Innovation by Design in Scandinavia

Over spring break I visited two of the world's most design-centered cities - Copenhagen and Stockholm - with a group of 25 classmates. Aside from the usual spring break fun and shenanigans, we visited a handful of uniquely innovative companies, including large diabetes and healthcare company Novo Nordisk, the wave-making music start-up Spotify, the"IDEO of Europe", DesignIt, and the constantly-changing telecommunications company Ericcsson. We learned about innovations in sustainability, in healthcare service delivery, in social music, and so much more. I was impressed with these companies, and wondered why the region is particularly dense with successful innovations. After some thought, I boiled it down to three things:

1) Community: Denmark and Sweden are intensely community-driven places; they think of themselves as cohesive tribes. This communal attitude is evident in their social-centered governments, in their approach to public transportation, and in their approach to business innovation. When your perspective is first and foremost aligned to community, you can not only excel at collaborative work process (the birthplace of innovation, contrary to the single man innovator myth), but you can also better envision products and services that scale.

2) Environment: Over and over again, we heard about environment and sustainability - in Copenhagen many spoke of "blue and green" - the well-known (and well-marketed) goal of preserving both the oceans and landscape of their country. Scandinavians are particularly atuned to their physical surroundings, and how their actions and output affect it. This awareness of environment and context is a very important part of creation.

3) Anti-Authority: One nuance that I wasn't expecting is that in many ways, despite their heavily socialist government, Scandinavians are very anti-authority; the way they see it, if there is something that as a community they want to change about their society, they should rise together and do it. This is possible and works, particularly in Denmark, because the nation is very small and so change can be agreed upon and implemented relatively quickly. However the sentiment permeates not just politics but culture and worklife in general, and Scandinavians are definitely not afraid to challenge ideas and the critique the status quo. This is of course an essential part of creative destruction and innovation.

Overall, a very enlightening trip that left me and my classmates with much to ponder...

The group meeting with CEO and Founder of DesignIt (image courtesy of DesignIt)

Winter is Coming

Fall has made its departure from New York, and winter is moving in (Winter is coming...I'm absorbed in the world of Game of Thrones right now). Fall in New York is heaven - if only it wasn't so short. Below and above are photos of the fall leaves in Central Park, and the sketches they inspired. This will be my last winter season in New York (for now...) - I can't say I'll miss it, but there is something wondrous about snow falling on quiet streets.

Can we all be Curators?

Pinterest is a popular new online destination that allows users to snag images from any website they visit and post them to their own personal inspiration boards. A user might have one board with home furnishings, one for fashion, one for pictures of cute puppies, and so on.

Confession: I find Pinterest annoyingly addictive. As I fill my boards with images, I get an odd sense of pride. It’s almost as if I took the images with my own camera or painted with my own brush, instead of snagging them from across the web. When someone “likes” or “repins” my pin, I feel strangely satisfied, as if my sense of style has been corroborated.

Why am I – are we - doing this? I see the value of Pinterest for designers or artists (or even party planners) looking for a way to keep sources organized, but many users seem to be enjoying the service with no direct purpose in mind. Perhaps it all ties back to our developing human need to form our digital identities. We are spending so much of our lives in this new public space, we feel compelled to be constantly defining and redefining and articulating our point of view as it evolves. We do this in the non-digital world all the time, whenever we change our hair or our clothes, our friends, or the way we speak. It makes sense we would carry this over to our digital life. However just because we can create and curate a digital life to share with our online ‘audience’, does it mean we should? It is clear that social sharing is great for a lot of things – discovery, education, entertainment. Facebook thinks we need a social Timeline. But I’m still not convinced it is good for our true sense of self and creative development; the very fact that this type of digital curation is a public act robs it of the authenticity we get from private works of physical creative curation – in journals, or scrapbooks, on canvases, in writing. But perhaps this is all changing...

Art in Motion

This past week Frog Design posted a great collection of motion art videos demonstrating the unique beauty that can be derived from seeing graphics in motion. One piece in particular, a collection of motion graphics work done by the Umeric studio, is in my opinion as visually stimulating and artistic as any painting hanging in a museum:

There are a couple of things I find interesting about this kind of art. One is the fact that it uses motion not just as an additive element, but as the primary vehicle for its aesthetic message; the gliding and pulsing movements of the jelly-fish in the first sequence are the primary elements of the piece . It glows and changes colors and sparkles, adding an extra-terrestrial feel. Then suddenly, it releases a spasm of shiny egg-like balls that float and roll and disperse in gravity-defying direction. These movements connect well with the theme of the MTV brand it portrays – the MTV viewer as a cool, colorful, fish-out-of-water type. Motion (OK and sound a little bit too) communicates this message.

Using motion as a vehicle for artistic message is not new – kinetic art has been around since the 1910s. A few weeks ago I was in Basel, Switzerland (a fun phrase to casually throw in a blog post) and I saw a Jean Tinguely exhibit that featured some of his best kinetic art, including massive pieces like this one:

Jean Tinguely (B. 1925 in Fribourg, Switzerland) was a kinetic artist whose work was said to be a statement against the mass production of material goods. He uses basic industrial mechanics to deconstruct machines so they become creaking skeletons of their former selves – a carousel horse with no carousel, a car with no exterior, a series of jobless wheels and pulleys. The plodding rhythmic motion of the machine is a metaphor for the slow dismal march towards industrialization and standardization. Again, we see here that motion is the primary way the artist communicates his theme and message.

