Transition Design Seminar II — 3/30 Class Notes

In collaboration with Sarah Foley and Nurie Agnes Jeong

• How does this new mindset and posture contrast with the dominant one
• How does the mindset and posture of dominance, control and hierarchy manifest in design and design solutions?
• What are the differences in value sets between the existing dominant paradigm and a new one based upon relationship and cooperation?
• How would a new paradigm change design practice and process?
• How do concepts of empathy and empathetic relations relate to user-centered design approaches?
• Can a better understanding of empathy inform design process and research….how?

Mindset

Mindset is how we think and it is our model of the universe, how we think of ourselves and in relation to nature

When you can see root problems and you can see them easily you get upset because other people can’t see the simple solutions. People don’t want to put themselves in harms way.

Posture

Fight, flight, or make nice — in conflict situations people have one of 3 default modes they: fight, run, or make nice. You need balance, some fight is important but you also need people to make nice, but sometimes the people who run are the only ones left in the end.

2 people in the class = fight

1 person =flight

the rest make nice

Don’t underestimate the need diplomacy, there is a time and place for each of these traits.

how do you recognize the situations you go into and know what your default is, you need to be a catalyst of finding the right approach. Being a designer in a social situation is understanding what the best action is to act as a catalyst.

Leverage Points for Change

You must not loose your passion, what makes you old is that you give up your fight, the younger generation brings questions to change systems.

How can you as a designer know when systems are fragmented, can you begin to see leverage points?

Can you learn to see wicked problems well enough to see opportunities for leverage points and understand long enough horizons of time that are needed for meaningful solutions that don’t always happen quickly?

Growth of Systems

With growth, there is no ethical wiggle room.

Things are predicated upon growth. How do you intervene through small perturbations that are often just conversations? Be diplomatic, but you have to know when to move at the right moment.

When companies grow things change…The norm is a vortex — people start on the fringes, but the bigger you get the vortex pulls you in. You have to questions fundamental pieces, why does growth have to be an imperative — why does size matter? Understanding dominant mechanistic paradigm is crucially important.

Evolution and development don’t equal growth

If you grew up in a mechanistic world view you are always going to be aware of it. You cannot lose sight of your moral compass — how big is big enough — how much money is enough?How much is enough? What do I aspire to?

Example:

Patagonia — understanding the need to downsize so that the core foundation of the company is not lost in the pull of exponential growth.

would you be willing to pay a 65% tax if it meant that everyone in this country had enough? We need to let go of the mindset of hoarding. What is your long term vision? Are we connected to something bigger than ourselves? Is there something to connect to the planet at a larger aspirational scale?

Google — What happened to Google’s ‘do no evil’ model?

Things to Consider:

Think about designing the lifespan of the thing we are creating. How do we plan for the ebb and flow of the arc? Is there a vision?

How does a company withstand phases — cycles of life — how do you withstand phases of life that goes with the paradigm and model of a company? what are the social resources, vision retreats, what are you going to do when young people get married and have kids and primary focus then moves to the home? How can you design a business that supports these phases?

Designing a lifestyle and setting the priorities for that involves asking questions like how much is enough and what is important to me?

You need to put as much focus on the inside as you do on the outside.

It is important to see the paradigm that we are in and be able to see something new.

Class Questions:

What is the entry point for having discussions?

How do you get people to listen?

Growth vs how you grow, what is the enemy?

Discussion:

CEO’s know how to work within the existing system. If you don’t talk in sound bites you are not going to get people’s attention. Use opportunities to learn more and think yourself about what might change and how and why. Digging into change takes time over several years. People don’t have time they need a yes or no answerable in a proposal. Specify a future that is so good that you can’t not do it.

You have to build change over time and develop solutions to change to make a quick decision to make a change and let you make a move — build a consensus for change — you have to truly understand the concerns for change that the people in power have. Don’t just talk about a problem, develop solutions and alternatives.

Focus must shift from understanding a designed artifact to understanding relationships and paradigms of the system that you are in. People need to develop enough emotional intelligence to know what sets you off. Think about what you’ve done differently and how you interact with other people.

You have to get enough experience to understand how to practice your craft.

Educate yourself more to make an argument — learn social and environmental limitations — who is making good arguments and how? Seize the opportunity to stand up and speak. This is how you begin to specify narratives. Study the companies at which you are embedded and practice postures of presence.

Own the damn room! — Think about your posture and body language.

White Board Notes:

In Class Exercise:

If we were to teach these subjects differently In a classroom with these particular actors, what would it be like?

Group 1:Communal Teaching, Guilds, Cosmos

Group 2: Gurukala, On The Move, Art

Group 3: Tribal Elders, Forest Kindergarten, Life

Group 4: Montessori, Monasticism, Maths

Group 5: Anarchist Free School, Apprentice Master, Languages