to generate and implement new ideas within your business, you’d be spending a lot of time on all of the above.

In a previous post, Design Thinking and Innovation, I shared the characteristics of design thinking as a way for businesses to cultivate more ideas and become more nimble in the climate of an economic downturn. Some of the main tenets of a design thinking mindset include:

• Redefining the problem or challenge
• Using observation to diagnose problems
• Thinking broadly, not just deeply
• Looking from the point of view of the end-user (empathy)
• Prototyping
• Allowing an incubation period for ideas
• Continually reexamining the problem and the implemented solutions (and modifying those solutions as necessary)

A recent article on BNET highlights more ways “to supercharge your business” by embracing design thinking (whether or not design is your forte, or even your industry).

Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO (the design firm founded by David Kelley, who coined “design thinking” as a term and a methodology), discusses how design thinking emerges from a culture of experimentation, ideation and open-mindedness. And no matter what the product, service or business model, Brown advocates a user-centered approach and an egalitarian exchange of ideas within the workplace.

Check out the interview with Brown, Need to Supercharge Your Business? Think Like a Designer.