The work of Umeric Studios in some ways is a build on the work of Tinguely – both use motion and deconstructions of machines and objects to portray a message. Tinguely uses mechanical engineering technology; Umeric uses digital graphics technology. Tinguely was making a statement against commercialism; Umeric is a capitalist enterprise, using motion art techniques for branding purposes. Both have created beautiful imagery through motion, and I think demonstrate how some artistic trends can transcend both the high art world and the commercial art world.

Strategic Intuition

This past week an ex-Amazon/current Google engineer, Steve Yegge, accidentally posted an internal memo he had written to his external blog. It has blown the socks off everyone in the tech industry, myself included (I am the mirror image of Yegge, an ex-Googler about to embark on a career at Amazon.)

In the blog post, Yegge extols how Google, a company that does an immense number of things incredibly well, has thus far really missed the boat on building a platform. Given that platforms are probably the holy grail in the technology world right now (Apple, Facebook, and Amazon are all fighting for dominance), this is a pretty big deal. Yegge writes insightfully about the engineering and culture challenges that have held Google back. But more interesting perhaps is how he describes a spark of strategic insight that Amazon’s fearless leader, Jeff Bezos, had that has helped the company pull ahead. Here is how he describes it:

“Bezos realized long before the vast majority of Amazonians that Amazon needs to be a platform. You wouldn't really think that an online bookstore needs to be an extensible, programmable platform. Would you? Well, the first big thing Bezos realized is that the infrastructure they'd built for selling and shipping books and sundry could be transformed into an excellent repurposable computing platform. So now they have the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud, and the Amazon Elastic MapReduce, and the Amazon Relational Database Service, and a whole passel' o' other services…I'm not really sure how Bezos came to this realization -- the insight that he can't build one product and have it be right for everyone. But it doesn't matter, because he gets it…”

Yegge writes that he doesn’t’ know how Bezos came to this insight – but if we use some of the tools that innovation theorists use to understand creative thinking, it begins to become clear. In his description, Yegge points out several things that Bezos did: He learned from his company’s history, made a connection between seemingly disparate businesses (online book sales and cloud computing) and was willing to completely change his strategic vision and viewpoint that he could build one product for everyone. Bingo! There’s a reason why he is being hailed as the next Steve Jobs.

Yegge also goes on to tell incredibly interesting and personal anecdotes about the daunting task of presenting ideas to Bezos, a man he describes as a “ hyper-intelligent alien with a tangential interest in human affairs.” While at Amazon this summer, I saw people literally shaking in their Tevas preparing to present to Bezos. His inscrutable strategic intuition, his laser-focused, take no prisoners, iterate until perfection leadership style permeates all of Amazon culture. And when I saw that, I knew I wanted to work there. It might not always be fun, but it is a hell of an education.

Yegge blogpost links:

https://plus.google.com/112678702228711889851/posts/eVeouesvaVX

https://plus.google.com/110981030061712822816/posts/AaygmbzVeRq

image courtesy of cnn.com http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/27/tech/innovation/jeff-bezos-next-steve-jobs/index.html

Serendipity

I’m back! This blog has been on a hiatus ever since I started business school. For the past year, life has been on hyper-speed: adjusting to life in New York City, figuring out how to survive accounting and corporate finance, recruiting for a summer internship, and meeting a few hundred new friends and classmates. Although this dear blog has suffered, the silver lining is that after a year of new experiences and new education, I’ve many new perspectives and thoughts to share here.

In this post I want to focus on a concept I’ve been thinking about a lot lately – Serendipity.

Most creatives and designers know about serendipity – it is that moment in the creative process when you take a left turn instead of a right, randomly or due to circumstance, and along this new path discover something you wouldn’t have otherwise. Serendipity has been repeatedly cited as a key to innovation and creativity by a number of intellectuals and business leaders. Here are a few notable ones:

“If we’re going to encourage more innovation, it’s not enough for us to just dig in and work harder. We also need to encourage surprise and serendipity. We need to play each other’s instruments.” ~ Steven Johnson, Innovation Writer

“In order to have creativity, you have to allow for dead ends to happen” ~ Christoph Niemann, Illustrator

“You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.” ~ Steve Jobs

“Do stuff. Be clenched, curious. Not waiting for inspiration’s shove or society’s kiss on your forehead. Pay attention. It’s all about paying attention. Attention is vitality. It connects you with others. It makes you eager. Stay eager.” ~ Susan Sontag, Author & Philosopher

Clearly, serendipity and a willingness to get a little lost are well recognized foundations for creativity and innovation. With today’s increasing complex and squeezed global economy, creativity and innovation skills are not ‘nice to haves’ – they are necessities. Just ask some our leading economists - the task-driven, standardized jobs of the past are gone from America, sent either to cheaper labor sources abroad, or to machines and robots. The economy is changing, and we need to change with it.

These trends are leading more and more people towards careers that focus on creativity, innovation, and complex or technical problem-solving. And as more and more workforce supply rushes to these areas, the desire to standardize it is strong. For example, one of the most popular movements right now in entrepreneurship is the “Lean Start-up” – a philosophy coined by entrepreneur Eric Ries that centers on applying lean manufacturing principles (rapid scientific experimentation, validated learning, etc.) to the creativity and innovation-driven entrepreneurship process. My own business school has a course entitled “Systematic Creativity” that teaches a similar doctrine.

