innovation

I've had the honor recently of being asked to moderate discussion of REWORK by Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson (of 37signals) on the Business Innovation Factory's BIF Book Group. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book, and as with other of their writings, take much of it to heart. They have taken a lot of time and effort to impart a lot of what they've learned over the years in a way that is easy to understand and apply to many more endeavors than just software.

It's hard to single out one high point from the myriad during the first day - but it's worth pointing out that in a day packed with luminaries from Fast Company, Zappos, RISD and more - the standing ovations were reserved for two young women - one in high school, one in middle. One a poetic orator whose poise and delivery made all others pale in comparison, the other a 7th grader who has done more good to further recycling and green biodiesel home fuel for the needy than most may do in their lifetime.

Recently the topic of complicated versus complex has come up both in relation to a book group discussion I was leading on REWORK and also with an online Twitter-based chat I was moderating on innovation. It's pretty central to everything I've learned, experienced and thought about with regard to design, so it seemed worth it to capture it here.

Just a quick note this morning. I spoke yesterday to Mitch's graphic design class at Rhode Island College. Saw one of my professors too - Nanch Bockbrader sat in on my lecture. I have to admit - that was pretty cool. Much of what I do and how I work as a designer was shaped by Nancy. She was adamant about being able to communicate about design: what you did, how you came to the choices you made about typography, why you used particular color palettes.

For three years, Gott Advertising (full disclosure: Kevin Gottesman is my cousin, and also happens to be one of the nicest people I know, and a constant inspiration to me) has been building, managing and optimizing online advertising campaigns for the world’s leading non-profits, charities, and progressive organizations.

I was invited to a book talk given by Steven Johnson about his latest work, The Invention of Air. This is the story of Joseph Priestly and the contributions he made in 'natural philosophy', religion and politics during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. I picked up the book and was pretty intrigued with the first chapter and went to the talk. I have to say it was one of the best events I've attended recently.