INDEX: Magazine - The new Design Thinking (2004)

magazine

INDEX: WISHES TO THANK OUR PARTNERS: INDEX: MAIN PARTNER

COLOPHON Publisher: INDEX: Research: Monday Morning - Think Tank of News Editor: Monday Morning - Think Tank of News Language Editing: The Word Design: Stendhal unit, L.P. Ferdinandsen Print: Illemann Tryk Paper: Antalis / Print Speed Font: Signa Issued: September 2004

THE AGENDA:

from conventional to creative leadership

BY KIGGE HVID, DIRECTOR, INDEX: AND ERIK RASMUSSEN, CEO, MONDAY MORNING THINK TANK OF NEWS

INDEX: was originally the brainchild of Johan Adam Linneballe.

The examples of Design to Improve Life featured in INDEX: publications are not precluded from nomination for INDEX: Award.

City of Copenhagen

All rights reserved. Neither the whole of this document nor any part may be reproduced without permission

Danish Ministry of Economic & Business Affairs

CONTACT

INDEX: ASSOCIATED PARTNER

Danish Design Centre

INDEX: SUPPORT PARTNER Illemann Tryk

FOUNDATIONS Oticon Fonden

INDEX: H.C. Andersens Boulevard 27 DK-1553 Copenhagen V, Denmark + 45 3389 2005 info@index2005.dk www.index2005.dk

To move from conventional and reactive leadership to creative and proactive thinking - this is the most important challenge for leaders around the world as we enter an age of rapid change and complex problems.

It is this agenda which INDEX: builds upon. INDEX: brings together designers and creative leaders from business, politics, science and the arts. The ambition: New specific solutions to human problems, a new movement for a new leadership.

Traditionally, when attempting to overcome the great challenges of this world, economists have dealt with economics, scientists with science and artists with art. Yet many problems for humans around the world – whether they are related to our health, homes or communities – have proved to be so resilient that traditional solutions seem ineffective. Instead, we need to recognise that many complex problems must be addressed in a multidimensional and innovative way.

Today, the world of design represents one of the most exiting arenas for such innovation. And from 23 September 2005, INDEX: will explore the potential of design to improve human life in three main events:

• WHAT INDEX: AWARDS - illustrating the potential of design today.

• WHY FUTURE SCENARIOS - surveying future challenges and design needs.

KNOWLEDGE PARTNER

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Over the last decades, the design industry has made a series of remarkable achievements – ranging from the field of mobile phones to national identity strategies.

The significance of these successes is only just being realised by decision makers around the world. But a closer look reveals a quiet revolution taking place: Leading design companies have become frontrunners in a multidisciplinary approach to problem-solving.

They have overcome their hesitation – and fear – of engaging in close co-operation with other disciplines, and have developed new and effective formulas which allow people from many different fields to work together. Thereby, design today is not just about aesthetics. It has become an axis for human-centred innovation processes – where technology and human needs are combined to shape new products, services and strategies.

In this magazine, we present the INDEX:2005 events and their background in this quiet revolution of design – and in a world in need of creative leadership. The magazine is targeted at two main groups: Business and political leaders, who need to open their eyes to the world of design and realise its great potential.

And the many designers, who still need to embrace the world and accept their role in dealing with the challenges faced by human life.

INDEX: will create a new awareness of the need for innovation and the potential of design. We hope that the result will not only be a series of spectacular events, but also new networks and cooperation between different disciplines – and a new movement for creative leadership to improve human life.

• HOW VIEWS SUMMIT - exploring how to create new designs to improve human life.

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CONTENTS

A PERSONAL HISTORY:

THE NEW DESIGN - AND WHY DESIGN IS TOO IMPORTANT TO LEAVE TO DESIGNERS / P.7 Arnold Wasserman, Chairman, The Idea Factory and INDEX: International Jury Since graduating as an industrial designer in 1956, Arnold Wasserman has experienced a tremendous shift in the design practice. The once isolated design community is rapidly evolving into a new design universe that is global, multicultural, and interdisciplinary.

Today, designers work in collaborative teams together with engineers, ergonomists, sociologists, and marketing specialists. This has led to a new set of design methodologies, which have become a powerful engine for innovation in areas ranging from technology to social systems.

AN INTRODUCTION TO INDEX:

ADDING MEANING TO INTERNATIONAL DESIGN EVENTS / P.12

• Future Scenarios will survey why we need design to overcome future challenges.

• Views Summit will explore how we can create design that will help us overcome key challenges to human life.

THE WORLD IN 2015:

PROBLEM SOLVERS IN HIGH DEMAND / P.19 Jacob Rosenkrands, Analyst and Reporter Radically new solutions are needed in the near future in order to maintain and improve human life quality.

As we enter an era of rapid change, short-sightedness and business as usual will be of no use. A number of global megatrends described by futurist John L. Petersen for INDEX: suggest that multidisciplinary approaches will be key to meeting these challenges, and that designers and design methodologies could play a key role in this process. Indeed, there is plenty of evidence that design can improve human life in fields like health, housing and organisations.

Yet there is an urgent need for more designers to become involved in overcoming the great societal changes - and seek to prevent negative futures and facilitate positive ones.

DESIGN TO IMPROVE LIFE:

BEST PRACTICE / P.29 INDEX: presents five instructive case stories on how innovative design can improve human life. We have selected an example of current best practice within each of the five INDEX: categories - Body, Home, Work, Play and Community.

CREATIVE LEADERS:

THE NEW FACE OF A NEW GLOBAL LEADERSHIP / P.34 Jacob Rosenkrands, Analyst and Reporter The leaders of tomorrow will probably look very different from the leaders of today, as new challenges in business and politics call for a new leadership.

There is an increasing demand for leaders who think creatively and seek unconventional solutions.

The people who have these skills do not have specific titles; neither do they belong to the same professions. Rather, we see a new diverse group of creative leaders paving the way by changing the way we think about problems – and how we solve them. INDEX: presents five creative leaders who have already made a difference.

Kigge Hvid, Director, INDEX:

THE NEW DESIGN POTENTIALS: INDEX: is an international design event to be launched in Copenhagen in 2005 and held every fourth year.

But INDEX: is also a global network where designers, companies, organisations and design institutions collaborate to share and apply the latest knowledge within the field of design. In this collaborative process, INDEX: focuses on “design to improve life” - design that considerably improves life for large numbers of people.

INDEX: EVENTS:

AWARDS, VIEWS AND FUTURE SCENARIOS / P.15 INDEX:2005 will feature three main events focusing on the potential of design to improve life:

CREATING HUMANCENTRED INNOVATION / P.24 Stine Hedegaard Jørgensen, Hedegaard Consumer Research & Consult While businesses and individual users have been the targets of many recent design projects, the frontrunners of design are about to take the next big step. Design is increasingly seen by both designers and governments as an agent of societal change. Several national and local governments now consult leading design companies when developing new policies and visions. This new potential is largely created by a shift in the design industry from aesthetics to innovative products and services that are centred on human needs. The question is, however, if the broad majority of design schools and designers themselves are ready to embrace their new roles in society.

INDEX:

AWARD RULES / P.42 Here are the rules for submitting nominations for INDEX: Award.

INDEX: PARTNER PROFILES:

MONTANA, ROYAL COPENHAGEN, GEORG JENSEN / P.45 Profiles of three main Partners.

• INDEX: Awards will illustrate what design to improve life is and award the best examples.

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A PERSONAL HISTORY:

the new design

design is form embued with meaning

Human-Centred Innovation in Products, Communications, Environments, Experiences, Processes, Programs, and Policies and Why Design is Too Important to Leave to Designers.

BY ARNOLD S. WASSERMAN – CHAIRMAN OF THE IDEA FACTORY AND CHAIRMAN OF INDEX: INTERNATIONAL JURY

Design encompasses many discrete disciplines, each with its own specialised purpose, preparation and practice. For this discussion, what I mean by design is the integration of art and technology for the creation of products, communications and environments that serve human needs. I also mean design as translator of the intangible values of a nation’s art and culture into its tangible artefacts of innovation.

FROM INDUSTRIAL AESTHETICS TO HUMAN-CENTRED INNOVATION In 1956, when I graduated as an industrial designer from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, my education was identical to what I would have received in the 1920s at the renowned Bauhaus in Dessau, Germany. Four years later I became director of design at the Paris office of Raymond Loewy, then the largest consultancy in Europe. How design practice and education have changed in that half century is summed up in the name of Loewy’s office, “La Compagnie de l’Esthetique Industrielle.” Industrial aesthetics - the cosmetic appearance of products, graphics, and interiors - was the core of what both practitioners and clients then assumed design was about. If, as often happened along the way to figuring out how things should look, we did some serious work on what people wanted or how things worked, were used, maintained, and disposed of, well, that was nice, but we did not get hired for that and we did not get paid to do it.

Much of design - home furnishings, a set of mixing bowls, a wristwatch - continues to centre on aesthetics, and legitimately so. But state-of-the-art design today, let’s call it “New Design”, is almost an inversion of the old model. At the core today is human-centred innovation, entailing rigor about human needs, functionality, marketability, usability, and sustainability. External appearance is but one

dimension, albeit an important one, among many in the complex interactions by which people discover, understand, learn, and adopt artefacts and construct meaning by using them.

This shift in professional practice - from the design of artefacts to the design of socio-technical systems, situations, and experiences - reached a “tipping point” about twenty-five years ago. Since then, an interdisciplinary practice of strategic design has replaced traditional technical disciplines once divided narrowly into industrial design, graphic design, interior design, and architecture. We apply a new array of design methods and tools to the creation of products, communications, and environments. And we have “scaled up” design methodology to address problems of corporate strategy, new venture creation, institutional structure, organisational performance, and public sector programs and policies.

Designers, together with practitioners from technical and scientific fields formerly unassociated with design, migrate freely across design specialisations.

Industrial designers work on eCommerce strategies and web design; architects create film special effects; anthropologists probe what products, communications, and services people will want next; communication designers work with linguists to make information clear and understandable. Every few years, an entirely new design specialisation takes shape: Computer-Human Interface Design; Interaction Design; Universal Design; Design for Sustainability; Experience Design; Co-Design. It all adds up to a fundamental transformation in how design - at its best - serves to enrich the experience of life for people as individuals and in organisations and communities. Design has grown up.

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THE THREE WAVES OF DESIGN I divide the shift that I have witnessed over the fiftyyear period that I have practised design into three waves of change: • From Design Person … Design originated in handcraft and the decorative arts, where traditionally, and continuing today, a single person invents, designs, and makes the artefact. Most people still think of design as the product of a single, miraculously gifted “design person.” In Berlin in 1906, AEG hired Peter Behrens, a German architect, as the first corporate design director in the modern sense. His job was to design all of AEG’s products, advertising, factories, business offices, and workers’ housing. Behrens called himself AEG’s “court artist.”

• ... over Design Policy … In the 1950s, inspired by the AEG example, Thomas J. Watson Jr., chairman of IBM, named architect Elliott Noyes as the computer industry’s first “design person”. Noyes established IBM’s total design identity, including products, architecture, and graphic identity, even assembling the company’s art collection. As IBM grew, Noyes recognised the need for the control of design to evolve from a single individual to internal functional departments. Initiating the transition from “design person” to “design policy”, Noyes set up design centres across the corporation, while retaining overall control of design strategy as a centralised corporate function. Throughout the 1960s, 70s and 80s, as American and European corporations sought to manage rapid growth, decentralisation, and internationalisation, many followed the model of IBM. “Design policy” supplanted the “design person”, and corporate designers wrote design manuals and guidelines to be used by engineers and marketers to ensure uniform and consistent product and brand identities.