All of this is in many ways fantastic – if innovation and creative process can be taught and therefore learned, capital can flow to high-value ventures more often and more efficiently, the world gets more marketable innovations, and therefore more prosperity.

But what are some of the consequences of the standardization of innovation? Where does this leave serendipity?

One of the great political economists, Joseph Schumpeter, foresaw this tension and articulated it well in his prose 'Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy':

“It is much easier now than it has been in the past to do things that lie outside familiar routine – innovation itself is being reduced to routine. Technological progress is increasingly becoming the business of teams of trained specialists who turn out what is required and make it work in predictable ways. The romance of earlier commercial adventure is rapidly wearing away, because so many more things can be strictly calculated that had of old to be visualized as a flash of genius”.

The truthfulness of this quote and its direct application to today’s reality struck me the first time I read it. Technological progress has indeed made it possible for teams of specialists to converge across disciplines and borders to innovate (for example, the IDEOs and Googles of the world). Technology, huge pools of customer data, and scholarly analysis have shown us how to create an environment and organizational structure conducive to the success of these teams of specialists. Thus, we reduce to routine what they do, eliminating the “magic” from entrepreneurship and innovation, and re-envisioning it as simply another enterprise functional area.

Thinking about the issue through this lens, I get worried. I worry that this approach underestimates the important role of serendipity and random connection. I worry that educational institutions and corporations, anxious to replicate this successful model of innovation, will focus on churning out specialists from an early age, and will rob students and workers of the ability to wander, to explore, to change course, to indulge in diversions outside of their specialty. And what a shame that would be, to lose our next generation of Johnsons, Niemanns, Jobs and Sontags because we were so focused on the standardization of innovation and on “the race to win the future”, as Obama has put it.

Perhaps the best way to really digest this idea is to turn inward. Our lives are riddled with serendipitous events – how often have you said to a friend, “had that unexpected event X not happened, I wouldn’t have had the fortuitous opportunity for Y!”. For me, a big pivot point happened senior year of college. As a political science major (which I chose rather randomly because of one particularly great high school history teacher), I felt sure I wanted to be a lawyer. But as chance would have it (or perhaps my tendency to focus less on studying and more on my friends and boyfriend at the time), I didn’t do so hot on the LSAT. So I didn’t apply to law school that year. But still bent on a career in policy, I applied to a prestigious government fellowship in Sacramento – I was the first runner-up, but didn’t get the position. Confused and aimless, I moved to San Francisco and applied for any job I could find. Randomly (serendipitously), a Google recruiter found my resume on Monster.com, and called me for an interview. And I can say with relative certainty that I would not be where I am today, here in New York City, at business school, thinking about innovation, and pursuing what I feel in my gut is my destined path, had it not been for that turn of events.

The power and possibility of serendipity is strong, and we’ve got to find a place for it in our schools, in our workplaces, and in our lives.

JR's TED Prize wish: Use art to turn the world inside out | Video on TED.com

JR's TED Prize wish: Use art to turn the world inside out | Video on TED.com

JR's talk about how art can change the world is incredibly inspiring. enjoy!

Polaroid-ization

Facebook is a terrible and soul-wrenching time (and mind) suck – this we all know to be true. But indulge once in a while, with your social anthropologist’s hat on (mine is a Holmes-style deerstalker), and you can unearth some pretty interesting cultural trends amongst ‘friends’ and networks. [In fact, dear Facebook: instead of surreptitiously selling my data to advertisers and partner websites, why not give me more power to accumulate data and analytics on my own friends and network? Oh the creative things I could do with this information!...but I digress...]

One phenomena I have observed in my mini-feed lately is the plethora of Polaroid-style, sepia colored photographs proudly and artistically uploaded and shared by friends. This nostalgic photographic craze seems to parallel the rise of the camera-enabled smart phone, and in particular the iPhone. A popular iPhone app converts pictures taken with the phone’s camera into retro-style Polaroids. Here are some examples:

It’s not just smart-phone power users and geeky photographers who are adapting this aesthetic. Polaroid-ization has gone mainstream across many media types – for example, check out the newest music video from the indie pop band 'The Girls', who adapt the aesthetic to film. Major retailer J.Crew is currently featuring a Polaroid-inspired motif on their homepage. Polaroid, the company that actually started it all and incidentally filed for bankruptcy in 2001, recently launched a slick new website and is partnering with Lady Gaga to be their new ‘Creative Director and Brand Ambassador’.

If Lady Gaga is on-board, you know something very apropos is going on here.

So, as usual, this all begs the question – what does it mean? Why this incessant interest in reverting back to lo-tech – not just with photography, but also more broadly as an aesthetic? And, perhaps even more interestingly, what does it mean that we are creating and romanticizing this lo-tech, 'pure' aesthetic with high-tech digital devices?

