Johann,
Should we be identifying our existing Newtons of Design Thinking and
be giving them the power to deal with the big problems?
That is, ask Steve Jobs or Jame Dyson to identify solutions for
Detroit or global warming. In most organizations the more senior a
manager is, the less they are able to find new solutions.
Rob
www.curedale.com
On Sun, Mar 1, 2009 at 9:55 AM, Johann van der Merwe
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> To Rob, Ken and others
> 'Passion' is what students of design seem to lack today - whether you
> translate that as curiosity (not 'mere', but the 'I simply have to find
> out' kind) or innovation (I want to do something different, but how?) or
> creativity (the finger-itching, mind-buzzing kind) - these are all
> manifestations of the agency/structure dance of life (or should be).
> Perhaps Terry should travel 60km to buy a small something on more
> occasions, perhaps we should follow 'a whim' more often in
> Wittgenstein's sense of trying to identify landmarks in the fog that at
> first surrounds as as we search for something new and innovative that
> can also inspire us as human beings.
>
> Passion can be outlandishly and operatically loud and still be creative,
> or it could be very quite and not be noticed until something triggers
> it, as in this story of the fish soup:
> http://www.clusterflock.org/2009/01/a-meal-in-venice-1978.html
>
> This is perhaps what Ken had in mind with 'appropriate passion'? - in
> this example something that simply drives you, at that moment, to do
> either better than before, or to do something you have never before
> attempted, because 'in the moment' you realise you do not have to do it
> alone - agency and structure comes alive as one fluid and unfolding
> movement.
>
> Rob writes: 'I intuitively think that these type of personalities are
> born with the potential capacity to transform though they probably also
> require nurturing environments.' Even those not 'born with' these
> passionate natures can be nurtured in design education to care more -
> that is happening to our product design students as if by nature and not
> nuture. Expose them to systemic and holistic design thinking and varying
> degrees of 'passion' start to emerge. They WANT to change things for the
> better ... their 'passion' begins with becoming more involved with those
> (underserved-by-design/disadvantaged) they can design for.
>
>
> Johann
>
> Johann van der Merwe
> HOD: Research, History & Theory of Design
> Faculty of Informatics and Design
> Cape Peninsula University of Technology
> South Africa
>
--
Rob Curedale | President | Curedale Inc | 22148 Monte Vista Drive
Topanga Canyon CA 90290 USA | tel: +1 310.455.2636 studio | cell: +1
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