• … to Design Process: Policies are more effective for implementing ideas that already exist than for creating new ideas amid disruptive change. For this reason, in the 1980s, many companies, like Sony, Apple, Nike, Philips, NCR, Xerox, and Unisys, began to move away from bureaucratic “design policy” towards a third wave: embedded “design process.”

methodology in which the disciplines of design, strategy, engineering, and marketing collaborate as an integrated multidisciplinary team throughout the product life cycle from initial identification of opportunity, through research, product definition, and detailed design to execution. Although these practices may seem axiomatic to most designers and educators today, they were far from widespread twenty-five years ago.

Five major forces of change brought about a heightened understanding of design by business and the emergence of New Design:

1. Digital Technology: When the semiconductor transistor and integrated circuit emerged in the 1960s, few people foresaw a universe of smart mobs internetworked over mobile picture cell phones, PCs, PDAs, and messagers - all talking to each other all the time. The central problem of design has moved far beyond the unitary, freestanding artefact. New Design is about crafting the interactions, behaviours, and experiences of softwaredriven systems comprised of humans, atoms, and bits. Everything has programmable intelligence and lives on global networks. Much of what we think of as a product may not even by physically tangible.

Often the “real” product is streams of bits that momentarily aggregate as sounds, images, text, or tactile sensations. Designing for such a world has necessitated broad and deep change in understanding what it means to design and how to go about it.

2. Silicon Valley: Along the southern shores of San Francisco Bay in the 1980s we witnessed the seismic birth of a completely new entrepreneurial culture whose ethos was not stabilisation and control, but disruptive innovation and unpredictable change. New Design was needed to keep pace where everything was being invented new every day - knowledge, technology, organisational structures, and work practices. California became a magnet for designers from the American East Coast and Midwest, as well as from Britain, France, Germany, and Japan. Exported worldwide, the culture of New Design was, paradoxically, both Californian and intensely international.

By “design process” I mean the methodology of New Design; that is: Design based on research to gain insight into the tacit and latent needs and wants of users in target markets; Strategic scenarios to develop foresight about the forces that are going to create change in the future; Anticipating products ahead of engineering development; Future product innovation shaped as much by design as by technology. Above all, “design process” refers to a robust innovation

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The third major force of change that gave rise to “design process” was the emergence of Japan as a dominant competitive actor in the world economy.

By the 1980s, “Japan Incorporated” had targeted and dominated one American industry after another: Integrated circuitry, cameras, motorcycles, consumer electronics, and office equipment. One out of every three cars sold in the U.S. was Japanese. No longer was Japan copying the West but originating inventions, for that matter creating entire new product

DESIGN: • increases product cost by 24 % • increases product sales by 47 % • increases sales prices by 32 % *

Japan’s success with design-driven export industry forced business executives in the U.S. and in Europe to pursue a similar course beginning in the 1980’s, investing seriously in design resources and repositioning design as a strategic business function reporting at a senior management level of the organisation.

4. Business Process Reengineering:

3. The Japan Effect: THE NEW DESIGN

genres, like the Sony Walkman, that we had not anticipated and that customers all over the world loved.

And Japan had positioned New Design at the centre of its industrial strategy of rapid cycle innovation, superior quality, and global export.

In response to the Japan Effect, hundreds of Western companies, including the three companies where I was Vice President of Design, NCR, Xerox, and Unisys, threw out their traditional ways of doing everything.

They set up internal universities to teach executives, managers, and professionals how to develop products to match Japanese benchmarks: reducing development times from 2 - 3 years to 6 months; cutting manufacturing costs by half or more.

Every function in a business organisation now had to benchmark itself against comparable Japanese functions and justify its costs-vs.-benefits. More than an a-priori good, New Design could demonstrate tangible value added.

5. Customer Insight Research: Perhaps the most important single tool in the New Design tool kit is Customer and User Needs Understanding. Studies by Harvard Business School show that poor understanding of user needs is responsible for more than two thirds of the failures of new products.

In 1984, a family living in Orange County, California sued a major Japanese carmaker for invasion of privacy. Having rented a room to a young Japanese man who said he was a student, the family discovered that he was recording every detail of their daily lives: what was in their refrigerator, cabinets and closets; what they ate, drove, wore; watched on TV and at the movies; what they did for fun, studied at school, and did at work. The young man was a researcher for the carmaker, looking for insight into the life-styles of people in the world’s premier car culture, Southern California.

Today, all of us who practice New Design do exactly what that young Nissan researcher did, except that we now get permission first. We call it ethnographic research, customer insight, contextual inquiry, or design research. It is integral to how we design everything from kitchen tools and razors to new passenger trains and jet aircraft to office workplaces and new education systems.

*According to the 2004 Influence & Vision – Corporate Design Group Study just released by IDSA

DESIGN IS TOO IMPORTANT TO LEAVE TO DESIGNERS. When I say “Design is too important to leave to designers,” I mean two things: • First, designers need to work with non-designers - professionals from all other kinds of disciplines as well as “real people”.

• Second, I mean that design methodology is so powerful as an engine for innovation of everything from technological artefacts to social systems, that everybody should know how to use it, not just designers. The power of the methods and tools of design should be available to everybody. Design should be taught as a general knowledge subject, just like science or mathematics, in all schools K -12.

In order to advance this agenda my colleagues and I created The Idea Factory, based in Singapore and San Francisco. The big idea of The Idea Factory is a simple one. Instead of working as consultants to come up with great ideas for clients, we help clients learn how to come up with their own great ideas. The idea producers in The Idea Factory are the clients themselves. In Singapore, we also work for several ministries.

We show clients how to use the methods, processes, and tools of New Design to move creativity from Invention - R&D in the lab - through to Innovation adoption in the marketplace and change in the world.

We help clients “scale up” the methods of New Design to organisational problems of all kinds not usually thought of as associated with design. We show them how to “in-source” design themselves by transferring the methods of design into the organisation at all levels, embedding it as a core business practice.

We call this core practice the “Innovation Protocol”.

It is the path to follow to develop new products as well as to embed innovation in everything an organisation does. Along the way we apply a repertoire of methods we call the “Design Tool Set,” drawn from disciplines as varied as industrial design, cultural ethnography, future scenario strategy, improvisational theatre, and Jungian psychology.

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Except that The Idea Factory has some special proprietary tools, this overall process looks pretty much like that used by any practitioner of New Design today.

The main difference is that at The Idea Factory:

THE INNOVATION PROTOCOL 6. ITERATE

I have tried here to suggest how the localised design world that I graduated into fifty years ago has evolved into a New Design universe that is global, multicultural, and interdisciplinary; where every top design school is filled with students from around the world and the employee roster of a typical design office looks like the United Nations; where designers are trained in school and through practice to work in collaborative teams together with engineers, ergonomists, cultural ethnographers, sociologists, linguists, and specialists in marketing, strategy, information technology, plan-ning, media, and communications. No matter how varied the type of design or the mix of disciplines involved, New Designers all pursue the same goals: to uncover insight into people’s tacit needs and wants and to shape products and socio-technical systems that change life for the better.

The difference between Old Design and New Design is really the difference between two “ontologies”, i.e., two different ways of looking at the world. The contrasting world-views should be thought of not as either-or opposites but as continuums. Much of New Design counterbalances and co-exists with Old Design.

Arnold S. Wasserman holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in industrial design from Carnegie Mellon University and a Master of Arts degree in design history and theory from the University of Chicago. Mr. Wasserman is Chairman of The Idea Factory Singapore, a consultancy specialising in strategy, innovation and design, currently working for international corporations and government agencies worldwide.

3. EVALUATE

Think From Inside the Company Outward into the World

FIGURE 1 The Innovation Protocol begins by seeking fresh insight into the given state of things. We then proceed through idea development by means of hypothesis generation and assessment toward descriptions of preferred futures.

Experience-Based Judgment Specification Culture Physical Science, Engineering, Technological Systems, Finance Maximise Shareholder Wealth Think From the Present Forward

THE INNOVATION PROTOCOL

THE DESIGN TOOL SET

Limited Production & Mass Manufacturing Serial Functional Hand-Off Product Development

RAPID ITERATION 6. ITERATE

User Experience Human-Centred Innovation Customer-Centric Your Way What Do You Really Need & Want Think From Outside in the World Backward into the Company Research-Based Insight / Foresight Prototyping Culture Social Science, Ecology, Biology, Human Systems, Life-Cycle Economics Maximise Human Benefit Think From The Future Back Flexible Manufacturing & Mass Customisation Iterative Parallel Interdisciplinary Team Product Development

INTERDICIPLINARY TEAMS

Professional Experts Only

1. (RE) PERCIEVE

AUDIT / BENCHMARK FUTURE (MACRO) SCENARIOS

5. ASSESS

ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH

OUTCOMES ASSASSMENT

2. IDEATE

CHARRETTE SPACE

USER (MICRO) SCENARIOES

VISUAL IDEATION

RAPID PROTOTYPING

CO-CREATION

4. PROTOTYPE

USER TESTING / FEEDBACK

3. EVALUATE

FIGURE 2 The Innovation Protocol is the armature for a Set of Design Tools drawn from many fields

National / Local

PEOPLE PROCESS PRODUCT

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TIME

International / Global Platforms, Families, Extensions

Mechanical / Electro-Mechanical / Atoms

Digital / Software-Driven / Bits

Dumb, Free-Standing, Unitary

Programmable Intelligence, Networked

Resource & Energy-Intensive

Green, Recyclable, Sustainable

Big, Slow, Heavy Only Designers Design

American, European or Japanese Design, Production & Markets

FEED-FORWARD INNOVATION CHAIN

Co-Design, Co-Development With Users

Point Product

Only Design Students Should Learn Design

FIGURE 3 This parallel exploratory process connects insight about people to foresight about new products and services

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Our Way We Know What You Should Want

4. PROTOTYPE

FIDELITY

TOWARD NEW DESIGN

Process-Driven

Producer-Centric 2. IDEATE

3) We believe our job is to give the process away

Product-Driven

Technology Driven Invention

5. ASSESS

2) We believe that the process “scales up” from the definition and creation of individual products to the definition and creation of new platforms, strategies, ventures, socio-technical systems, and public policy programs

NEW DESIGN

Product Function 1. (RE) PERCIEVE

1) We believe that the process designers use to create new ideas and form them into innovation can be learned and used by anybody

OLD DESIGN

Design Is For Making Better “Stuff ”

Small, Fast, Light Everybody Can Use Design Methods & Tools Everybody Should Learn Design As a General Knowledge Subject K-12 Worldwide Design, Production & Markets

Design Is For Making Better Socio-Technical Systems, Experiences, Strategies, Ventures, Organisations, and Public Policies & Programmes

AN INTRODUCTION TO INDEX:

adding meaning to an international design event

BY KIGGE HVID, DIRECTOR, INDEX:

Copenhagen in the early autumn of 2005: A city vibrant with design. Two major international exhibitions, the presentation of the biggest design awards in the world, and a summit bringing together the world’s creative leaders, while international television broadcasts the INDEX: Award ceremony, and design professionals as well as visitors from around the world flock to the exhibitions sites.

Yet another branding event? Not quite. INDEX: is the result of a massive movement silently evolving.

INDEX: is an international design event to be launched in Copenhagen in 2005 and held every fourth year. But INDEX: is also a global network, where designers, companies, organisations and design institutions collaborate in disseminating and applying the latest knowledge within the field of design embraced by INDEX:.

INDEX: only embraces the kind of design that considerably improves life for large numbers of people.

We call it ‘Design to Improve Life’.

Our objective is to engage designers, creative leaders as well as you in creating new solutions to unsolved problems that endanger human life and happiness.

Our ambition is that we will not only do it once, but again and again every four years and that we do it to improve our common future.

It’s only impossible until somebody does it.

Let me introduce INDEX: to you:

THE VISION OF A WORLDLEADING DESIGN EVENT INDEX: is the brainchild of Danish designer Johan Adam Linneballe and was established in 2001. INDEX:

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was originally intended as an exhibition and award event for the best international designs with a focus on the aesthetic and functional form of designed products. INDEX: was to be the world’s largest design event with the most participants and the most press attention.