To me, the rise of the Polaroid represents society’s current ambivalence towards the ascendancy of digital technology in the media space. It seems that almost all media we consume these days is digital or virtual, from photography to books to online video, even birthday invitations (evite, anyone?). We consume this media on our computers, ipads, kindles, ipods, smart phones….and so on. No doubt digitalization allows us to consume a lot of media very quickly, and also allows for very broad access - all very good things. But there is something important about holding a photograph in your hand, or experiencing the colors of a painting in person, or reading the words off a crisp white page that you can turn, mark, smell. Perhaps what digitalization is lacking is a sense of physical intimacy with images - experiencing an image with our complete range of senses and not just through an artificial, pixel-ated window. Our need for this intimacy could explain the rise of the Polaroid, in all its grainy, imperfect, physical glory. However, the sentiment and urge is not strong enough to drive us to actually revert back to the original low-tech devices with which these images were created - we want images and aesthetics that celebrate lo-tech authenticity, but are not willing to sacrifice the convenience, speed, or mass access of high-tech.

The tension between the benefits of digitalization (ease, speed, access) and its costs (a loss of authenticity and visual intimacy) will continue to build as technology advances - Polaroid-ization is just one example of a collective response to that tension. I’m sure we will see more, similar responses.

Keep your eyes on your mini-feed…

Eat Right, Live Right

I don’t know if it’s the spring weather, or the fact that Earth Day is coming up, or my new part-time writing gig at a social issue non-profit (www.MeaningfulMedia.org!), but lately I have been thinking quite a bit about what it means to live – and in particular, to eat – consciously and sustainably.

It probably started a few weeks ago when I finally got around to watching Food, Inc., the Academy Award nominated documentary about our industrialized food system. For anyone who has read Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan, the film explores similar issues – mainly, the monopolization of our food system by a handful of large corporations whose efforts to increase efficiency have led to a corn-based, pesticide rich, unhealthy diet for most Americans. The film also highlights how politicians and policymakers exacerbate the problem by acquiescing to the demands of big business lobbyists in exchange for political support.

What struck me about the film (besides the horrifying facts and images) was its overall hopeful message: that we as consumers have the power to change things through our choices and lifestyles. This got me thinking about my community, my family, and my peers. And I also got hopeful. Here are a few things I thought of:

• Many of my social activities in San Francisco often center on visits to Farmer’s Market, craft beer festivals, organic cuisine, etc.
• Several of my friends are vegetarians (or pescatarians, or flexatarians…)
• My brothers are both Environmental Sciences majors. My dad composts. My mom is supportive.
• I have friends who have spent summers working on sustainable farms
• The other night I had dinner with my brother’s twenty-three year-old girlfriend and her roommate, who cooked me a delicious dinner from mostly organic ingredients and showed me how they are making homemade Kombucha.
• Next week Google is taking employees to a local urban farm to help plant.

I could continue with this list – and when I think about it, its pretty incredible. Many people in my social and community network seem not only conscious of what they eat, but also committed to making social, consumer, and career choices that are healthy and responsible. This consciousness seems to spill over into other areas of life, from fitness to community involvement to emotional mindfulness. This collective energy and resolution motivates me every day, and is a big part of what I love about my community in San Francisco.

Now, before I seem too hippie dippy or Bay Area Elitist to you, let me recognize a few things. First, that the Bay Area is a pretty unique microcosm. Second, living here makes it much easier to consume responsibly – we have access, we have collective support, and we have money (relatively). However, I don’t think that lack of access or funds necessarily limits others from making lifestyle changes. For example, not drinking sugary sodas, eating only seasonal fruits and vegetables, and cutting out meat once a week are three very simple, cheap changes that would amount to a huge difference. Ultimately, most of us probably have something we could give-up, it’s just a matter of making the choice.

To me, the next question is how we can spread and adapt some of these cultural values to the rest of the country, and eventually the world, and what economic and policy changes need to happen first to allow those values to take root. I’m very confident in my generation of industrious leaders and social entrepreneurs, and I think we will make it happen in large part through technology, design innovation, and media. I’m still figuring out what form my own contributions will take, but I know that conscious and sustainable living will certainly be a large influencing factor.

Emotional Intelligence

It cannot be denied that in America today there exists a powerful subset of elite who have been ‘running the show’ - in government, on Wall Street, and in the boardroom. We see these people as “the best and the brightest”; presumably they have made their way to the top because of their intelligence and their hubris.

And yet, over the last several years we’ve seen a complete breakdown of the economic and political systems that they are charged with (as noted by David Brooks in his column last week.) How could this happen? One thing Brooks suggests briefly is that we as a society have a very narrow view of intelligence, and completely neglect to consider and reward emotional intelligence*: the ability to identify, assess, and manage the emotions of one's self, of others, and of groups.

I could not agree more. Having worked in a high functioning corporate environment, I’ve been exposed to many leaders considered part of the “power elite”. Most went to Ivy League schools and are highly intelligent in the traditional sense. Of this group, the ones who are the most effective, who truly inspire, motivate, and engage, are the ones who have a high level of emotional intelligence. They are empathetic, open, and able to deeply perceive and connect with the sentiments of a group. They have a humble understanding of how they fit into the current social and political context of their organization, as well as awareness around their own emotional tendencies. They also have the ability to bounce back quickly from failure, with an understanding of the lessons that can be gleaned, and with a positive outlook on the future.

