"There are no rules, but principles… there are guidelines... there are things that work well most of the time, but there is nothing that works all the time." - Jason Santa Maria, "On Web Typography"
Innovation ≠ Invention
Quotes and notes from the article by Peter J. Denning and Robert Dunham, "Innovation as Language Action", Communications of the ACM, vol. 49, No. 5, 2006.
"How do we know for sure when an innovation has happened? It is simple: We observe that a group or community has adopted a new practice. Spreading ideas is not enough to get people to change their habits. Innovators induce changes of habit by offering and supporting new tools or processes perceived as high value by adopters."
Under this light, Denning and Dunham found in their study that, the "key is to understand innovation as adoption of new practice", and this is different from invention. "Invention means to create something new, but does not require that anyone accept or adopt it."
"Both inventors and innovators start with a possibility. The inventor turns the possibility into an idea, artifact, patent, or process and proposes that others consider it. The innovator turns the possibility into an offer for adoption and then follows it through to adoption."
Lucky 13 (an ode to inspiration and friends)
Last week I had the opportunity to attend TYPO13 in San Francisco with my friend Tania Jimenez (from Moitié-moitié). All the speakers were truly inspiring, and also had the opportunity to meet in person Meena Kadri (designer, Anthropologist and cross-pollinator at OpenIDEO).
- The talk by Jeff Veen, described extremely eloquently all the things that I believe are extremely important in any work environment, "designing for disaster "… All in all, my favorite part was in the art of waking up every morning to the following question: "What is going to happen exciting today?"
- I was deeply impressed by Mandy Brown's talk, presence (and gravitas). I particularly enjoyed how she framed the long debate about designers being able to code. She described this in a single and elegant slide: literate vs fluency… something I believe in.
- Hearing Erik Spiekermann speak is a lifetime amazing and fun experience…
Like everybody in the audience, I felt inspired by the brave and honest talk by Jessi Arrington. It was funny to hear the people in charge of the stage to quote her at the end of the conference: "F*** you, I am me". You might enjoy also visiting the beautiful sketch-notes by talented Bernie Quah, who I had the joy to meet at the conference.
Greatly intoxicated by all these amazingly inspiring people, I dared to share a video that I put together a year ago. Somehow, it was made thinking about all the wonderful people that have influenced my life in the last thirteen years. So, to all of them, thank you!