From its very beginning, the initiative received significant backing, including support from the City of Copenhagen and the Danish government, which, along with large Danish businesses and foundations, quickly recognised the international potential of a large, Copenhagen-based design event to profile the city.

However, Denmark is a very small country that generally does not win prizes when it comes to grandeur or size. On the other hand, Denmark has something that other countries do not: Danish Design, which most of the world recognises as both aesthetic and functional.

Furthermore, a fact that is often overlooked is that the Danish design tradition is more about democratic and social design than about aesthetics. The great Danish designers and architects that founded the tradition were not just interested in styling, but in improving home environments and in creating well-lit, airy, healthy and not least convenient homes.

Building on these traditions, the focus of INDEX: was developed and clarified. INDEX: would not compete with other events on size, but on content and focus.

And it would not limit itself to focus on designers per se, but emphasise how designers must work in close co-operation with other creative leaders to realise their full potential. INDEX: would pursue the belief that design and innovation play a significant role in developing solutions that can improve the lives of large numbers of people and ensure them a future worth living in. This choice of focus was supported by our extensive international research, where designers, companies and design professionals repeatedly displayed an interest in using their abilities for

something more than just impeccable design.

THE FIVE INDEX: CATEGORIES

DESIGN TO IMPROVE LIFE

BODY

Our focus therefore became Design to Improve Life: Design that significantly improves life for a large number of people. This new focus changed nearly everything about INDEX: Our organisational structure, design definition, partners and mindset.

THIS CATEGORY COMPRISES DESIGN AND INNOVATION RELATED TO THE BODY, SUCH AS: Clothes, shoes, jewellery, body decoration, medicine, nutrition, appliances and aids used in treatment and care as well as body-related technology.

Services related to care and strategies regarding vital processes and public health.

First of all, the definition of what improves life varies, depending on geographical, cultural and economic background. Therefore, INDEX: does not define what improves life, but rather seeks to encourage global debate on the designs that do. To facilitate such a debate, INDEX: has created a large international network and established the INDEX: organisation - a group of network-connected lounges representing a specific aspect of the overall work of INDEX:.

Together, the lounges ensure that all INDEX: activities are based on extensive international debate and knowledge sharing.

Secondly, a realisation that has derived from this international network is that life is not improved solely by the design of numerous new and better products. Thus, INDEX: widened its conception of design beyond tangible design to include intangible design in the form of better strategies, services, and overall concepts.

Furthermore, to spark wide-ranging global debate - that also reaches beyond design circles - on how design could improve the lives of large numbers of people, the focuses chosen by INDEX: had to be relevant and comprehensible to large numbers of people. Therefore, the INDEX: events slated for 2005 will focus on the five categories of Body, Home, Work, Play and Community. (See textbox right). The five categories move beyond the traditional design labels, such as visual design and industrial design, and instead ensure the necessary interdisciplinary and horizontal approach.

HOME THIS CATEGORY COMPRISES DESIGN AND INNOVATION RELATED TO THE HOME, SUCH AS: Architecture, interior design, lighting, furniture, tools and appliances for the home, utility systems, software and home computers, AV and communications hardware, etc. Services for the home and strategies for new ways of living and new forms of cohabitation.

WORK THIS CATEGORY COMPRISES DESIGN AND INNOVATION RELATED TO THE WORKPLACE, SUCH AS: Architecture and interior design, worktools, manufacturing machines as well as communications, control and management systems.

Services for the workplace and strategies for work environment issues as well as strategies for organisational and managerial development.

PLAY THIS CATEGORY COMPRISES DESIGN AND INNOVATION RELATED TO SPORT, PLAY, LEISURE AND CULTURE, SUCH AS: Design of leisure facilities, tools, games and equipment used for sports, cultural activities and other leisure activities. Design of strategies, services and concepts within these areas.

UNIQUE EVENTS - AND A GLOBAL NETWORK

COMMUNITY

With the INDEX: mandate firmly in place, it was time to define the themes and events scheduled for the 2005 program. This unorthodox focus on design as a tool to improve life for large numbers of people demanded an in-depth look at the focus of the upcoming events.

Therefore, the INDEX:2005 events were planned to collectively tell the story of what design to improve life is, how designers work with design to improve life and finally, why design to improve life is important:

THIS CATEGORY COMPRISES DESIGN AND INNOVATION OF THINGS THAT WE SHARE COMMUNALLY, SUCH AS DESIGN OF AND FOR PUBLIC SPACES, SUCH AS: Roads, public spaces and parks, infrastructure, means of transport, signage, mass media and communications. The design of strategies, services and concepts for society, networking and communities.

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The INDEX: Award and INDEX: Award Exhibition will illustrate what Design to Improve Life is by exhibiting numerous examples and by awarding the best of them.

INDEX: AWARD WHAT IS DESIGN TO IMPROVE LIFE

• The Views Summit will explore how we can create design to improve life by inviting creative leaders from around the world to develop innovative ideas and recommendations for new designs to overcome a set of key challenges to human life.

INDEX: Awards offers an overview of Design to Improve Life by featuring the best examples at an exhibition and by awarding the very best designs that have improved life for large numbers of people.

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• The Future Scenarios exhibition will focus on why design to improve life is important by featuring visualisations of scenarios of what the future may hold in store for us if we either decide to adopt design to improve life or fail to do so.

In order to ensure wide accessibility, the two large international exhibitions will be held at five admissionfree outdoor locations in central Copenhagen.

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Altogether, the original concept of an international design event in Copenhagen has now been expanded to an INDEX: arena that works on two different levels: The event level, which presents international design events; and the network level, which brings together designers, organisations, institutions and companies from around the world. On both levels, the focus is on Design to Improve Life.

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INDEX:2009 WILL FOLLOW The event level is recurrent since we realise that it is not possible in a short time to promote a global discussion on design to improve life. The 2005 launch of the INDEX: event will be followed up every fourth year thereafter.

2005 !?! !?

CELEBRATION

SUMMIT

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CONCRETIZE

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Between each staging of the INDEX: event, the INDEX: network will work continually with design that improves life as a driving force for our future development. The network will ensure that the ideas and recommendations developed by the creative leaders during the Views Summit in 2005 are tested, developed and put to use in real-world situations between INDEX: events. Furthermore, the network will work to promote the use of design by global leaders with the aim of overcoming challenges to human life and seek to ensure that design students, designers, and companies around the world are engaged in creating designs that truly improve life.

INDEX: has not set out to be the biggest or the grandest. Our intention is to hold an international design event that is meaningful for a large number of people. Nonetheless, we still present the world’s largest awards for design and innovation.

23 September - 13 November 2005

Leading up to the event, the 125 leading international design institutions registered by INDEX: as nominating bodies will submit their nominations for the INDEX: Award, and INDEX: Partner companies as well as individuals will have submitted their nominations for the INDEX: Award at www.index2005.dk All nominating bodies are asked to provide a thorough description of how the submitted design has improved life as well as any known disadvantages of the design.

The designs must be genuinely new and must have been created within the last five years INDEX: international jury will select the top 100 nominees in May 2005 and the five winners in August 2005. The jury is composed of Chairman Arnold Wasserman, The Idea Factory, Singapore; Director Alec Blanch, PUCC Design School, Chile; Founder Alex Howe, Breaking Trends in a Global Village, London; Architect Dominique Perrault, Paris; Designer and founder James Sommerville, Attic, London; Designer and INDEX: godfather Johan Adam Linneballe, Scandinavian Branding, Copenhagen; Designer Nanna Ditzel, Copenhagen; Curator Paola Antonelli, Museum of Modern Art, New York; Senior Industrial Designer Pontus Wahlgren, IDEO, San Francisco; Dr. Robert Blaich, Blaich Associates, Aspen; Professor John Heskett, School of Design, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University; Principal Uffe Elbæk, The KaosPilots.

The jury will be supplemented by three additional members prior to the start of the judging process.

In evaluating the design for its ability to improve life, the jury will focus on the social, ecological, cultural and economic impact of the design. Accessibility, affordability, flexibility, simplicity, user-friendliness, optimism, level of innovation, level of need, future potential and appropriate aesthetics are criteria considered by the jury.

On 23 September 2005, the five INDEX: awards, worth €100,000 each, will be presented within the five categories: Body, Home, Work, Play and Community.

Two different award ceremonies will be staged: An official ceremony broadcasted on TV for official guests and a ceremony set to take place simultaneously at five public squares in Copenhagen.

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INDEX: Award Exhibition will open the same evening, featuring the top 100 nominations for INDEX: Award.

The exhibition will take place in display set-ups at five Copenhagen squares and will offer free admission to all. The exhibition will close on 13 November 2005.

On 11 November 2005, the INDEX: People’s Choice Award will be presented to one of the top 100 nominees featured at the exhibition, chosen by the exhibition audience in Copenhagen and via the Internet.

FUTURE SCENARIOS WHY DESIGN TO IMPROVE LIFE IS IMPORTANT 23 September - 13 November 2005 There are many future scenarios ahead of us. The scenario that will become reality will be influenced by the way we behave. The Future Scenarios Exhibition investigates what the world has in store for us whether we succeed in adopting Design to Improve Life or not.

In the late summer of 2004, the Arlington Institute, USA, will create four Macro Scenarios for INDEX:.

The scenarios will be based on projections of global key drivers. They will all specifically address the five INDEX: categories Body, Home, Work, Play and Community. The four scenarios will be created in collaboration with Bruce Damer, CEO and founder of The Digital Space Commons and Arnold Wasserman, Chairman of The Idea Factory, Singapore, and INDEX: International Jury.

In September 2004, INDEX: will publish a brochure featuring the macro scenarios and a description of the global key drivers on which they are based. The brochure will serve as a task description given to INDEX: Partner Companies, ten professional design companies/designers and multicultural student teams at five international design schools.

Each of these three groups will be asked to visualise the macro scenarios and thereby illustrate what our possible futures could look like. Furthermore, the three groups will be given the task of developing micro scenarios for each of the four projected futures and to design products that will characterise life in the various possible futures - both the feared and the preferred ones. Thereby, the products will also illustrate how everyday life in general and design in particular could look like in the future.

This enterprise and the resulting visualisations and designs will be documented on video to be exhibited at the Future Scenarios Exhibition in Copenhagen in

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2005 along with videos that feature the four original Macro Scenarios in prose form.

VIEWS SUMMIT HOW DO WE CREATE DESIGN TO IMPROVE LIFE 25 September - 28 September 2005 The Views Summit explores how we can create designs to improve life - what is needed and how we design it.

From 25-28 September 2005, INDEX: will invite creative leaders from various fields to deal with the question: How do we create design that can solve five key problems from the INDEX: categories - Body, Home, Work, Play, and Community.

The Summit will be organised as a three-day design and innovation studio by INDEX: and Monday Morning -Think Tank of News in partnership with cutting-edge design companies and leading design schools and universities.

In December 2004, INDEX: together with the Views partner organisations will select the five key problems on the basis of the global key drivers identified by the Arlington Institute, for the Future Scenarios and according to the following criteria:

challenges. The results will be presented in a “Charter for Improved Human Life”, which will be published immediately after the summit. The charter will form the basis for a series of follow-up activities: • Concrete designs to solve the five problems in question, put forward by design companies, organisations and schools based on further developments and tests of the ideas and recommendations from the Views Summit.

improve life

• Studies at design schools - and educational institutions in general - of the potential of design to improve human life.

• Dialogue - both within the design community and with its stakeholders and the general public on the role and potential of design to improve human life.

INDEX: 2009 will pick up the torch from the creative leaders at the Views Summit in 2005 and award the best solutions to the challenges in question, developed during the intervening four years.