Empathy, self-awareness, positive thinking – these elements of emotional intelligence are absolutely tantamount to success. So why don’t we value them more? Why don’t we teach emotional intelligence to children in schools, and incorporate it into the cultural fabric of more organizations? Other nations are far ahead of us on this. Perhaps it is because we see emotional intelligence as being at odds with the capitalistic values of competition and individualism that have built our nation and brought us historical success. However in today’s complex world of conflicting interests and limited resources, it is clear that these values are only taking us so far.

In my opinion, artists are some of the most emotionally intelligent people, because the creative process in large part involves observation, empathy, emphatic feeling, and reflection. For this reason, I look towards artists for inspiration and emotional learning. I recently watched a TED talk** with Eve Ensler (playwright, author, and performer). In the talk (about the suppression and destruction of girlhood around the world), Ensler says:

"The irony of course is that denying girl, suppressing girl, suppressing emotion, refusing feeling has led us here, where we have now come to live in a world where the most extreme forms of violence, the most horrific poverty, genocide, mass rape, the destruction of the earth, is completely out of control...we do not feel what is going on, so we're not being charged with the adequate response to what is happening."

Ensler’s analogy of “denying girl” is in many ways equivalent to denying our emotional intelligence – that part of our brain and our being that allows us to feel, to connect, and to empathize. While I think she takes it a bit far (probably for dramatic affect), I do agree with the sentiment that denying emotional expression is bad for the individual, and bad for society. Imagine a world where people truly strived to understand each other, and could better comprehend and regulate their own emotional responses. Countless friendships, relationships, and partnerships would be salvaged, even lives saved, if people had the courage to say what they felt and to say it well, and to listen, with thoughtfulness.

I’ve been lucky enough to take a ten-week course on emotional intelligence (thanks to my employer)– and it has had great effect on my life. I hope that emotional intelligence becomes more widely publicized and integrated into our education system and corporate worlds, so that we can reverse the trend of its undervaluation in American society.

*A good general overview of emotional intelligence is Daniel Goleman’s Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ (1996).

**TED Talks are an amazing source of inspiration, emotional and otherwise. TED.com is a small nonprofit devoted to “ideas worth spreading”. On their website they provide free access to lectures by highly successful people on topics such as technology, design, sustainability, and human rights (among many, many others).

Home Sweet Home

Perhaps I've been reading too many design and apartment makeover blogs lately, or perhaps I assume others are as nosy about people's homes as I am (you know who you are), but I thought it might be fun to share some pictures of my humble abode - my (tiny!) SF studio apartment. When you have a small space, love design, and enjoy nesting, as I do, you tend to become meticulous about the things you place in and around your home. Here's how I've gone about it:

I wanted bedding that had natural, floral elements, but without being too girly. I got this beige and brown garden duvet at the mass-market home decor mecca, Anthropologie. The painting hanging over the bed is one I did while taking classes with Susan Miller (Susan Miller Gallery, Union St.). I wish I had a better bedside table (this one is a shoddy excuse for craftsmanship from Ikea).

I love my iHome alarm clock and ipod player (it is, however, a bit bulky, and I'm sure they now sell much sleeker ones). Above the stack of books is a postcard I picked up at a store in Santa Monica that says "Meditation is for Everyone". It reminds me to (try) and do a quick meditation on the day right before I go to sleep.

I think that the books you choose for your bedside table are supremely important. There should be a mix of "staple books" (things that you like to flip through frequently, or that provide inspiration and thought provocation), and of course your current reads. I am currently reading Zeitoun, by Dave Eggers (for a book club), and Against Interpretation, by Susan Sontag. The rest are all regulars:

• Unbearable Lightness of Being, by Kundera, and Either/Or, A Fragment of Life, by Kierkagaard (for intellectual foyers)
• Strike Sparks, by Sharon Olds (when a poetry mood strikes)
• Practical Idealists, by Wilson, Barham, and Hammock (trying to learn how to have it all)
• The Principles of Uncertainty, by Maira Kalman (beautiful, beautiful book)
• Change by Design, by Tim Brown (design thinking is EVERYWHERE)
• Collaborative Habit, by Twyla Tharp (her soothing tone calms me)

I'm a big believer in a big, clear desk. No cluttered paperwork, no filers. Just a few important objects, and your computer. Nothing is more inspiring and makes you feel more like a 'professional' writer (or whatever), than a good desk. This dark wood desk is from Ikea, but is surprisingly sturdy and of good quality. In the center I have a desk calendar, note-cards (to inspire me to write thank you notes often), an old photograph of my grandparents, and some candles.

This little love seat couch pulls out into a twin bed, and has been a godsend for my out of town guests. It's actually comfortable, I don't know how - good work Crate and Barrel. Throw pillow and blankets from Pier One, guitar is a Guild (shamefully out of tune).

Perhaps my favorite thing in the apartment is this black and gold lacquer Japanese cabinet. I got it about ten years ago in Los Angeles (Japantown), and really love the funkiness that it adds to my space. It is crammed full of books and art supplies. The house slippers are handmade from Jaipur, India. The pictures in the frame are snapshots from my 2009 trip to Argentina and Brazil.

And finally, the kitchen. This is my baker's rack where I keep my dishes and kitchen knick knacks. The colorful tumbler cups and small plates in the front are from Pottery Barn, a gift from mom. The elephant teapot and small blue and yellow cups at the top are from Anthropologie. The small unframed picture on the left hand side is a Jennie Smith print that I picked up at Little Otsu in the Mission; the larger framed poster in the back is a John Post photograph of my hometown, Manhattan Beach.

