Yesterday evening I went to the V&A to hear John Maeda. To be very honest, I didn’t know too much about him. I had read a few things at Dezeen and the internet but nothing in depth. The main reason to make my way there was because the talk’s synopsis was very appellative: “…argues that in addition to science, technology, engineering and math, innovation also requires intuition, design, emotion, and art (IDEA).”
I left the museum pretty happy, I must say. The only thing on my mind was the answer for my endless questions about myself for many many years: “Who am I? Where do I stand in the professional world? Am I a designer? Am I a business woman? Why is my professional life such a saga? Why I am never satisfied with my professional achievements? Why do I always want to do and experiment every career path(within design and business)?” And finally I found my “raison d’être”. But this is to be discussed another time.
Back to his discussion: he questioned how technology took away from us the real 'body' feeling of things and how & why we should bring them back. How we can use art + design to improve business. How art + design is the basis to technology + business. Humanity and technology: where they do relate.
We all know art + design is the key to solve economic problems (I go even further saying it’s the key to solve political problems too). A few companies have had experienced the “art + design technique” – Yahoo, Google, Facebook, advertisement companies, etc but let’s be pragmatic to realize these are already creative businesses. In other words: we know it but it’s been difficult to apply it – the theory is written but everyone has been resistant to put it in to practice.
Now I raise another question mark, if I may.
I believe there’s something else we need to tackle: the yet gap to became a bridge to move forward. We, designers and artists must understand why everyone has been so resistant to put the car on the road. We are almost there, but not quite yet.
As J. Maeda said, this is the right time to do it. Let’s just do it.
PS – this talk and John Maeda have inspired me to write every week a column on my blog about my endless questions about my design + my business. Stay tuned and brainstorm with me on how we can make life even more beautiful through design + art together with business.
7 comments:
Well I'm the same as you then, I always feel like there is something I could be doing better, faster and the list goes on! Great post!
Hey, this is a great post, Eliana; I particularly liked this bit - it made me chuckle: "And finally I found my “raison d’être”. But this is to be discussed another time." Hehe, indeed; I'm looking forward to that. :)
this talk was so important to me. i realised my full potential as a designer, noe i just hope to be able to express all that.
Wow! Eliana this is a great post. You have me hooked.. definilty going to follow this closely. You have really touched a subject that many people can realte too.
Elleta
This is an eternal struggle for us all, Eli. I am interested to hear and see how you conquer or integrate it your methodology. Perhaps the advice of taking the artistic solutions and applying them to life are in order. We, as artists spend so much time fitting into a non-intuitive non-functioning world -- it is time we reshaped that world to fit us and how we work!
Rae, as you probably realized I’m not a ‘methodological’ person at all. I tend not to follow rules or techniques. Instead I do follow my intuition all the time, my gut. So please don’t expect the solution for economical / financial / sociological / psychological / among other problems in here. In this column I want to think out loud and share my answers for my always big questions as a creative person. And another thing I want is to share my own professional experience as a designer in the business world / creative leadership.
Now, there’s something I believe: the Non-Intuitive World should bend to us, but we, designers & artists, should bend to them too. One of the big problems is always the tension within the professional world - how can we work this out?
That, Eli, was just my point. I await your thoughts as indeed it will be a mini-brainstorm we all can participate in. And yes, you have a method...it's just not a realized and conscious one...
Yes we can teach business and business can teach us. It's just havingthe open mind to embrace
synergy between the art world and the business world -- hopefully it is not a total pipe-dream.
I anticipate....
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