Kigge Hvid, originally a visual artist, was appointed director of INDEX: in 2002. Prior to her appointment at INDEX: she was the first director of The Copenhagen Exhibition Hall for the Arts, Culture and Commerce for five years and involved in conceiving and planning various Danish and international events with in the fields of culture and design.

• Critical: The challenges in focus should be linked to “critical issues” among the global drivers that shape our common future, i.e. issues with the potential to “make or break” the future outlook.

• Affecting many people: The challenges should be key agendas for large groups of stakeholders already today, i.e. issues with a strong direct impact and interest for people, businesses, governments, organisations etc.

• Diversity: Together, the five challenges or test cases should represent a diversity of issues, i.e. include different types of problems affecting different groups of people around the world.

Thereafter, INDEX: will invite leading innovators and experts from human and social sciences, business and technology, architecture and design as well as representatives of the people affected by the issues selected.

Based on research prior to the summit and intensive cross-disciplinary co-operation in Copenhagen, the participants will aim at developing a catalogue of ideas for new design products and recommendations for new design approaches and tasks to solve the five

TOURIST LOUNGE

INDEX2005.DK

STRATEGIC LOUNGE

INSPIRATION LOUNGE

EXECUTIVE LOUNGE OPERATIONAL LOUNGE

PARTNER LOUNGE

FINANCING LOUNGE

DRIVER LOUNGE

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THE WORLD IN 2015:

problem solvers in high demand

design makes tomorrow visible today

BY JACOB ROSENKRANDS, ANALYST AND REPORTER

Designers could play key roles in facilitating positive futures and avoiding negative ones. In the future, societies will depend heavily on their ability to create new solutions to specific problems. Just a decade from now, many countries will find themselves struggling with the same challenges - water scarcity, overpopulation, environmental change, etc. Add “wild cards” like terrorism or global epidemics. And take into consideration that future changes will happen much more rapidly than today due to among other things globalisation and digitalisation. It is not difficult to imagine that the world of tomorrow could very well be less pleasant than today - a place where most global citizens are worse off than now. Much will depend on how professional problem solvers not least designers - respond to these challenges.

“In the past, because the rate of change was not very rapid, humans have gotten by by simply anticipating that the future would be somewhat similar to the present”, says John L. Petersen, a futurist from the American Arlington Institute. “But now we have entered a period of time where the rate of change is increasing very quickly. So you are getting an acceleration where you cannot say: Well, tomorrow or next year is going to be just slightly different from yesterday and last year,” says Petersen. Together with Arnold Wasserman from The Idea Factory and Bruce Damer of The Digital Space Commons, Petersen will produce a number of future scenarios to be exhibited and discussed at the INDEX: Future Scenarios and Views in Copenhagen in 2005.

The idea is simple: To anticipate what the world will look like if we either succeed or fail in developing new solutions to key challenges facing human life.

During Views, designers and other problem solvers will deal with five test cases - or problems - which have been selected by INDEX: in cooperation with its partners and advisors. In the five categories - Body, Home, Work, Play, Community - problems that meet the following criteria will be selected (see figure 1):

• Critical: They should be linked to “critical issues” among the global drivers that shape our common future, i.e. issues with the potential to “make or break” the future for many people’s lives.

• Affecting many people: They should be key agendas for large groups of stakeholders, i.e. issues with a strong direct impact and interest for people, businesses, governments, organisations etc.

• Diversity: Together, the five cases should represent a diversity of issues, i.e. include different types of problems affecting different groups of people around the world.

John Petersen and INDEX: share the idea that societies will have to increase their innovative capacity to keep up with changes. And to encourage a new leadership that accepts this duty. In the post-industrial era, leaders in politics and business have become increasingly aware of their own shortcomings in dealing with some of today’s most serious challenges.

They realise that what may be needed are not the old tools of states and markets, but genuinely new approaches and partnerships. Poverty, for instance, remains a serious problem, even though the issue is high on the agenda of global institutions like the World Bank, which annually spends $55 billion to fight it. Even the richest and most developed countries seem to be in need of new solutions when it comes to issues like traffic congestion, drug abuse, crime, unhealthy life styles, etc.

At the heart of INDEX: is the question whether the minds of creative leaders in general and designers in particular can be harnessed to the needs and dreams of societies.

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John Petersen is optimistic on behalf of designers: “Finding new ways to do things is the essence of design. It could make a huge difference to society if leaders in the design area will not only look to the market place of today, but develop enlightened, sophisticated ideas about the future that enable them to design towards those futures or away from negative futures,” he says.

Indeed, designers have already proven that their inventions can meet other needs than users’ aesthetic, symbolic or immaterial preferences. The new generation of designers is just as likely to engage in designing products and processes that save energy, create human-friendly environments, or even encourage political participation. (See next article).

THE FUTURE CAN BE MAPPED According to futurologists, much is already known about life a decade or two from now. It is also possible to point to critical uncertainties - specific issues around which alternative futures may evolve.

Noting that knowledge about the future is in principle accessible and understandable, however, does not imply that in reality people act accordingly.

Even decision makers in business and politics are sometimes blamed for their inability to learn from the past and to act proactively towards the future.

Against this background, INDEX: stands out as an event that strongly encourages decision makers - and designers - to bear in mind the challenges of the future when they develop new products and solutions.

As mentioned, INDEX: will break down current knowledge about the major trends shaping society into five specific challenges or test cases for designers and other problem solvers. The specific challenges they will have to address are yet to be revealed by INDEX:.

The driving concepts for the INDEX: scenarios which John Petersen identifies, however, give an impression of the future issues designers and other types of problem-solvers will have to deal with. (See textbox next page).

John Petersen, among other things, points to the fact that the balance between the rich and the poor world is going to change due to tremendous population growth in the Third World. On a global scale this is likely to increase inequality. This development will cause more discussion about which strategies and tools should be used to keep these problems under control. In some countries and areas, urbanisation raises concerns of how to provide shelter for people whose housing budgets are close to non-existent.

In many rich countries, ageing of the populations

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and diminishing workforces will put corporations and societies under pressure. Business models and the public sector will have to be redesigned to meet the needs of the “Grey Panthers”. Ways must be found to encourage young mothers and fathers to work more while raising their kids. Or - if immigration is going to be the preferred solution - politicians and business leaders will have to further transform institutions to cope with a multi-cultural society.

Environmental issues are also likely to stay high on the global agenda - partly because new generations tend to care more about the issue, partly because the ongoing industrialisation of developing countries will increase pollution. Sustainable growth is going to be the only way forward, and this will dramatically increase the demand for new means and methods of production. Water scarcity, and the challenge of transporting water from its natural sources to people in need, should also be taken into consideration when thinking about the future.

Other driving forces which will almost certainly affect the world throughout the next decade are the growth of China, and not the least technological development.

Professional communities affected by technology will be provided with new and potentially revolutionary opportunities, but not all innovations are likely to be morally acceptable. The challenge will be to create products that are innovative, yet rooted in the social, ethical and moral values of society.

Other types of global drivers identified by John Petersen are the so-called critical uncertainties like terrorism, global epidemics, and materials-science breakthroughs - factors that are not predetermined but might dramatically change the path of history and thus the challenges to be met.

The question which INDEX: puts to the test is whether designers are ready to take on some of these serious challenges facing humanity in the years to come.

“If we can make explicit the potential and alternative futures, the environment in which we are going to live, we can directly influence the design process,” John Petersen says. “Then designers will work with a far more authoritative set of images about the future on their minds, rather than just extrapolating from the present as they tend to do now.”

the future is both predetermined and uncertain The following predetermined elements will have great influence during the coming years:

In the next decade, these critical uncertainties will be the most relevant:

• Growing population: The world’s population will continue to grow significantly, especially in the developing countries. Global population in 2015 is projected to be 7.1 billion.

• Effects of dramatically advancing technology: There are many ways in which areas like biotech, nanotechnology and quantum computing could produce unexpected impacts.

• Ageing of the developed world: The average age of developed nations will increase significantly as the baby-boomers leave the labour market.

• Materials-science advancements: There will almost certainly be significant new materials-science breakthroughs in the next five years. Some of these could facilitate fundamental change.

• Increased sensitivity to environmental issues: The sensitivity of humanity to environmental issues will increase due to the views and values of new generations.

• Increased stress between society and technology: Because social systems change at a much slower rate than technology is presently changing, it is certain that there will be more areas of conflict.

• China a more powerful economic power: It is almost certain that China will be a much more significant player in the world.

• Terrorism: In an increasingly strained world of ideologies, the presence of terrorism has become an extremely volatile issue.

• Rapid climate change: If scientists predicting rapid changes in the global climate are correct, 2010 could prove to be quite a different time from the one we are currently familiar with.

• Energy sources: Within five years it may or may not be clear that we have entered a new, post-petroleum energy age.

• Global epidemic: There is great international concern about the possibility of an outbreak of a world-wide epidemic, spread across the planet by air travellers.

MORE KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE FUTURE In addition to these overarching challenges it is easy to think of a number of other current issues which call for new solutions. For example: Obesity - how do we stimulate lifestyles that keep citizens from killing themselves by eating? Toys - how do we create toys which encourage kids to explore the world? Stress

• Globalisation: As free trade continues to be promoted across the world, it can lead to both positive and threatening possibilities.

Source: John Petersen, The Arlington Institute

• The human ability to respond to great change: Last but not least, the ability of humanity to adjust to change rather than fight it is an important factor.

- how do we create workplaces and homes for modern citizens who struggle to balance work, pleasure and family? Politics - how do we create new channels to re-vitalise dialogue between political leaders and citizens?

Perhaps the largest obstacle to designers becoming more involved in solving social problems is a mental one - a challenge of overcoming the traditional mindsets of design. Neither politicians, nor designers usually think of complex social problems in terms of design. But in fact design often makes a difference in fields where it is not expected to be part of the solution. Examples: • Protecting human rights: In holding human rights violators accountable, one major challenge is to get the truth out. Accurate and reliable information is a crucial weapon against the perpetrators. But gathering and reporting information are often difficult and risky tasks. A software solution which was launched in January 2003

by The Martus Project addresses this problem in a successful way. Martus is the Greek word for witness.

The software is as easy to use as e-mail and helps the witnesses of human-rights violations to collect, safeguard, organise and disseminate information.

Encryption technology guarantees that the user remains anonymous, even if authorities or others try to hack their way into the system.

• The experience of voting: In the US presidential election in 2000, poor design of ballots led to the rejection of thousands of votes and thereby influenced the result of the election.

The event has triggered a new interest from designers in the tools and procedures of voting. An independent organisation, Design for Democracy, founded after the election, assists local and national authorities in redesigning the voting experience, from voter education to poll-worker training. Another initiative comes from the Institute of Design at Illinois Institute of Technology, where a group of student designers are engaged in a project named “Visible Politics.” The aim: To improve the experience of voting by means of human-centred design methods. The students have made prototypes for new energetic logos, posters in several languages, manuals for electing judges featuring more diagrams and less text, and new ballots. Some of their ideas were used at 5,000 polling locations during primary elections in March 2004.

• Improving patients’ recovery: Patients recover more quickly in hospitals which care about design and architecture. This is the conclusion of a comprehensive study which investigates the link between hospital design and the well-being and recovery of patients. The study, published in 2004 by

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Center for Health Design, California, USA, is based on more than 600 cases. The study shows: That private rooms bring down the rate of hospital-acquired infections. That sound-absorbing tile and carpeting reduce patient stress and blood pressure. That better lighting and access to natural light can shorten hos-pital stays. That placing nursing stations closer to patient rooms reduces the number of injuries due to falls. Also, another finding in the report suggests that design should be considered an investment, not merely a cost: One hospital found that poor signage added $220,000 to its expenses per year, equal to the time spent by staff giving directions.