Hope you enjoyed the tour. Interior design is a veritable playground for design lovers, and I have a feeling I will constantly be reinventing and reinvigorating my home with new items and themes. I look forward to having more space (and more funds) to play with in the future.

Gender Wars

Lately the news media has been rife with stories about the increased rate at which women are entering higher education and the workforce. The public discussion seemed to start with the release of a new study from the Pew Research Center in January titled “New Economics of Marriage: The Rise of Wives”. The study finds that in recent decades, women have outpaced men in education and earnings growth, a trend that has resulted in shifting and increasingly ambiguous gender roles in marriages and relationships.

Since the release of this study, there has been a flood of follow-up articles analyzing the potential pros and cons of this “new” arrangement. Today I saw one such story in the New York Times that discussed the repercussions of this new gender imbalance specifically for female college students. According to the author, the growing scarcity of men on university campuses is leading to decreased dating amongst co-eds, and heightened insecurities amongst female students who worry about being able to find a suitable match in their early twenties. He writes that this phenomenon has created an atmosphere where it is acceptable for young men to aggressively and nonchalantly play the field, and where young women must reluctantly acquiesce to casual hook-ups and flings in place of committed relationships.

I’m certainly interested in this topic. I am a young professional woman, and as such know many other successful young women. I also know plenty of young men. And, when I reflect, it does seem that my female friends in their early twenties tend (on average) to be more intensely focused on career aspirations, professional growth, and intellectual growth (Although I might argue that for men, this impulse kicks in later, perhaps in the early thirties, when they start to focus more on providing for a family and gaining more financial stability.)

This fact does leave many of my friends feeling uncomfortable. After reading these types of articles, they get nervous about their ability to find eligible men who will be their equal in terms of ambition and intellect, despite their willingness and readiness to be in committed relationships. I myself sometimes wonder, should I be worried about the consequences of my choice to pursue a graduate degree and a career? Are these choices mutually exclusive to choosing a partner and a family? A creeping feeling of panic has been known to set in from time to time.

And this is why I take issue with these articles. The fact that more women are entering college, strengthening their minds, and contributing ideas to the world is something we should all be celebrating, not fearing – it is something that generations of women have fought for. Portraying educated women as “victims” is dangerous because it encourages a social construct where women can only be happy and whole if they are attached in some way to men (a concept we've never forced upon men).

Furthermore, by overstating the potential “negative” consequences of increased female education, we put women in a position to question their decisions around pursuing education – a position that I find to be not only unfair, but also unproductive. A million and one variables exist within each of our individual lives before such a macro-level trend might come into play – family background, ethnicity, religion, geographic location, personality traits, etc. While it is tempting to ponder the potential impact such a cultural and demographic phenomena has on our own lives, we are far better off focusing on the matrix of personal opportunities that lie before us.

As such, while I find the Pew study and these articles interesting and fun to ponder, I refuse to be discouraged by them and acquiesce to the idea that pursuing higher education is potentially cutting me off from a happy romantic partnership. I know plenty of amazing women who balance professional and academic aspirations with wonderful relationships with equally amazing men. I think that these articles don’t give men enough credit - I have faith that the male species is going to evolve with this changing landscape, and we will see a new kind of gender egalitarianism that will surely only benefit both groups. And if not, I can be content in the knowledge that I have pursued my passions and made no sacrifices based on insecurity and fear. I don’t think that is too bad of a worst-case scenario.

A Design Thinker’s Reading List

I have read three books in the last few months that I think provide ample inspiration and thought-provoking fodder for any design thinker:

• The Creative Habit, by Twyla Tharp: In this “how-to” guide, Tharp suggests that being creatively inclined is not some pre-ordained gift, but rather a skill that can be acquired and honed by anyone with the right outlook and set of tools. Using anecdotes from her own life and career as a professional choreographer, Tharp discusses both the theory and psychology behind harnessing creativity, and the practical steps that can help. Her straightforward and no-nonsense writing style lends credibility to her credo – you feel as if you have just had a stern but productive talk with an experienced mentor.

• Design Thinking, by Tim Brown: Brown is the CEO of IDEO, the well-known Palo Alto based design consultancy. In this book he shares the secrets behind IDEO's success and discusses how design thinking can transform organizations and societies. To paraphrase, Brown describes the concept of ‘design thinking’ as the act of intensely and intelligently observing human activity and interaction, with the goal of uncovering a need and turning it into demand. The idea that design thinking is a business and management strategy and not just a designer’s tool has been gaining traction – as evidenced by this recent NY Times article discussing the ways in which Business Schools are incorporating it into their curriculum. As a businessperson, this book excites me – too often in the business world we approach problems from a staid and wholly left-brained perspective; design thinking teaches us to question assumptions and address the ‘why’ before we jump to the ‘how’.

