During the Q&A session after a recent Glimmer lecture, I was asked how design differs from invention. Luckily I had an answer. Click here or see it embedded below. (Thanks to Gordon Platt of Gotham Media Ventures for videotaping this.)

And on the topic of inventors, I’ve noticed that the New York Times obituaries are a treasure trove of paeans to unsung heroes of important inventions. The tales of how the inventions came about are invariably interesting. In today’s Times, they profile David Warren, “who is widely credited with creating the prototype of the flight data recorder, or ‘black box,’ an advance in aviation that was partly inspired by the death of his father in a plane crash when Warren was 8.” The tale of Warren’s invention, which he pointed out was actually a red box, is not an entirely happy one. Read more here.
 

Plus, read these interesting, somewhat related GlimmerSite posts:

1. Did crappy design kill a creepy actor? (video)
2. Now that everyone’s a designer, can we all design a fix to the Gulf spill? (video)
3. Light-bulb moments from the GE Design Summit
4. Streisand’s ‘passion for design’