[Hidden-tech] Event 5/7 - Design Thinking: The Game-Changing Strategy of Human-Centered Innovation

[Lisa Hoag]

Come Experience the Game-Changing Power of Design Thinking:
an Introduction to Design Thinking Including a "DesignStormer" Rapid
Brainstorming Session.

*Design Thinking: The Game Changing Strategy of Human Centered Innovation*
http://www.meetup.com/Design-Venturers-Western-Mass/events/221697034/

WHEN: Thursday, May 7, 2015
6:30 PM to 9:00 PM

WHERE: Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center
100 Bigelow St., Holyoke, MA

In the Community Room. Free to DVWM members, 5$ donation for non-members at
the door

Hello to All Creatives and Innovators (aka everyone :),

"The emerging creative, innovative class … will be the dominating force for
the next economy of the 21st century." ~George Kotsmetsky, "The Economic
Transformation of the United States: 1950 - 2000"

WHY:
Come learn why Design Thinking is THE essential game-changing strategic
skill set for innovation, which will be mission critical for business
success in the emerging global creative economy of the 21st century. It is
of even more vital importance for those of us engaged in the creative
industries to become adept in its principles.

Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO, defines Design Thinking thus:
“Design thinking is a human-centered approach to innovation that draws from
the designer's toolkit to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities
of technology, and the requirements for business success.

"Thinking like a designer can transform the way organizations develop
products, services, processes, and strategy. This approach, which IDEO
calls design thinking, brings together what is desirable from a human point
of view with what is technologically feasible and economically viable. It
also allows people who aren’t trained as designers to use creative tools to
address a vast range of challenges."

WHAT:
I'll be giving a presentation and introduction to the principles of Design
Thinking and Human-Centered Design, how to understand the six stages of the
design thinking process and how to employ it as an effective and advanced
problem solving and innovation tool, which can be applied to any challenge.
It's principles can be applied solo, or as an effective method for
collaborative team innovation.

6:30pm: Schmooze, network and meet

7:00pm: Introduction to the Power of Design Thinking, with a breakout of
the six phases of the design thinking process, the design thinking
brainstorming "rules", and a half hour "lightningstormer" brainstorming
session, to give you a taste of design thinking's power to innovate.

WHO:
Who is this workshop for? Creative Folk aka Everyone :)
Definition of a Designer:
"A Designer is anyone who devises ways to change existing situations into
preferred ones." ~Herbert Simon

We genuinely hope you will join us, from any field, focus or discipline
that could benefit from a creativity-based, human centered process for
innovation :)

This will be a the first in a series of workshops and presentations
designed to help you become fluent in Design Thinking principles and
practice.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions.

Best,

Lisa

MORE about Design Thinking:
In his book, "The Designful Company", Marty Neumeier states that radical
brand differentiation arising from innovation is the most necessary and
"powerful strategy in business for companies, products, and brands to stand
out from a marketplace of increasing clutter". He further adds, "…if
innovation drives differentiation, what drives innovation? The answer,
hidden in plain sight, is design. Design contains the skills to identify
possible futures, invent exciting products, build bridges to customers,
crack wicked problems, and more. If you wanna innovate, you gotta design."

According to Richard Florida in his essay, "The Future of the American
Workforce in the Global Creative Economy", "The U.S. is at the forefront of
[a new] global creative economy. Over the next decade, it’s projected to
add 10 million more creative sector jobs, according to the newest numbers
from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. At the present rate of increase,
creative jobs alone will soon eclipse the total number of jobs in all of
manufacturing. Already, more than 40 million Americans work in the creative
sector, which has grown by 20 million jobs since the 1980s. It accounts for
more than $2 trillion USD—or nearly half—of all wages and salaries paid in
the U.S."

In other words, in the next emerging creative economy, we will see value as
something that we create; that we envision, renew, and foster, rather than
something we extract. We are coming to perceive that in a finite world, a
healthy, sustainable, viable economic system, as well as a genuine strategy
for creating business value must rely on the quality of the relationships
between the elements of any system, and must create value, in the form of
quality of life, for all of its stakeholders. We are coming to recognize
that the potential of the whole is far, far greater than the monetization
of its segregated parts; that true beauty, even in the form of business
value, comes from relationships, and genuinely equitable economic exchange.

In the last economy we have reached and exceeded our goal of maximizing and
stockpiling ever increasing returns, at a pace that now exceeds our
planet's ability to regenerate, or our sustainable capacity as human beings
to "produce". Globally, we are literally unravelling, and coming apart at
the seams. We are losing the experience of life as a wholesome experience.
The paradigm shift that is now imminently necessary for us as a society is
a radical shift towards value in community, which must be accomplished with
astonishing alacrity.