• Beautiful Evidence, by Edward Tufte: This is the first in a series of four volumes by Tufte that seek to explore how the components of an image, be it a scientific diagram or an artistic masterpiece, can either enlighten or subvert the intended meaning of the visual. For example, in the first chapter Tufte explains how any image whose purpose is direct visual evidence must contain a scale or map, in order to inform the viewer of the image’s context within its broader environment. The subject matter may sound uninspiring and the tone egregiously academic (Tufte is a Professor Emeritus at Yale University), but trust me, you will never look at a PowerPoint deck or a scatter plot the same way again. Tufte’s insights and observations will inspire you to consider the elements of style and design with every visual you create or encounter.

Tharp, Brown, and Tufte have inspired me to foster a creative habit everyday, look for design-centric solutions to business challenges, and be intensely aware of the role design plays in everything we create. Not a bad starting set of principles.

Twyla Tharp: twlatharp.org

Tim Brown: designthinking.ideo.com

Edward Tufte: edwardtufte.com

SF Moma: 75th Anniversary

Attention SF Readers!

This weekend the SF Moma celebrates its 75th Anniversary - admission is free! There are also a host of activities to enjoy, from gallery talks, to evening performances, to snacks from SF's top local food vendors (yes there will be Blue Bottle Coffee).

The Gap has also gotten in on the fun and partnered with Moma to create eight limited-addition T-shirts designed by local artists. Despite representing all things lame and mass marketed, Gap does a good job supporting non-profits and the local SF community - these shirts are a great way to raise awareness for the Moma, the arts, and the artists. My favorite is this abstract landscape design from artist Leslie Shows:

You can buy the Gap t-shirts here: http://sfmoma.stores.yahoo.net/gaptshirts.html

Stripe Design Group

I just got back from a day in Santa Cruz, where I discovered an adorable home and clothing store called Stripe. The store is owned by The Stripe Design Group, a "creative collective" company that, in addition to owning the retail store, does residential and commercial interior design. The store is more like a gallery than a shop, with works by local artists adorning the walls and fun design objects strewn about to play with and admire. The handmade cards, antique jewelry, old cameras, and delicate glassware were some of my favorite things. I walked out with this harmonica necklace by Garrett Jewelry.

The owner changes the decor of the store for every season - all the more reason to visit every couple of months. They also hold frequent events with local designers and artists. However if you can't make it down to Santa Cruz, an online store is coming soon to their website, www.stripedesigngroup.com.

Great Outdoors

Over the holidays I had the opportunity to spend some time outdoors (thank you, California!). I went on walks along the beach, went for a hike on the bluffs of Palos Verdes, and went camping on the central coast of California. Although I am decidedly a city lover, it was nice to slow down, quiet down, and get out and enjoy the small and large wonders of the natural world. I was reminded of how much inspiration can be drawn from the outdoors – not only because of the beauty of the landscapes and seascapes, but also because of the focus and clarity it brings. When you are hiking or merely ‘being’ outdoors, distractions are gone and all that’s left to focus on is the environment. You become increasingly aware of the noises, smells, colors, and textures. As an artist, I immediately begin to wonder, how might I paint that hillside, or that tide pool? What colors would I use, what kind of brushstrokes? Other thoughts fade away and I am content to simply contemplate my surroundings. Its no wonder that the Transcendentalists and Impressionists turned out such inspired work. And then there is of course the wonderful sense of peace that the outdoors brings – a reminder of the larger forces at work, and the pure miracle that is such an abundance of life. The ‘natural high’ one gets from being outside is a powerful, visceral force, when one really sinks into it.

And yet – it is tragically fleeting. We get back in our cars, back to our homes, our comforts and conveniences, and the spiritedness and revelations we experienced, the gratitude we felt simply for being alive, are soon forgotten. Of course it would be nice to simply abscond from our modern lives and amenities. Some do just that - this couple, recently highlighted in the New York Times, live full-time with their baby in a yurt out in the Alaskan wilderness:

And this is certainly admirable – but for those of us who want to balance a host of interests and goals requiring contact with modern society, it is necessary to find a way to integrate nature with urban life. One approach is to bring the outdoors in – creating homes and spaces that celebrate nature. John Carson of Margaretville, New York, embraced this idea when he decided to build his home around a 250-ton boulder:

Although perhaps a bit extreme, I love the idea of co-habitating with something so massive and raw – there is no way to avoid contemplating the natural building blocks of our earth when you have a eight-foot tall rock in your living room.

However you integrate nature into your life, whether it is with regular walks, camping trips, living in a yurt, or building your home around a giant boulder, it is important to make an effort to connect with the outdoors on a regular basis. It reminds us of our history, our unity, and our mortality as human beings.

Palos Verdes, California

Yellow Bird Project

Do you like artsy t-shirts, and charity, and indie rock music? Me too. So do the creators of the Yellow Bird Project, a Montreal-based non profit that enlists indie music artists to design t-shirts and other merchandise that are then sold on the YBP website. Proceeds go to a charity of the musician/band's choice. What a wonderful ecosystem of charity, creativity, and cool gear.

Pictured below is a t-shirt designed by Rilo Kiley, one of my favorite indie bands. Proceeds from the sale of this shirt go to the Free Arts for Abused Children organization:

Visit and support the Yellow Bird Project at www.yellowbirdproject.com

The Artist's Drive

Perhaps you read the article in the New York Times this week about 94-year old Carmen Herrera. Herrera, a Cuban-born artist living in New York, has been doing abstract geometric painting for more than fifty years but has only started receiving praise and acclaim within the past five. Her story is not entirely uncommon – many great artists received no recognition or monetary reward for their work until after they were long dead. One could argue that it takes society decades to appreciate and understand a new style, or perhaps the posterity of death shines a new light on the work, making it instantly more intriguing. Whatever the reason, artists often don’t receive the kind of career affirmation that most of us need to stay motivated day after day, year after year.

