In a recent interview with Haydn Shaughnessy, gallery owner and writer for the Irish Times, I talked at length about the differences between design thinking and iconic design. As is often the case when people first encounter the somewhat vague notion of design thinking, they want to know how it differs from Design itself.

His question was something like: "Are you talking about the democratization of design, versus iconic design'? And, while I've not yet heard it framed explicitly like that, I think that's exactly what we are talking about. But what is the difference?

Iconic design, which is indeed a much more elevated notion, is about beauty, skill, essence, and talent. In this world, let's face it, some people have special artistic and creation gifts. Their creations reflect this. There is really no way around this. So, at an elemental level, design will always be important in this transcendent way. It adds beauty and sparkle to life.

Design thinking, though, is also important for humanity in a much larger sense. Design thinking is a humble, constraints-loving approach to solving problems. The larger the remit for design thinking becomes, the more hairy the wicked problems it can address: global climate change, technology for the developing world, technology for sustainability, the redesign of workplaces to support work/life balance and humanistic values, improvement of medical technologies and patient experiences, etc

Innovate or Perish

In a recent piece in the Harvard Design Magazine, David Celento suggests that the future relevance of architecture lies in its ready embrace of new technologies and a user-centric, design-oriented approach to building. While this is common sense enough among many architects (though definitely not all), he warns that our obsession with Starchitects (think Frank Gehry, Norm Foster) becomes a kind of navel gazing that distracts us from the power of architecture to build the kinds of environments that have the potential to make the world a better place.

At its core, the argument is between design thinking and iconic design. Of course, those most vehement in their defense of iconic design are iconic designers. I guess this is somewhat understandable.

But what about the rest of us?

The Butcher