When the global drivers described by futurist John Petersen are taken into consideration, it is evident that even the least dramatic future scenario will call for radically new solutions. Success or failure will depend on the ability of the world community to create new innovative partnerships to meet the challenges.

imagine the impossible KEY TRENDS IN HUMAN LIFE

That is exactly what INDEX: is attempting to do: To open the eyes of current leaders to the potentials of design, and to open the eyes of designers to the needs of society.

As suggested by these examples and the best cases presented throughout this magazine, there is plenty of evidence that design can improve human life when it comes to issues like health, housing, organisational design, leisure activities, social affairs and more.

Even so, a new creative leadership which could change the path of history is not yet in place. Old answers and solutions still overshadow the new ones when world leaders address future challenges.

According to John Petersen this has to change. The futurist from The Arlington Institute sees no alternative to designers getting more involved in solving the world’s toughest problems: “Well, if they don’t, then no one will, because they are the only ones that have capability and motivation to do so. If we who are the creative folks are not doing that in an intelligent way, we will be stuck with today’s problems,” he says.

Jacob Rosenkrands holds an MA in Political Science from the University of Copenhagen. A New York-based analyst and reporter, Jacob works for Monday Morning Weekly and the Danish Broadcasting Corporation.

In a series of workshops with experts in the fields of the five INDEX: categories – Body, Home, Work, Play, Community – INDEX: has mapped a range of the trends that are expected to challenge human life.

Some of them are illustrated above.

Source: INDEX: Based on Views Lab 1 & 2, 25 and 27 May 2005

NEW DESIGN POTENTIALS:

creating human-centred innovation

BY STINE HEDEGAARD JØRGENSEN, CONSUMER-RESEARCH CONSULTANT

INDEX: focuses on “design to improve life”: Design in the form of products, services and strategies that can help overcome challenges faced by humans around the world and thereby improve life for large numbers of people. Design to improve life can be based on any design approach or process, and is not limited to design by specific methods. However, the potential of the design industry to develop solutions to the problems of human life have been strongly supported by a quiet revolution which the design industry has undergone during the last decades. A revolution that has changed the very way we understand design.

To many people, design equals fancy furniture, expensive clothing or weird gadgets. But currently the field of design is rapidly expanding. Focus in the design field has shifted from aesthetics to developing innovative products and services that are humancentred.

Today, design projects are based on a considerable amount of research aiming at understanding the needs, desires and problems of the users. Often, this part of a project is the most comprehensive part of the design process. The agents bringing about this quiet revolution include design companies like Doblin Inc. and IDEO, and corporations like Nokia and Apple.

The result is a new design paradigm characterised by a structured and systematic approach to a problem, interdisciplinary teams working together in order to solve the problem, and an emphasis on innovation.

The commercial successes of this new approach have led to increased focus on the capability of design to act as an agent of societal change. Several countries and local governments use leading design companies, and their insights into human needs, to develop new policies and to develop their strategic visions. Recent projects indicate that there is a great potential for design to contribute to solving societal problems.

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However, these new design perspectives also pose a critical question for the design industry: Is the broad range of design schools and designers capable of changing their mindset and adopting the new goals and approaches of the frontrunners in the field?

A NEW DESIGN PERSPECTIVE IS EMERGING During the last decades, a new design perspective has emerged within the design industry. This new design perspective is often referred to as human-centred, user-centred or empathic design. In a human-centred design perspective, the focus is on the needs, values and desires of the users.

Patrick Jordan, of the Carnegie-Mellon School of Design, points out that today the key to designing innovative products and services is in the ability of designers to put themselves outside of their own experience, and to obtain insight into the life of the users they are designing for.

The new human-centred design perspective has been on its way during the last 20 years but is only now being formalised within the field, in line with the big changes channelling the transition from an industrial society to a global knowledge society. The perspective is characterised by: • A structured and systematic approach: From a human-centred design perspective, the concept of design is defined as problem solving. Accordingly, problems are systematically researched and analysed from holistic perspectives.

• Interdisciplinary and based on teamwork: Increasingly designers work together with a wide range of other professionals, including sociologists, engineers, economists, psychologists, anthropologists, etc.

Hence, human-centred design is an interdisciplinary and team-based process.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE FOR THE INDIVIDUAL USERS

• Emphasising innovation: In the classical design tradition, the assumption was that one could carry out the innovation process and then ‘attach’ the design.

Human-centred design combines and integrates innovation and design.

With human needs at the top of their agenda, design companies are now embracing methods from the social sciences. A study by Dorothy Leonard and Jeffrey Rayport published in the Harvard Business Review suggests that the most efficient methods to innovate and meet users’ needs are empathic, such as in-home observations and ethnographic research.

NO LONGER JUST ABOUT AESTHETICS Thus, the concept of design is no longer just a matter of aesthetics, as viewed from a traditional design perspective. As Arnold S. Wasserman, chairman of The Idea Factory, points out elsewhere in this magazine, the design industry has spent the last 50 years maturing from a discretionary aesthetic service to a first-order competitive business strategy. Designers today face much more complex problems than before, and the field has broadened from a single discipline to multiple disciplines taking place in a crossdisciplinary environment.

Indeed, on the global market the human-centred perspective has proved to be the key to innovation and commercial success. Nokia and Apple are both well known examples. Nokia succeeded in winning the market for cell phones over Motorola by using extensive research of consumer behaviour, which according to Eero Miettinen, director of design at Nokia, made the company understand “that the devices weren’t technical devices anymore but part of the end users personality”.

The changes in the design industry have challenged traditional perceptions of design and the identities of designers. Clearly, aesthetics is still the core element of design, distinguishing design from all other disciplines. But new dimensions have come into focus, first and foremost developing products using an increased understanding of human needs in combination with an improved knowledge of materials and technology. (See textbox).

Likewise, at Apple - the highly successful producer of computers and devices like the iPod - design is at the heart of corporate strategy. Despite fierce competition from the PC world, Apple has survived thanks to its user-friendly products and constant innovations. Steve Jobs, co-founder and CEO, has described his philosophy this way: “In most people’s vocabularies, design means decoration. But to me, nothing could be further from the meaning of design. Design is the fundamental soul of a man-made creation”.

NEW UNDERSTANDINGS OF DESIGN

NEW UNDERSTANDINGS OF DESIGN

Victor Margolin, editor of Design Issues and professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago argues that despite the fact that the aesthetic purpose of design cannot be neglected, it is important to understand that design is also a subject with great social significance. Designers have the skills to make fundamental change - with an aesthetic touch.

Chairman of The Idea Factory, Arnold S. Wasserman, perceives design as “the integration of art and technology for the creation of products, communications and environments that serve human needs. Design is creativity directed toward a purpose.”

Richard Buchanan, former head of the CarnegieMellon School of Design, argues that “design is the activity of conceiving, planning and making products that serve people in the accomplishment of their individual or collective purposes”.

According to Larry Keeley, Doblin Inc, skilled designers can: • Conceive and make stuff • Imagine good uses for new materials and processes • Empathise with people • Imagine usage experiences • Sense and value what is new • Simplify and clarify information

Another interesting example comes from the world of house cleaning. The design company IDEO was approached by the vacuum-cleaner manufacturer Hoover. Hoover asked IDEO to make a new improved vacuum cleaner. By conducting several user observations, IDEO not only found that vacuum cleaning is the household chore that people take the least pleasure in, but that the design of vacuum cleaners made the task very inconvenient.

IDEO’s suggestion for a new vacuum cleaner addressed a number of problems. Among other things, the new vacuum cleaner easily follows the user during cleaning; it features a power plug that ejects itself from the wall socket; a curved wand to reduce bending while cleaning hard-to-reach areas, and a handle that places all controls at the user’s fingertips. The new vacuum cleaner has become a commercial success for Hoover, and has won a number of design awards.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE FOR SOCIETY Whereas the design industry has proved capable of meeting individual needs, it is still an open question whether design can be applied to solve societal problems. A number of recent events and trends suggest that this could very well be the next big leap for the design community.

Gradually, design has made its way onto the political agenda. Among others, British government leader Tony Blair has recognised that “design should never be seen as last-minute superficial packaging and styling rather than a management discipline. Used strategically to help in the development, delivery and communication of policies and services, design can help deliver important benefits across the whole of government.” Accordingly, governments in several countries have hired design consultancies to advise on ways to meet public needs.

A notable example is Singapore, where several ministries have worked with design consultants from The Idea Factory in a bid to transform the country from an efficiency/productivity economy to a creativity/ innovation culture. Presently, endeavours focus on the education sector.

Other examples of governments that use design capabilities as development tools are Poland, New Zealand and Portugal. The governments of these countries have for years worked with different designers to develop and communicate a national strategic vision. This vision is used to create a feeling of internal identity and to improve and clarify the external image of the country.

At the local level, some cities have begun to use de-

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sign consultancies to improve quality of life and to help create a stronger brand for the city and thereby attract more tourists, investors and high-skilled workers. Perhaps the best known example of a city that has deliberately “re-designed” itself is Bilbao - 20 years ago a poor, underdeveloped city, today a creative hub.

Accordingly, the potential of design to solve global, social problems seems far from utilised. Problems such as lack of food supply or clean water in developing countries, the increasing energy consumption and traffic congestion in megacities, or the growth of physical inactivity or stress at workplaces are all problems that designer skills and creativity can help solve.

A key purpose for INDEX: is to illustrate and explore these potentials. Supporting the same agenda, Bruce Mau Design, a Canadian design company, is about to launch a large exhibition called “Massive Change” that has identified ways in which design helps - or can help - change human conditions on a global scale.

the new design field

Complex problems

e=mc

2

What skills & tools are needed to do this work

Figure 1

today Designer

Multiple disciplines

Single discipline 2+2=4

Designer

yesterday Simple problems

THE FUTURE OF DESIGN

Copyright © 2004 NextDesign Leadership Institute

The importance of design as an innovation tool, as a driver of commercial successes and as an agent of social change is most likely to increase in the future.

Ironically, however, the increasing importance of design is a major challenge and potentially also a threat to the designers, since the field will and already is beginning to attract other professions that - some argue - are better equipped to deal with complex business and social problems than the traditional designers from the design schools.

the new how designer's work ispractice design changing

Copyright © 2004 NextDesign Leadership Institute

Figure 2 To avoid being marginalised designers will need to improve their analytical skills and their ability to collaborate with other fields, as well as change their mindset. As yet, the culture among many designers is that designers should make “cool things” rather than solve real problems.

today yesterday

As GK VanPatter, Founder of NextDesign Leadership Institute, argues: “As much as we would like it to be otherwise, the simple truth is that design is increasingly being left out of the up-front thinking and strategic portion of complex problem solving situations. While the size and complexity of problems facing clients, facing the world is expanding, the reality is that the scale of problem-solving skill among designers has not kept pace.”

This approach remains dominant not only among many established designers, but also in many design schools as well. In spite of the tremendous change that the design field has undergone during the last

ALONE-WORK

SINGLE-DISCIPLINE TEAMWORK

Diagrams are part of Mindscape 1.0 created by NextDesign Leadership Institute in collaboration with Understanding Lab in New York.

CROSS-DISCIPLINE TEAMWORK What skills & tools are needed to do this work

BEST PRACTICE: DESIGN TO IMPROVE LIFE

dare to dream

body: saul griffith’s low-cost eyeglasses

50 years, the traditional perspective of design as arts and crafts is still evident at design schools around the world, particularly in Europe. The curriculum at many design schools is entirely made up of arts and crafts classes that do not equip the students with the types of competencies now demanded by the industry.

An estimated one billion people in the developing world need eyeglasses but cannot afford them. Targeted at consumers in the developed world, the expensive products of the eyeglass industry are out of reach for the majority of people in the Third World.

Even though the problem of cost could be solved through innovative discount solutions, producing eyeglasses for poor consumers is a low-profit business and thus unattractive to the industry. Hence, we have become accustomed to testing carried out by skilled optometrists using elaborate testing equipment, fashion-focused product design and lens tolerances measured in micros.

