Thanks so much for this insightful essay. I run a regional art museum and our field continues to value and rely on human design.
My adult sons are both in design related fields-and are integrating AI into their process.
My late husband was a composer who embraced sampling and digital engineering in his field.
However he continued to work with acoustic instruments and at the end of his life treasured his connection to the embodied experience of playing his fiddle, etc.
Thank you so much for sharing, Corey. I’m so happy you enjoyed reading and that it sparked some insight for you. Sounds like you have a creative family that enjoys subtleties.
I love playing string instruments and have experimented at length with digital music, and very much resonate with your late husband’s experience there. There’s a visceral part of it that can’t be replaced. He sounds like someone I would have enjoyed.
Running a regional museum sounds like a great experience and I’m so happy to hear design is valued there. I’m curious how your field relies on human design and what type of work you bring help in for?
And what fields are your sons in? I hope they are excited by the possibilities of AI and thinking a few steps ahead.
My eldest is a design researcher who’s worked in UX, product design and strategic planning
My second son is a geographer/cartographer who both makes maps (has a book about LACounty with 34 of his maps coming out next April) and works for the Business of Cities in London.
At MMA we still count on graphic design for digital, print and gallery designs. We don’t have an exhibition designer but most museums do. And of course we work with hundreds of visual artists including folks who also do design work.
I worked for 30 years in professional theatre as a producer and director before shifting to museums. There— we work with all kinds of designers.
I’ve been trying to be less consumerist, which makes me laugh given I’ve always worked in retail marketing. Ultimately well designed products really do enhance our lives. They’re solves for everyday problems.
That is very self aware of you Jennifer! It’s a great habit to have. I do wonder how much of the reduced buying behavior I’ve been hearing about lately is cultural vs economic, though it maybe is splitting hairs separating the two. In general this is a trend of behavior that I’m loving, and I’m very happy you are in it :)
And yes well designed products really do. Future article idea I want to write, but there’s a conundrum I often think about with the field of Design… if you approach it as problem solving, then it’s almost always a mistake to scale up a full time design team vs have a core team + flex work, unless you have infinite problems to solve.
Once you solve the problem, if the capability doesn’t move to the next thing, you get locked into iterating simply to rationalize existing or to create desire to sell more “versions” that solve the problem differently and not better. The example I always use is the Touch Bar added to MacBooks (innovation!) then removed a few years later (innovation!). Over-design for the sake of rationalizing existence, when really, that talent would be better aimed elsewhere.
You also get lateral innovation for free when you move designers around between problem spaces.
This is partially why I’ve broken off into my own practice for now!
Ethan! Thank you, and I hope you are getting some good pondering from them :)
Regular zoom outs are def something I want to be doing more regularly. It’s so easy to get sucked into the deeper layers of things and forget what brought us there in the first place. AI is just making that all the more important right now.
This is very true Meenakshi. Much of what is happening with design is happening across any form of knowledge work. We have a lot of change ahead of us that we will need to adapt to so that we can keep the good things good :)
Proud of you for sharing ❤️
❤️❤️
Thanks so much for this insightful essay. I run a regional art museum and our field continues to value and rely on human design.
My adult sons are both in design related fields-and are integrating AI into their process.
My late husband was a composer who embraced sampling and digital engineering in his field.
However he continued to work with acoustic instruments and at the end of his life treasured his connection to the embodied experience of playing his fiddle, etc.
Thank you so much for sharing, Corey. I’m so happy you enjoyed reading and that it sparked some insight for you. Sounds like you have a creative family that enjoys subtleties.
I love playing string instruments and have experimented at length with digital music, and very much resonate with your late husband’s experience there. There’s a visceral part of it that can’t be replaced. He sounds like someone I would have enjoyed.
Running a regional museum sounds like a great experience and I’m so happy to hear design is valued there. I’m curious how your field relies on human design and what type of work you bring help in for?
And what fields are your sons in? I hope they are excited by the possibilities of AI and thinking a few steps ahead.
All the best :)
My eldest is a design researcher who’s worked in UX, product design and strategic planning
My second son is a geographer/cartographer who both makes maps (has a book about LACounty with 34 of his maps coming out next April) and works for the Business of Cities in London.
At MMA we still count on graphic design for digital, print and gallery designs. We don’t have an exhibition designer but most museums do. And of course we work with hundreds of visual artists including folks who also do design work.
I worked for 30 years in professional theatre as a producer and director before shifting to museums. There— we work with all kinds of designers.
I’ve been trying to be less consumerist, which makes me laugh given I’ve always worked in retail marketing. Ultimately well designed products really do enhance our lives. They’re solves for everyday problems.
That is very self aware of you Jennifer! It’s a great habit to have. I do wonder how much of the reduced buying behavior I’ve been hearing about lately is cultural vs economic, though it maybe is splitting hairs separating the two. In general this is a trend of behavior that I’m loving, and I’m very happy you are in it :)
And yes well designed products really do. Future article idea I want to write, but there’s a conundrum I often think about with the field of Design… if you approach it as problem solving, then it’s almost always a mistake to scale up a full time design team vs have a core team + flex work, unless you have infinite problems to solve.
Once you solve the problem, if the capability doesn’t move to the next thing, you get locked into iterating simply to rationalize existing or to create desire to sell more “versions” that solve the problem differently and not better. The example I always use is the Touch Bar added to MacBooks (innovation!) then removed a few years later (innovation!). Over-design for the sake of rationalizing existence, when really, that talent would be better aimed elsewhere.
You also get lateral innovation for free when you move designers around between problem spaces.
This is partially why I’ve broken off into my own practice for now!
Important questions to start the year! The regular zoom outs sound like a great practice, even without AI causing so much turmoil and disruption 🤔
Ethan! Thank you, and I hope you are getting some good pondering from them :)
Regular zoom outs are def something I want to be doing more regularly. It’s so easy to get sucked into the deeper layers of things and forget what brought us there in the first place. AI is just making that all the more important right now.
Hope you are enjoying your trip!
It is same as any other field of engineering and services to the same for the good 😊 and field expertise in the same for the good 😊
This is very true Meenakshi. Much of what is happening with design is happening across any form of knowledge work. We have a lot of change ahead of us that we will need to adapt to so that we can keep the good things good :)
Thanks for the insightful perspective for the same for the good 😊
Thank you for reading! 🙏🏻
good execution is discernment and tactility!