A glance back at GLIMMER

Some highlights from the first year:
• Named one of BusinessWeek’s Best Innovation and Design Books of the Year
• Shortlisted for the British Library/CMI Management Book of the Year
• Mentioned on the cover of Wired magazine/featured inside
• Spreading the word via presentations at universities, libraries, and museums such as the Aldrich and Corcoran and companies like SMART Design, GE, Procter & Gamble, and Saatchi & Saatchi

And of course, lots and lots of great feedback from both readers of the book and visitors to this site. Let’s keep the conversation going in Year 2.

Read the full story »
11/04/2010 – 3:44 pm | One Comment

glimmer blog                Subscribe

big picture »

What we can learn from Kanye’s Twitter rant
03/31/2012 – 3:38 pm | Add Comment

Just sharing a recent article I did for the Campaign for Black Male Achievement, part of the Open Society Foundations. Kanye West recently threw out some questions and challenges around design, and I analyze them.

http://blog.soros.org/2012/03/what-we-can-learn-from-kanyes-twitter-rant/

The next chapter
03/12/2012 – 11:13 am | Add Comment
The next chapter

I’m pleased to announce that a major international book publisher has purchased the worldwide rights to my next book, A More Beautiful Question: An Inquiry into the Value of Inquiry. The book was recently bought …

Read the full story »
Urban planning 2011–style
09/27/2011 – 9:58 am | One Comment
Urban planning 2011–style

Recently there was an inspiring front-page story in the NY Times about the hope that good design can bring to a blighted area like the South Bronx. In new architect critic Michael Kimmelman’s “In a …

Read the full story »
Stamp of design approval
09/01/2011 – 3:34 pm | Add Comment
Stamp of design approval

I was at the post office today and saw a great poster for the new "Pioneers of American Industrial Design" sheet of Forever stamps. Apparently the U.S. Postal Service commissioned Smithsonian Cooper Hewett Museum to …

Read the full story »
“We get 100 ideas a day”
08/26/2011 – 9:51 am | Add Comment
“We get 100 ideas a day”

One of the themes in Glimmer is how "everyone's a designer" these days. And if you go look at the website Quirky.com you'll see that notion in action, with more than 100 product ideas a …

Read the full story »
GLIMMER deemed “thoughtful, sparky and profound”
06/10/2011 – 10:18 am | Add Comment
GLIMMER deemed “thoughtful, sparky and profound”

It's not every day I'm called sparky, so I thought I'd share the below brief review of GLIMMER, triggered by the publication of the paperback version of the book in Europe by Random House.
Random House …

Read the full story »
The power of questions
03/19/2011 – 3:09 pm | Add Comment
The power of questions

Here is the second article in my innovation series for Fast Company's design blog, which they titled "Big Innovations Question the Status Quo. How Do You Ask the Right Questions?" People have been leaving some …

Read the full story »
A Japanese designer to the rescue
03/17/2011 – 2:05 pm | One Comment
A Japanese designer to the rescue

One of the Glimmerati I talk about in Glimmer is Shigeru Ban, the world-renowned architect famous for taking inexpensive materials like paper and quickly constructing inexpensive dwellings out of them. Ban's structures have been used …

Read the full story »
Killers or life savers?
02/06/2011 – 7:37 pm | Add Comment
Killers or life savers?

Could a fearsome underwater creature hold the key to preventing deadly infections in humans? Everyone from medical technologists to swimsuit designers are scrutinizing sharks for design ideas.

Read the full story »
First in my innovation series for Fast Company
12/27/2010 – 9:58 am | Add Comment
First in my innovation series for Fast Company

“To Innovate, You Need the Courage to Step Backward.” The biggest ideas come only after you question why you’re trying to innovate in the first place.

Read the full story »
Designing a life so that “every day is interesting.”
12/21/2010 – 7:40 pm | Add Comment
Designing a life so that “every day is interesting.”

Smart Design recently hosted an IDSA/NYC-sponsored conversation with Richard Saul Wurman at Smart's New York headquarters. Wurman gave a great talk there, which brings to mind an exceptional interview he gave me at his mansion …

Read the full story »
People are asking… (video)
12/21/2010 – 4:44 pm | Add Comment
People are asking… (video)

A fun video to help explain the quirky new paperback title for GLIMMER.

Read the full story »
Love by Design
12/03/2010 – 4:33 pm | Add Comment
Love by Design

More and more these days, our personal digital devices are melding with our tastes and desires—our very minds. We are in love with these products, and that’s by design.

Read the full story »
A race to the top—who’s winning? (video)
12/02/2010 – 12:26 pm | Add Comment
A race to the top—who’s winning? (video)

I blogged about Hans Rosling and his amazing visualizations last year. Now he's back with "200 Countries, 200 Years, 4 Minutes" in an even more stunning "real space" presentation.

Read the full story »
Facebook: Efficient ugliness?
11/16/2010 – 1:37 pm | Add Comment
Facebook: Efficient ugliness?

Interesting recent item in The Washington Post by Blake Gopnik titled "Facebook's Popularity Doesn't Seem to Mesh With Its Bland Design." The article explores at length why Facebook looks the way it does, and how …

Read the full story »
Is crowdsourcing filling a design “Gap”?
11/04/2010 – 5:36 pm | Add Comment
Is crowdsourcing filling a design “Gap”?

As crowdsourcing becomes a more viable way to get design input, it’s also becoming a lightning rod for controversy. Poll: “Is it good business for companies to use crowd-sourced design?”

Read the full story »
10 design quotes, visualized
11/04/2010 – 5:30 pm | Add Comment
10 design quotes, visualized

From the FreshBump site via advertising professor Deborah Morrison comes this entertaining poster set of 10 great creative quotes from the likes of Leonardo da Vinci, Picasso, and Albert Einstein, presented visually. Click here to …

Read the full story »