As creatives, we possess a core skill set that is ideally suited for this
monumental mission. For what artists really do, when they are at their
best, is to "see anew", to first so deeply listen and observe the world,
that out of that intensity of observation, arises an entirely original and
unique way of perceiving beauty and value in any subject, in other words -
inspiration. This is what I call deep design. Creativity is part of our
"basic equipment" as human beings. It is not just something that a few
people are born with as "talent". It is a muscle that can grow strong by
practice, just as we strengthen any other muscle in the body through
exercise. Anyone who has ever daydreamed, or appreciated a beautiful spring
day, or devised a solution to a problem, is exercising their innate gift of
creativity. What artists then do in addition to the practice of
inspirational "seeing" that all human beings do, is to create something new
out of their observations, which communicates their vision to others. As
creatives (and again, we are all creative), it is our job to rewrite the
conversation about the job that art does in our society. Art and design at
a high level are not gift wrapping at the end of a process. They are meant
to re-envision core structures and concepts for any project, in order to
renew beauty and elegance in human experience.

REFERENCES:
• "Change by Design" by Tim Brown, president and CEO of IDEO
http://www.amazon.com/Change-Design-Transforms-Organizations-Innovation/dp/0061766089

• IDEO's Definition of Design Thinking:
http://www.ideo.com/about/

• "The Designful Company", by Marty Neumeier
http://www.liquidagency.com/thedesignfulcompanybook/
http://www.amazon.com/The-Designful-Company-culture-innovation/dp/0321580060

• "The Economic Transformation of the United States: 1950 - 2000",
by George Kotsmetsky and Piyu Yue | http://tinyurl.com/lrpavws

• "The Future of the American Workforce in the Global Creative Economy", by
Richard Florida
http://www.cato-unbound.org/2006/06/04/richard-florida/future-american-workforce-global-creative-economy

• The Design Thinking Toolkit for Educators:
http://www.ideo.com/work/toolkit-for-educators

• Definition of a Designer:
A Designer is anyone who devises ways to change existing situations into
preferred ones. ~Herbert Simon

THANK YOU :)
This Series is Co-Sponsored by Design Venturers Western Mass
<http://www.meetup.com/Design-Venturers-Western-Mass> and The ARTery Project
<https://www.facebook.com/HolyokeARTery?ref=hl>.

WHAT IS THE ARTERY?
The ARTery Project is programming infrastructure to support our ultimate
economic resource - human creativity. It empowers members of the community
to be expressive, innovative, productive and profitable with their ideas
and their talents by pooling the partners' abilities to provide the space,
tools, business development resources and marketplace opportunities
necessary to successfully produce and sell work, navigate self-employment,
manage growth, create jobs to drive an economy.

The Adams Arts Program is a grant funded by the Massachusetts Cultural
Council (MCC), which has been supporting “creative economy initiatives
throughout Massachusetts for more than a decade.” The Holyoke Creative Arts
Center has been awarded a two-year Adams Grant to support The ARTery
project, which will introduce creative industries Training and business
development resources to the HCAC in collaboration with the City of
Holyoke, the Greater Holyoke Chamber of Commerce, the Western MA Council on
Economic Development and local artists and businesses. The project will
foster creative enterprise in Holyoke by establishing an infrastructure
that improves the economic wherewithal for artists and innovators to make a
living by providing business and professional resources.

About ME : )
Lisa Hoag is an award winning artist and designer who has worked
professionally in the field of art and design for 30+ years. She graduated
with honors from Parsons School of Design, in New York, where she majored
in Fine Art. Subsequently she lived and studied art in Paris for two years,
where she participated in a fine arts residency/work/study program there.
She is a color and design consultant for the Town of Wendell, as well as
many artists, designers and architectural clients. She teaches sculpture,
fine art and design principles, and provides workshops in Design Thinking
and Collaborative Team Innovation. She has lived in Western Mass, designing
and creating artwork in her studio in Wendell, MA since 1990. She has a
passion for creativity and innovative business models. In 2011, she founded
Design Venturers Western Mass, a transdisciplinary design organization,
whose purpose is threefold: to increase the opportunities for artists, art
and design to be present in everyday life; to provide cross-pollination and
inspiration across design disciplines; and to turn innovation challenges,
artistic challenges, placemaking, urban renewal, and community challenges,
into design challenges for collaborative teams of artists, designers,
architects, community members, and other stakeholders to a project,
employing the method of design thinking; the problem solving technique of
artists and designers everywhere.

-- 
Lisa Hoag Designs
PO Box 983
Wendell, MA 01379
office: 978-544-7894
mobile: 413-548-4553
http://www.lisahoagdesigns.com
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