Design’s Lost Generation

Closer to home, architecture is the hardest design profession to study and get into and has incredibly high standards. Architects can debate style and aesthetics all night, but at the end of the day, their shit has to be up to code. Architects have to make sure that engineers and contractors carry our their intention  and  are ready

There are two words every designer needs to feel comfortable saying: “no” and “why.”  Those words are the foundation of what we do. They’re the foundation of building an ethical framework. If we cannot ask “why” we lose the ability to judge whether the work we’re doing is ethical. If we cannot say “no ”  we lose the ability to stand and f

We need to Slow. The. Fuck. Down. And pay attention to what we’re actually designing. 

The current generation of designers have spent their careers learning how to work faster and faster and faster. And while there’s certainly something to be said for speed, excessive speed tends to blur one’s purpose.  To get products through that gate before anyone noticed what they were and how foul they smelled. Because we broke some things.

There’s no longer room in Silicon Valley to ask why. Designers are tasked with moving fast and breaking things.  How  has become more important than why.  How  fast can we make this?  How  can we grab the most market share?  How  can we beat our competitors to market?