So what drives the artist? What returns them to the canvas, to the drawing board? Well if you have ever known a true artist of any kind, be it painter, musician, or poet, you know that what motivates them is a pure love for the process and for their medium. From that moment when a flash of an idea comes into the mind, to the hours spent executing and experimenting, finding the right combination of colors, or words, to the deep satisfaction when a piece is completed and a vision is realized. Creativity cannot be catalyzed by external factors like money, or fame – it is a deep, internal desire to express oneself and to put form to a vision that allows the artist to create.

I am reminded of my first art teacher here in San Francisco, Susan. Susan is in her sixties and, like Herrera, has been painting for most of her life without much critical acclaim. She has a small gallery where she displays and sometimes sells her oil paintings, mostly French scenes depicting women in fabulous shoes, small Parisian dogs, and street life. Susan’s life, as I have come to learn about it, has taken many twists and turns. She moved to San Francisco from upstate New York when she was just seventeen; she worked in clothing boutiques and was swept up in the free-love culture. Throughout her life she struggled with money, men, and substances – but art was always a constant, and she never stopped painting, sketching, and creating, and eventually was able to establish her gallery.

Susan is a woman completed obsessed and dedicated to her work – it is her lifeblood, and when you hear her speak of it, you know she creates it entirely for herself. In fact, I have even seen her turn away interested customers from her gallery who did not seem like adequate parents for her paintings. What has kept her going all these years is not recognition from the art world, or wealth – it is the desire to paint the perfect woman’s hat, or to find the right shade of orange-red that will demonstrate the vibrancy of the Golden Gate bridge at dusk. You need this kind of spirit if you are going to survive as an artist – your motivation must be your love for the process, for your medium, and for your work. Perhaps if you are lucky you will receive some acclaim while you are still alive, like Herrera has. Or perhaps you will scrape together enough to have a small gallery. But above all your goal must be to continue the work each day, and be satisfied in that.

NYT article about Herrera: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/20/arts/design/20herrera.html

The Rise of the Victorians

Recently, a movement has come to my attention called “steampunk”. First originated in the 1980s, the term ‘steampunk’ (as defined by wikipedia) denotes ‘works set in an era or world where steam power is still widely used—usually the 19th century, and often Victorian era England —but with prominent elements of either science fiction or fantasy, such as fictional technological inventions like those found in the works of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne.’

Steampunk has gained traction over the past year as the movement spread to popular film, and fashion; several movies set in the era were made (There Will be Blood, the upcoming Sherlock Holmes), and the fashion world has seen a plethora of Victorian styles in men’s and women’s clothing (oxford shoes, vests, bowler hats, and oversized trouser pants). These trends have been well documented by the NY Times fashion editors. The steampunk movement also reaches into the art and design world. For example, this refurbished desktop computer, which has been embellished with brass, iron, and wood, giving it the appearance of being from the Victorian age:

It has been demonstrated by research analysts that most aesthetic or sartorial trends are the byproduct of social, economic, or cultural macro forces. Given this fact, what can we credit with the rise of steampunk and a return to the Victorian era?

Well for one, we are in the midst of a global recession that has spurred numerous references and comparisons to the Great Depression. This has encouraged a look back at the images and objects of our past. Paying homage to the styles of this era seems like a natural response, and a way to connect with our current circumstances. In so doing we are also romanticizing the time period, which perhaps serves to comfort us and helps us believe that we too will make it through this economic crisis, as our predecessors did.

I think perhaps the rise of steampunk in the design world can also be attributed to the recent monumental surge of new technologies. New innovations in Internet technology, mobile communication, and desktop computing bombard us everyday. The aesthetic de-modernization of objects by Steampunkers may represent a desire to slow the rapid spread of technology to all spheres of life. However, the fact that the objects remain functioning, despite their pre-modern appearance, demonstrates an acceptance that modern technology is here to stay. The interplay between these two sentiments is what makes steampunk design particularly provoking, and relatable. We all feel the push-pull of embracing new technologies while at the same time wanting to keep our lives simple and free from the pressures of invasive, ‘always on’ devices.

Steampunk influences are all around – just today I read in the Wall Street Journal that the New York MTA will be running antique subway cars that served the city in the 1930s during four Sundays in December. New Yorkers have embraced the vintage cars, dressing up in early 20^th century attire to ride. It looks like this trend is here to stay, at least until the Stock Market picks up.

Wall Street Journal Article: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704869304574596291960167518.html

New York Times Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/12/fashion/12CODES.html

Wikipedia Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steampunk

Ork City Neighborhood Posters

I've seen these Ork City Neighborhood posters in a couple of stores and online, and think they are very cool. Maps are always fun, and these posters are an artsy take. Plus, as most city-dwellers know, neighborhood is EVERYTHING. I would hang this in a home office or bedroom.

There are versions for most "major" cities, including New York (Brooklyn and Manhattan), Boston, Portland, Chicago, Washington D.C., and Los Angeles. To purchase visit http://www.orkposters.com