However, a few select design schools have recognised the opportunity to meet the needs of the industry.

Design schools such as the Institute of Design at Illinois Institute of Technology, the Carnegie-Mellon School of Design, and the Domus Academy have organised and structured their programmes to meet the demands of the industry. At these schools, students are not only encouraged to develop their creative potential, but are also taught the methods needed to become innovative. Classes are taught in an interdisciplinary environment with an emphasis on conceptualisation.

These schools pave the way for the future of design.

Changing the education, culture and mindset of designers is probably the most important challenge for the design industry today. The potential for design to improve life is greater than ever. The opportunity for taking on an important societal role already exists. The demand for expanded design services is significant. It is only a question of whether it will be designers or other professions that dare to meet this demand.

Stine Hedegaard Jørgensen holds masters degrees in psychology from University of Copenhagen and social psychology from London School of Economics and Political Science. Stine runs her own consultancy, Hedegaard Consumer Research and Consult.

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1 Billion need don’t have

1 Billion have 4 Billion don’t need

Recently, Saul Griffith - a PhD student at MIT - developed a portable eyeglass-manufacturing device that casts lenses from a liquefied polymer which hardens inside a simple mould. Materials worth 40 cents go into the manufacturing process which lasts a mere ten minutes. Eyesight testing is done with a pair of oversized glasses that have an electronic sensor mounted on the frame. The sensor monitors the lens in the wearer’s eye and determines the lens power needed.

The simplicity of the testing and manufacturing devices allows unskilled personnel to operate them.

Add to this the portability, and the way is paved for microentrepreneurs. The dominant retail channel in poor areas, microentrepreneurs would be evident as travelling eyecare workers in rural areas. In a ThirdWorld context like this, the price for a pair of glasses would be as low as $5. For more information visit www.lowcosteyeglasses.net.

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BEST PRACTICE: DESIGN TO IMPROVE LIFE

BEST PRACTICE: DESIGN TO IMPROVE LIFE

work: mit’s stata center

home: rakowitz’ parasite

A few years ago, Massachusetts Institute of Technology presented world-famous architect Frank Gehry with a challenge: Create a building that encourages innovation and creative thinking. Gehry’s response to the challenge - the Stata Center for Computer, Information and Intelligence Sciences - was inaugurated this summer. Housing MIT’s computer, linguistics and philosophy departments, the centre is designed to facilitate interaction and communication. In a wider sense, the building invites its users to form communities, since both Gehry and MIT believe that communities are pivotal to individuals’ creative abilities.

Professorial offices are grouped in two-storey “research neighbourhoods” in which individual rooms are placed upstairs along a balcony that overlooks a double-height shared space. The offices have windows that face the communal areas, while the laboratories have glass walls. To help avoid hierarchies, the Stata Center has an air of incompleteness due to an uneven inner structure with unexpected “shelves” and “cracks”. With many informal meeting places and scales that are kept human, the overall texture is village-like. To further a feeling of being in a network, no part of the building seems to form a core.

MIT hopes the Stata Center will alter the culture of its professors towards more interaction. Moreover, the centre may alleviate the feeling of isolation that - according to several studies - students experience when working in the kind of closed-door architecture that one finds on the rest of the MIT campus. Pictures can be found at http://web.mit.edu/buildings/statacenter/

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it’s impossible until somebody does it

Many large American cities fight a silent war against their populations of homeless people. In an attempt to drive the homeless away, city administrations make it difficult to find outdoor places to sleep. Bus benches are made barrel shaped, exhaust vents are tilted 45 degrees, and parks are sprinkled at random during the night.

This situation has prompted Michael Rakowitz, a professor of sculpturing at Maryland Institute College of Art, to design “Parasite”, a kind of soft, inflatable tent.

The Parasite is made of double-membrane polyethylene and has an air-intake tube which the owner attaches to the exhaust vent of an office building’s ventilation system. Warm air leaving the building flows through the space between the two layers of polyethylene, simultaneously inflating and heating the tent. Inner velcro-sealed liners are used to store personal items. In the morning, the owner deflates the Parasite and folds it into a small package that has handles for transport.

A Parasite can be made for $5. So far, Mr. Rakowitz himself is the only producer. He gives the Parasites away for free, customising each one for an individual homeless person.

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BEST PRACTICE: DESIGN TO IMPROVE LIFE

BEST PRACTICE: DESIGN TO IMPROVE LIFE

play: japan’s dance dance revolution Kids playing videogames instead of taking part in physical activity is a problem that concerns many parents, doctors and educators. The solution could be a new kind of videogame which is now spreading from Japan to the West. In the so-called “beat games”, the game player controls the action on the screen not through a joystick but by moving his or her body. For instance, in the most popular of these beat games - “Dance Dance Revolution” - the game player stands on a plastic mat that is divided into nine squares. The centre square is the starting point. The outer squares carry the image of an arrow - up, down, left or right - corresponding with similar arrows on the screen.

The game is simple. Across the screen comes a stream of moving arrows. Whenever one of these aligns with one of the stationary up/down/left/right arrows, the game player must step onto the corresponding square on the mat. The game is accompanied by music and thus taps into the player’s instincts for rhythm.

In another of the beat games, “Samba de amigo”, the player controls the action on the screen by shaking a pair of maracas, the percussion instrument known from Latino music. The next generation of “Dance Dance Revolution” will feature a small camera recording the body movements of the player. These movements are mimicked by an on-screen figure, showing the player how far he or she is from an ideal pattern of movement. This could open new possibilities for dance lessons or weight-loss programmes.

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community: approtec’s irrigation pump A simple, foot-operated pump designed six years ago is radically changing the lives of tens of thousands of small-scale farmers in Kenya. Thanks to the pump, farmers can now irrigate all of their land where previously they collected water in buckets, and thus had to confine themselves to watering only some of their crops.

In the past, small-scale farmers could only manage to grow their own food, and they earned next to nothing.

Now, irrigation allows the farmers to grow and sell a variety of high-value crops. On average, when a smallscale farmer buys a foot pump, his or her annual cash income rises dramatically from $100 to $1,200.

60% of pump owners are women. Over the past six years, 27,000 Kenyan farmers have acquired a pump, creating paid employment for an additional 17,000 rural workers. The new profits and wages amount to $30 million a year, making up 0,5% of Kenya’s GDP. The pump has been designed by Approtec, a company with a mission of creating and marketing technologies that are robust, practical, affordable, manually operated, easy to repair and profitable for the buyer within three to six months. Approtec’s personnel visit random buyers during the first month after purchase and register the initial situation. After 18 months, they return to check the impact. These checks provide Approtec with a good basis for making decisions about what technologies to develop in the future.

Combining simplicity and efficiency, technologies like the foot-operated pump require a minimum of investment to create value. Moreover, they are highly scalable - once designed, they can reach an almost unlimited number of small-scale entrepreneurs. Learn more at www.approtec.org.

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CREATIVE LEADERS:

the new face of a new global leadership

BY JACOB ROSENKRANDS, ANALYST AND REPORTER

Within recent years, some remarkable new faces have made their way onto the covers of business magazines which used to be reserved for traditional CEO types.

These are the faces of the underdogs, entrepreneurs, mavericks, social activists, designers and many more – people who are in the business of changing the way we think about things, and the way we get things done. They may be referred to as the creative leaders - even if perhaps their most significant feature is that they do not fit existing labels. Thus, creative leaders are not as much defined by which sector they belong to, as by what they do - combining new thinking and problem solving.

The reason why these figures are now in the forefront is that business and societies increasingly focus on how to use knowledge creatively. As argued elsewhere in this magazine, the world faces changes which call for unconventional thinking and radically new solutions. Indeed, the leaders of tomorrow may look very different from the leaders of today.

INDEX: is committed to defining and encouraging this new creative leadership. The belief is that design frontrunners can constitute an important part of a new creative leadership. And that the potentials of design to improve life are best realised in crossdisciplinary partnerships.

This is why this magazine features the works and philosophies of creative leaders from multiple backgrounds.1 And this is why, more importantly, INDEX: will invite leaders and innovators to Copenhagen to form what may be the first global summit for creative leaders. On September 25, 2005, the special event Views will summon international frontrunners from fields including human and social sciences, technology, architecture and design to address the question: How do we create design that improves human life. Specifically, their task will be to address five key problems from each of the INDEX: categories

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– Body, Home, Work, Play, and Community – and develop innovative ideas and recommendations for design that can help solve these problems.

Today, creative leaders are described as the people who “change the performance capacity of society,” as management theorist Peter Drucker has said about social entrepreneurs. They “help all of us to re-imagine the day-to-day-practices of business” as FAST COMPANY has written about some of the world’s most innovative designers. Or as Wired Magazine writes in a tribute to 20 innovators in a number of fields ranging from architecture, software and film to medicine, science and politics: “They are the mavericks, the dreamers, the innovators (…) paving the way to tomorrow, and inspiring us to follow in their footsteps. We admire their smarts. We salute their achievements. And we can’t wait to see what they’ll do next.”

Truly, many creative leaders portrayed in the media – including this magazine – are exceptionally brilliant.

However, that is not the reason why they deserve attention. Rather, creative leaders are important because their stories and visions give us a glance of the future – they teach us some general lessons about how to work and live in the 21st Century.

As numerous experts in human knowledge and creativity have pointed out, almost everybody possesses the potential of being creative and innovative. The difference is that creative leaders already know how to unleash this potential.

CREATIVITY IN HIGH DEMAND Creative problem solvers such as designers and entrepreneurs have been around for a long time. The news is that creativity has been become vitally important to the mainstream of business and society.

In the market place, success and failure are determi-

ned by the ability of corporations to add value to products by means of research & development, design or storytelling – or to invent completely new categories of products. In the public sector, there is an increasing awareness that traditional tools, like rule by law and economic funding, do not always result in the planned changes.

Creative leadership is yet a general term which applies to a wide range of individuals and professions.

It overlaps with phenomena like innovation, creative class, creative industries, and social entrepreneurship, which has gained a lot of attention in recent years.

According to Richard Florida, author of the international bestseller “The Creative Class”, the number of people doing creative work has increased throughout the last decades – the scientists, engineers, technologists, artists, designers and various other professionals whose job is to have new ideas, create new technologies or content. Richard Florida, a Heinz Professor of Economic Development at Carnegie Mellon, calls this group the creative class. He notes that whereas in 1980 around 15 percent of US workers were doing creative work, today it is close to a third of the workforce.

Along with this development, the boundaries between sectors and disciplines have blurred. The world of money and power is merging with the world of arts and culture. In recent years, many governments have launched public programmes to boost creative industries like design, architecture, fashion, entertainment, and encourage increased interaction between artists and decision makers. The British organisation Arts & Business is an example of a network that brings together leaders from both worlds.

Or take the World Economic Forum’s Davos Summit as another example: It used to be a summit exclusively for top-executives and top-politicians. Today, the doors have been opened to leaders with a wide range of backgrounds, such as cultural and social entrepreneurs.

Social entrepreneurs make up an interesting subcategory of creative leaders. Social entrepreneurs are people who create social change, and often use business and management skills to do so. Most social entrepreneurs operate in what is usually described as the non-profit world – a sector which is soaring these years. A survey from John Hopkins University based on figures from eight industrial nations shows that in the first half of the 90s, the economic activities of this sector grew two and a half times as quickly as the rest of the economy.

The American reporter and author David Bornstein,

who has travelled the world to meet and interview successful social entrepreneurs, firmly believes that leaders in business and politics have a lot to learn from these people.

Bornstein has written the book “How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and The Power of New Ideas”. It describes projects concerned with among other things AIDS, health care, poverty, education and the environment. David Bornstein is convinced that in ten years from now, social entrepreneurs will have changed the ways in which societies all over the world deal with problems. “When we look back on the most serious problems of the present, I think we will see that social entrepreneurs - thanks to their energy and innovative skills – have solved these problems more efficiently than both corporations and states would have thought was possible,” he says.

