I recently attended “The Entrepreneurs,” part of the Dot Dot Dot series of lectures hosted by the Interactive Design MFA program at SVA. This event was at Galapagos Art Space, one of my favorite venues in Brooklyn. Check out the pics on their site to get a feel for it.
The typical format for Dot Dot Dot talks is four speakers, who present for 10 minutes each: two, then a break, and then the last two. For this event, there was also a bonus fifth.
Most speakers only had the chance to relate the story of their business’ evolution, and not really touch on the opening remarks by program chair Liz Danzico that “ideas aren’t enough.” Nevertheless, it was a lovely evening of talks that inspired much note-taking. Here are some of those, made coherent and cohesive for you:
Doug Powell
Overview
Doug Powell was inspired to create streamlined, understandable guides to Diabetes Type One after his daughter was diagnosed at the age of seven. He teamed up with his wife to create a line of flashcards explaining how foods should be combined and incorporated into meals to keep diabetics in check. The line was later expanded and acquired by a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson.
Takeaway
There is a lot of room for innovation in the healthcare field. It’s messy, and hardly made for real people (particularly kids) to comprehend. Making educational materials more visual and charging them with positive emotional inspiration can help patients and families cope with diagnoses like diabetes. Those two points are also good for any designer to keep in mind, no matter the project.
The project’s site is Health Simple, and Doug has a blog on WordPress.com.
Lauren Barber
Overview
Lauren Barber focuses on marketing her family business, Blue Hill restaurants. Blue Hill is all about the farm-to-table model, and getting design inspiration from nature. The Stone Barns branch of Blue Hill (there’s another in the city) is a collaboration with a non-profit organization that focuses on agricultural education.
Takeaway
While Barber’s presentation was largely a promo for her brand, the idea of collaborating with a non-profit was interesting. By bringing education into the mix, as well as a connection with the source of production, you can make the customer’s experience much richer.
Robert Fabricant
Overview
Robert’s simple slide design was wonderful. I wish I’d taken a photo, but I was too busy writing notes! He broke things down into eight tips for designers:
- Undervalue Your Own Ideas
- The Web Won’t Save You
- Don’t Pursue Perfection
- You Are Not the Only Creative in The Room
- Your Perspective is Not Automatically Unique
- Seek Advice From Your Peers
- It’s Going to Take a Lot Longer Than You Think
- Don’t Celebrate Too Early
Fabricant applied these specifically to “design thinking to solve social problems,” and his overall assertion was that a lot can be learned through collaboration with those in other fields — and mindful collaboration, at that. He emphasized that “social problems are part of a long-standing ecosystem,” and that there’s much to be learned from those whose job it is to deal with these problems, not just design for them, such as urban planners and social workers.
Takeway
Designers can bring a lot to the table when it comes to social problems, but they need to leave their egos at home, since those who deal with those issues daily have a lot of knowledge and skills to offer. It’s a complex set of issues that should be considered and dealt with carefully.
Jay Parkinson
Overview
I knew of Jay Parkinson from when I lived in Brooklyn. At that time, he was running a brilliant one-man business in Williamsburg, wherein he made housecalls to patients (he’s a legit doctor), and charged them a nominal fee directly, which cut down on overhead from 70% to 10%.
That turned out to not be so lucrative, but he didn’t give up on the general idea of making healthcare “as pleasant as the Apple Store” (a concept that I love). Now his goal is creating “a smart triage center,” where people are routed properly, which saves them time and money. This currently takes the form of HelloHealth, which, among other things, connects patients and doctors via video chat, so they can identify the next steps they should take to treat their symptoms.
Takeaway
Like Doug Powell, Parkinson advocates innovation of process and design in the healthcare industry. A lot can be improved in the cash market (those who don’t have insurance) in particular, where there’s less red tape.
Yancey Strickler
Overview
I also knew about Strickler, who founded Kickstarter, which I’ve been a member of for a while. It’s an awesome project that allows normal folks to post projects they aspire to do, and ask for funds to complete them, in return for creative gifts made by the requester.
Takeaway
I didn’t take many notes on Strickler’s presentation because I was having such fun watching the user videos he showed us as examples. So many of them are endearing and inspiring. Really magical things happen when you give normal people the opportunity to share their ideas — and even more magical things happen when other normal people give them the resources they need to make them a reality.
The whole process is called “affinity commerce,” the model that compels us to invest in a project or good because we care about where it came from (think farmer’s markets and Etsy). Anyone who has something to sell can get their product or project in line with this process through more transparency and personalization.