HOW CREATIVE LEADERS MAKE A DIFFERENCE From studying the literature on creative leaders as well as their individual stories, it is possible to identify some common characteristics. Across their many differences, most creative leaders seem to fit the following description. They:

• Think out of the box: Creative leaders have an eye for solutions and futures that are not immanent in business as usual. As MIT professor Mitchell Resnick puts it, creativity is less about “what one should know” than about “how to learn things we do not know”.

• Take risks: The only way to succeed every time is to stick to the routines which have already proven to work. In order to innovate, one must accept the risk of failure as part of the game. To make this point, managementtheorist Tom Peters has even said that managers and organisations should reward failure.

• Worship diversity: Working teams should not consist of look-a-likes and pleasers. Rather, creative leaders tend to work with people whose skills and views are different from their own. They might even follow the controversial advice given by professor at Stanford Engineering School, Robert Sutton: “Hire people you don’t like.” The point is not that conflict per se is good, but that innovation is fostered by diversity.

• Work across sectors: Breaking new ground often requires eclectic thinking that combines the wisdoms of the market, the state and the non-profit-sectors.

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CREATIVE LEADERS

now is always the right time to start

larry page and sergey brin: took the best and skipped the worst of dot.com Throughout the years, Google has maintained a reputation as a great place to work. Thus Google serves as a reminder that the dot.com commitment to human resources and creativity still stands.

• Have an ethical impetus: Usually creative leaders have higher ends than simply improving products or beating the nearest competitor in the marketplace. They are masters in defining missions which their employees and stakeholders find meaningful.

• Get things done: Creativity is useless if it results nothing but talk.

What makes creative leaders stand out is not only their ability to think of new solutions, but on top of that their ability to bring these solutions into play.

Arnold Wasserman, chairman of The Idea Factory and of INDEX: International Jury says that innovation is ultimately “about getting great ideas out of the research and development lab and into the real world”.

It may be virtues like these that have made the creative leaders described in this magazine successful.

And it may be virtues like these that are needed if INDEX: is to live up to its mission – design and innovation to improve human life. By September 27, 2005 – at the end of the three-day Views summit in Copenhagen where select thinkers and innovators will work on five specific challenges – the world will get an even better idea of what creative leadership may look like.

1

Please note that the persons portrayed in this article are not necessarily affiliated with the INDEX: organisation, but are included to demonstrate the impact and diversity of creative leaders.

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“Google is not a conventional company. We do not intend to become one.” This is a sentence from a manual for future shareholders which the founders of Internet search company Google have made. In planning Google’s introduction on the stock market in 2004, Larry Page and Sergey Brin wanted to make sure that the special “Google values” were not compromised. While Google in many walks the talk of the dot.com era, its two founding fathers are determined not to fall victim to the greed and shortsightedness that eventually led to many high-tech companies going bankrupt around the turn of the millennium.

In their capacity as leaders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin have been praised for their caring attitude towards their staff and their ability to chill out. Apart from the benefits, the atmosphere and the toys, Google is known for its bottom-up management style, which among other things allows employees to spend 20 percent of their time on their own special projects.

Needless to say, many of the new features found on the Google website started life as special projects.

Larry Page and Sergey Brin consider “disorganisation” a fundamental principle of their company. Along with written moral principles such as “Don’t be evil” and “Make the world a better place”, this contributes to the image of Google as an idealistic company. Too idealistic, some argue. However, Larry Page and Sergey Brin continue to do things their own way.

So far, Larry Page and Sergey Brin have been successful. They met in the 90s at Stanford University, where they were both PhD-students. After publishing a scientific paper which was basically an outline for Google, they dropped out to realise their idea.

Google was launched from a friend’s garage in 1998.

Today it seems that everybody is “googling” - to use the new verb for “searching and finding” that has now been added to our vocabulary. The most efficient search engine on the web, Google has indexed 4 billion web pages. 200 million searches are carried out daily in 90 languages. And probably a considerable number of the user’s would agree that without Google, work and play would be a little less pleasant.

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CREATIVE LEADERS

CREATIVE LEADERS

bjørn lomborg: scientist with a global vision

bruce mau: rewriting the rules of innovation

list of projects ranked on a sliding scale from ‘very good’ to ‘bad’. Controlling HIV/AIDS came out on top, followed by projects concerned with providing micronutrients and liberalising trade.

vision project commissioned by the Vancouver Art Gallery.

Other special projects deal with the re-thinking of urban landscapes and national identity. In the project “Too Perfect”, Bruce Mau has re-branded Denmark in cooperation with Danish designers and architects.

“Too Perfect” will be presented at exhibitions in Toronto, Venice and at the Danish Architecture Centre in Copenhagen. The project consists of “7 possible Denmarks” – models and suggestions for the role Denmark could play in the post-modern and globalised world. One of the suggestions: Replace all Danish harbours with a super-harbour in the Baltic Sea. All at once this would make up an international hub for sea transportation and allow old harbour areas to be used for housing. “The 7 possible Denmarks” will be presented to the Danish government as well.

While some may find Lomborg’s cost-benefit approach to complex problems one-sided, the Copenhagen Consensus has been widely praised for being a practical and useful input for the world’s decision makers. This type of conference offers an interesting alternative decision-making process as compared to the roundtable discussions on similar topics, which political leaders tend to favour.

In April 2004, Time Magazine included Lomborg - in his capacity as a thinker and scientist - in its list of the world’s 100 most influential persons.

He has been used by the political right and hated by environmentalists. Bjørn Lomborg, political scientist and author of the international bestseller “The Sceptical Environmentalist,” knows how to stir up a debate.

Nevertheless, the Dane’s most recent project shows that he is basically concerned with building consensus about what are the most serious problems facing the World.

As Director of the Danish Environmental Assessment Institute, Lomborg initiated the Copenhagen Consensus conference which took place in the Danish capital May 24-28, 2004. At this event, international top economists assembled to prioritise the world’s challenges from a shortlist of ten: Trade barriers, malnutrition and hunger, climate change, armed conflicts, financial instability, sanitation and water, human migration, communicable diseases, education, and corruption. The economists worked within a fictitious budget of $50 billion and ended up with a

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Since then, Lomborg has voluntarily resigned from his position as director at the Environmental Assessment Institute, because he wants to focus on his scientific work. But he promises to be back. A key philosophy for Lomborg is that scientists should not abstain from pointing to solutions. On the contrary, he has a vision of a global debate about human priorities in which scientists participate along with decision makers and citizens.

“Don’t be cool.” “Ask stupid questions.” “Make mistakes faster.” These are some of the bold rules in designer and innovator Bruce Mau’s 43-point “Incomplete manifesto for growth”. The manifesto is just one of several manifestations by Mau that have stunned and impressed the design world. He is a man who does not follow the rules of the design world - he writes and rewrites them.

Bruce Mau is the founder and leader of Bruce Mau Design in Toronto, and has a background in graphic design. Today, however, he invests most of his time in what he calls “special projects”. Special projects do not have a pre-determined outcome but are defined by a problem which has several possible solutions.

They are cross-disciplinary projects calling for radical new thinking.

Bruce Mau has become increasingly interested in exploring not just the looks, but the nature of things. “Forget about how things look and let’s talk about design capacity - the ability to create results.

Ultimately, that is what design is all about: To make a difference in the world,” he says.

This philosophy is also reflected in the Institute without Boundaries (IwB), which is an educational programme established by Bruce Mau Design and George Brown from Toronto City College. Bruce Mau personally takes time to coach the young designers who perhaps one day will re-write his own creative rules. The tagline of the IwB is: “What if we could do anything?”

Example: The project “Massive Change” which explores nothing less than the future of design. This project will take the form of a book, an international exhibition, public events, an on-line forum and a tele-

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CREATIVE LEADERS

CREATIVE LEADERS

bibi russel: designer for development

muhammad yunus: the entrepreneur who changed the global fight on poverty

Vogue, Harper’s Bazar, and Cosmopolitan.

poor people with small-scale business-projects such as buying a milk cow or a new oven for baking bread.

Because of her work, Bibi Russel travelled the world and gained insight into the front end of fashion.

However, she remained convinced that Bangladesh, one of the poorest countries on earth, had something valuable and unique to offer: “Everyone thinks Bangladesh is a poor country,” Bibi Russel once said in an interview. “For a creative person - for me - it’s rich in culture and everything. So it gives me a lot of energy - I live in Bangladesh. Most of the time I’m in villages and I’m competing with top designers.”

The international fashion industry has a reputation for being short-sighted and superficial. People and garments are judged by their looks – not their identity.

The often poor workers who make the clothes are only credited for accepting low wages. True or not, it does not have to be this way as shown by the work of former supermodel, designer Bibi Russel. Awarded the title of “Designer for Development” by UNESCO, Russel develops and markets an internationally recognised collection of garments and crafts made by workers in Bangladesh. Her business model proves that local work made in the Third World can compete on a globalised marketplace.

The story of Bibi Russel is the story of a celebrity and a creative professional who has used her personal status and skills to help less privileged people to realise their potential. After graduating as a designer from London College of Fashion in 1975, Bibi Russel worked as a model for world-leading names like Armani, Versace, and Karl Lagerfeld. Throughout the 80s, her face was on the covers of magazines like

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Bibi Russel has turned century-old crafts and weaving traditions into a cutting-edge fashion collection. Her dresses and garments are designed and produced in close cooperation with weavers in the villages of Bangladesh. All materials, from the silk fabrics to the buttons, are made here, providing jobs and economic stability for entire families. Bibi Russel’s productions have provided jobs for more than 30,000 workers in Bangladesh - enough to revive the handloom weaving industry in the country. Some of the funding of the project, by the way, originally came from Grameen bank, which has specialised in financing projects that lift people out of poverty and was founded Muhammad Yunus, another creative leader portrayed in this magazine.

In 1999, Bibi Russel won the title of Woman of the Year, an award established by The Foundation of Entrepreneur Women. Her work has been acknowledged by UNESCO as a significant step in the global fight against poverty.

Bibi Russel often stresses that her work is not about charity. “It’s about giving back to these people who work hard and are never recognised,” she says in a recent interview and continues: “We have to change the mentality of what fashion is.”

Today, Grameen Bank has around three million borrowers in Bangladesh, and thanks to the business model developed by Muhammad Yunus the idea of micro credit has become a global success. Today an estimated 70 million of the world’s poorest people receive these types of loans.

Typical of the philosophy of Yunus, the shares of Grameen Bank are held by the borrowers. He describes himself as “just an employee” of the bank and states that his mission is to help poor people help themselves. “I would say it’s economic democracy,” he says about his long-term goals. “Credit should be accepted as a human right. It’s the beginning of economic life,” he says.

Muhammad Yunus is neither a businessman nor a politician. Yet he has earned a reputation as the man who changed the concept of banking forever and helped millions of people out of poverty.

1976 was a life-changing year for Yunus, an economics professor who taught at Chittagong University in Bangladesh. In his own words, he had become increasingly fed up with teaching beautiful economic theories and solutions in the classroom, while outside people were literally dying from poverty.

He and his students decided to analyse the roots of poverty by talking to people in a nearby village.

They found that many people were unable to improve their situation simply because they were not found creditworthy by financial institutions.

As an entrepreneur and problem-solver, Muhammad Yunus is respected amongst financiers and politicians. Micro credit has been adopted as a feasible tool and strategy by The World Bank as well as the United Nations. The latter has proclaimed the year 2005 to be “the international year of micro credit.”

Muhammad Yunus, however, was convinced that he had the solution to this problem, and soon founded the Grameen bank which was based on the - now globally praised – principle of “micro credit”. The basic idea is to give small, collateral-free loans to

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index: award rules Below, you’ll find the rules of INDEX: Award.

For a further introduction to the award, please go to our website at www.index2005.dk.

1 AWARDS INDEX: presents five awards worth €100,000 each.

One award is presented within each of the following categories: Body, Home, Work, Play and Community.

and parks, infrastructure, means of transport, signage, mass media and communications. The category also includes the design of strategies, services and concepts for society, networking and communities.

3 WHO CAN SUBMIT NOMINATIONS?

1. Nominated designs must have significantly improved life for the largest possible number of people or hold the promise to do so.

2. Nominated designs must be tangible designs/ innovation or intangible designs/innovation such as concepts, strategies or services.

2 CATEGORIES BODY: This category comprises design and innovation related to the body, such as: Clothes, shoes, jewellery, body decoration, medicine, nutrition, appliances and aids used in treatment and care as well as body-related technology. The category also includes services related to care and strategies regarding vital processes and public health.

HOME: This category comprises design and innovation related to the home, such as: Architecture, interior design, lighting, furniture, tools and appliances for the home, utility systems, software and home computers, AV and communications hardware, etc. The category also includes services for the home and strategies for new ways of living and new forms of cohabitation.

• Professional design institutions or INDEX: Partner companies registered by INDEX: • Private individuals Of the final top 100 nominees for INDEX: Award, 90 will be selected from nominations submitted by professional design institutions and INDEX: Partners, and ten will be selected from nominations submitted by private individuals.

Design teams seeking to be nominated for an INDEX: Award have the choice of either nominating themselves, or being nominated by a registered professional design institution or INDEX: Partner. However, the chances of receiving an INDEX: Award is substantially higher if the nomination has been submitted by a professional design institution or INDEX: Partner.

WORK:

4 NUMBER OF NOMINATIONS

This category comprises design and innovation related to the workplace, such as: Architecture and interior design, work tools, manufacturing machines as well as communications, control and management systems. The category also includes services for the workplace and strategies for work environment issues as well as strategies for organisational and managerial development.

Each registered professional design institution may nominate a maximum of one design within each category, resulting in a total of five nominations. Private individuals may nominate a maximum of one design within each category, resulting in a total of five nominations.

PLAY:

5 WHO IS ELIGIBLE FOR NOMINATION?

This category comprises design and innovation related to sport, play, leisure and culture such as: The design of leisure facilities, tools, games and equipment used for sports, cultural activities and other leisure activities. The category also includes design of strategies, services and concepts within these areas.

Designers, design teams, public and private companies as well as design students and design enthusiasts from all over the world. INDEX: has no set requirements regarding formal design education for INDEX: Award nominees.

COMMUNITY:

6 WHAT AND WHO CAN BE NOMINATED?

This category comprises design and innovation of things that we share communally, such as design of and for public spaces, such as: Roads, public spaces

Nominees must meet the following requirements:

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3. Nominated designs must be genuinely new, but previous publicising of the design is acceptable.

4. The nominated design must have been created in 1999 or thereafter.

5. Nominated designs may originate from anywhere in the world.

6. Nominated designs must be original and may not infringe on the rights of a third party. Designs failing these requirements will be excluded from INDEX: Award.

7 WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT TO THE JURY? The jury’s main concern is that the nominated designs have substantially improved life for a large number of people. The definition of what improves life varies depending on geographical, cultural and economic background. INDEX: does not, therefore, stipulate any formal definition. Instead, we ask that each nominating body clearly defines in which way they consider the nominated design to have improved life.

Many improvements are not only positive and often have drawbacks. Others may be perceived as beneficial in some parts of the world but as negative in others. For this reason, INDEX: asks that all nominations, in addition to describing the benefits of the designs, also include a description of any known disadvantages.

8 RIGHTS All rights to nominated designs belong to the designers.

INDEX: does, however, reserve the right to use without payment any nomination related text and electronic materials (images, video, 3D, etc) uploaded to www.index2005.dk for INDEX: marketing purposes; including third-party marketing, e.g. in printed or electronic media. The nominating body must in advance ensure that these rights can be transferred to INDEX: with the permission of the designer. Failing this, the design will not be eligible for nomination.

INDEX: reserves the right to exhibit without payment the top 100 nominees for INDEX: Award at INDEX: Award Exhibition in addition to possible touring exhibitions both in Denmark and abroad.

The nominating body must in advance ensure that these rights can be transferred to INDEX: with the permission of the designer. Failing this, the design will not be eligible for nomination.

All of the top 100 nominated designs for INDEX: Award retains the right to use the designation “Top Nominated for INDEX: Award 2005”. Other designs nominated for INDEX: Award must obtain written permission from INDEX: to use the INDEX: name.

9 EXAMPLES OF DESIGN TO IMPROVE LIFE USED BY INDEX: IN VARIOUS MATERIALS The examples INDEX: uses in various information material of Design to Improve Life are not precluded from nomination for INDEX: Award.

10 NOMINATION FEE No fee of any kind is required. This ensures that designs from the entire world are nominated without financial hindrance.

In evaluating the design for its life improving benefits, the jury will focus on: Social, ecological, cultural and economic impact. Accessibility, affordability. Flexibility and simplicity. User friendliness. Optimism. Level of innovation. Future potential. Level of need. Appropriate aesthetics.

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INDEX: PARTNER

design is too important to leave to designers

georg jensen challenging designers for innovative ideas in luxury goods Arne Jacobsen, Henning Koppel, Nanna Ditzel and Vivianna Torun Bülow-Hübe. Their work, as well as designs from many other talented artists, remains as fresh and modern today as when it was first conceived.

CHALLENGING DESIGNERS FOR INNOVATIVE IDEAS

In 1904, Georg Jensen founded his silversmithy in Copenhagen. His designs for jewellery, cutlery and hollowware were an instant success and soon became sought after throughout the world. His exceptional attention to detail, combined with exquisite craftsmanship, has secured him the honour of being one of the most influential silversmiths of the past century.

For 100 years, Georg Jensen has stood for refined and organic design that is both pure and beyond fashion. It is the elegant simplicity of Georg Jensen products that continues to surprise and delight the senses. Always distinctive and full of life, one never grows tired of gazing at a Georg Jensen object.

NURTURING CREATIVE ARTISTS AND CRAFTSMEN The Georg Jensen philosophy has always remained the same – the company supports and nurtures creative artists and craftsmen. It is with great pride that the company presents the work of artists who interpret the design philosophy of the company. Always refined and never showy, the exquisite collection of current products is testament that the company has remained true to its Nordic roots and has continued to respect artistic craftsmanship.

The Georg Jensen brand has now progressed to encompass a wide assortment of gold jewellery, precious stone jewellery, watches, gift articles for the home and office, and even seasonal decorations.

Numerous famous industrial designers have created products for Georg Jensen over the years including

The company is a proud supporter of INDEX: and its mission to ‘improve life’. Georg Jensen celebrates this focus on challenging designers to create new and innovative concepts. It is a philosophy that has permeated the company over the years, and one which has resulted in some of our most cherished products.

Designer Vivianna Torun Bülow-Hübe has been creating stunning objects for Georg Jensen for more than 40 years. In 1967, Vivanna was invited to take part in an exhibition at the Musée des Arts Décoratif at the Louvre in Paris as the only craftsman amongst painters and sculptors. Here, artists were invited to show the results of their ‘rethinking of objects’ and Vivianna selected the now-renowned ‘Vivianna’ bangle watch. The result was a turning point in watch design. The organically swung open bangle with a mirror face devoid of numbers incorporates the functionality of a watch and the beauty of a piece of jewellery, reflecting the ideas of its designer. The ‘Vivianna’ watch is open ended to symbolise that time should not bind us, and the dial like a mirror reminds us that life is now.

It is not only in jewellery and watches that Georg Jensen continues to be innovative. Whether through its ‘drip free’ wine carafes, ‘no mess’ salt and pepper grinders or revolutionary new thermos, the Georg Jensen Living line also challenges designers to create objects that are purposeful in their functionality. It is a philosophy that Georg Jensen himself, the master craftsman, began decades ago and one which will continue in the company for decades to come.

Illustration: VIVIANNA bangle watches. ‘A watch should not make us prisoner’s of time, but liberate us’ says designer Vivianna Torun Bülow-Hübe.

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INDEX: PARTNER

INDEX: PARTNER

what if the rooms of the future …

royal copenhagen HISTORY

What if we - in the dialogue between the subject and the object, between the user and the room – could make criteria for the way in which rooms should look.

Rooms, the purpose of which had not been defined in advance.

Normally we think of a piece of furniture as something which has been designed in advance and for one purpose only – bookshelves for storage, a sofa to sit in. But in a few years this conception will have changed. In future, we will see furniture, rooms and decoration as being very organic objects, which can be altered as required.

Peter J. Lassen has a vision, which he believes can create an as yet unseen flexibility in the way we decorate our homes and work places. The vision is called GRID. It is not bookshelves, a chair, a room divider or a piece of furniture in the traditional sense of the word. It is rather a structure which can be used for building and creating new rooms and decorations in several dimensions. A sort of decoration parallel to the LEGO brick. A construction kit whose form and use is not given in advance.

GRID is a cube of 40 x 40 x 40 cm, built from 12 mm pressure-moulded plastic. GRID is a simple system, designed for easy assembly, which can be used by anyone. It can be used in open office environments, where decorative needs change with different employees and projects. Or it can be used in the home environment, and adjusted to fit the size and the

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needs of the family.

For Peter J. Lassen the production of furniture has been closely linked to the desire to create freedom and choice for the users.

“The Montana bookshelves provide the customer with the freedom to create his or her own space the freedom to choose between 47 colours and 49 different units. But the freedom is limited because of the fact that the box has five closed sides. GRID on the other hand is an open structure which gives you the possibility to build and expand in all directions.

You decide what to build and where to put your walls, ceilings, podiums, sides, drawers or doors, sheets, cushions, screens or chairbacks. In this way, GRID gives you the ultimate freedom to create your own space”, says Peter J. Lassen.

For the past 230 years, Royal Copenhagen has been a symbol of unique design, outstanding craftsmanship and excellent quality. During this period, our products have proved their keeping qualities, and it is the distinguishing feature of Royal Copenhagen that the factory keeps the traditional craftsmanship and classic patterns alive while also embracing the changes brought by time.

It is the simplicity and pure class in Royal Copenhagen’s products that arouse romantic feelings and a sense of celebration.

Royal Copenhagen was founded in 1775 under the protection of Queen Juliane Marie, and was for many years the property of the Danish Crown. It is the oldest Danish enterprise in the field of applied art, and its trademark, the three blue wavy lines symbolising the Sound, the Great Belt and the Little Belt, remains unchanged since the foundation.

The very first pattern was Blue Fluted, which today is considered part of Danish cultural heritage and has gained enormous popularity throughout the world.

The most prestigious dinner service is Flora Danica. It was commissioned by the King in 1790, and is still in production today. Blue Fluted and Flora Danica dinner services are hand-painted classics made according to noble old traditions – today as for 230 years ago.

Royal Copenhagen spans the range from the costly hand-painted services to modern design applications,

represented by the Ole and Ursula ranges, which have already found their way into design museums all over the world.

BRANDING The brand has now progressed to encompass a wide assortment of highly prestigious products for the tabletop, collectibles, figurines and gift articles, including seasonal decorations. Royal Copenhagen co-operate with young, internationally renowned designers to make sure the traditions are continued and new classics are created.

CREATING MOMENTS Royal Copenhagen has throughout its history contributed to creating and developing new traditions. Our new branding concept holds four distinct elements: • Brand values (what we are externally known for) • Brand characters (what will make us stand out) • Brand position (our unique value position with our consumers) • Brand concept (the essence of the Royal Copenhagen brand) Our brand mission is to draw a straight line from 1775 and into today’s world. We want to be a luxury gift provider focused on creating moments that are based on inspirational themes and linked to life’s numerous occasions.

This is what we mean by Creating Moments.

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design to improve life