Dr Mark Bradford

Part 2 on my 'Managers as Designers' trilogy This essay touches on Frank Gehry's process... Frank Gehry’s approach to architecture highlights the importance of openness, creativity, and collaboration. Gehry reminds us that good design isn't just about solving a functional problem—it’s about creating an experience that resonates with people on a deeper, human level. True functionality, as he defines it, is not just about efficiency; it’s about emotional connection, adaptability, and how people interact with the space --------------------------------------------------------------------------- A couple of months ago, I made a commitment to the subscribers of the Disruptive Business Network to deliver a newsletter every Friday. And so, "DBN’s REBEL YELL" was born. One of the key sections is the Atomic Essay—a brief, thought-provoking piece that explores challenging the status quo, exploring new ideas, and finding meaning in work. This is the 12th Atomic Essay DBN’s REBEL YELL will also feature: DBN in Action: Updates on what we’re up to. Explore This: Something fascinating to check out. What We’re Reading: Our current reads and recommendations. Soul Food: Internet gems that are good for your soul To subscribe please go here: https://lnkd.in/gjfynHPf

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Our recent video explores how a research design often associated with academia can be a powerful tool for businesses. Discover how this approach can be applied to real-world challenges and unlock new possibilities for your organisation. Click the link to learn more about this practical application of Design Science Research! https://lnkd.in/dkvHkhyB #DesignScienceResearch #BusinessInnovation #ThoughtLeadership

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Here are some interesting thoughts about design and strategy. Strategies need to be designed, but design should also be linked to strategy. How else can we solve wicked problems like climate change and unemployment? Linear, seemingly logical processes using tools are OK for some things, but collaborative iterative processes are needed now. Hmm... sounds like universal design! See link for the paper and my very simplified synopsis.

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Need tools? Innovation tools specifically. You've come to the right place - I've just written about my 3 favourite free "go-to" resources for designers, strategists, innovators, entrepreneurs and facilitators regarding mindsets, case studies, tools, templates and canvases. Enjoy and pass on! Frederic Etiemble Pete Cohen - Something for you guys to enjoy :P #innovation #entrepreneurship #resources #free

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It's been almost a year since completing my Masters of Design Futures at RMIT and my project on creating trauma-informed design organisations. Since this time, I've often been asked to share resources to support people on their journey to becoming trauma-informed in their design practice (or perhaps why this is something they may like to consider).   I had started to pull together a library of resources, and then to my delight, discovered one already existed, alongside a community of practioners who meet monthly to reflect on and discuss practice. This website and collection of resources is maintained by the volunteer organizers of the Trauma Informed Design Discussion Group. You can find it here https://lnkd.in/gYCytWtq.   I have been immersed in this intersection of design, trauma-informed practice, and organisational change for over seven years and it is heartwarming to see the number of resources now available to support people on their path. However, with this, I appreciate it might now feel a little overwhelming to know where to start. So here are three I'd recommend:   1️⃣ Cultivating Resiliencies for All: The Necessity of Trauma Responsive Research Practices by Matthew Bernius and Rachael Ditekus. Link https://lnkd.in/gMMHC_Uy 2️⃣ Practicing Without a License: Design Research as Psychotherapy by Tad Hirsch. Link https://lnkd.in/gmXkKA-7 3️⃣ A Trauma Lens for Systems Change by Patsy Carter and Andrea Blanch. Link https://lnkd.in/gP9xXpsK   I'll be sharing more of my thoughts on trauma-informed design, organisational change, and leadership over the next few months. I'm currently sitting with thoughts on the adaptive challenge of trauma-informed organisational change in design contexts and why trauma-informed design cannot be a solo endeavour. If this has sparked your interest, please reach out as thinking partners and rich dialogue are always welcome.   #traumainformed #design #rmitmdf #socialdesign #leadership #change

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Industry’s ideas about the usability of their products doesn’t match those of older people. Given Australia’s ageing population, product designers should focus more on making everyday products more user-friendly. That means taking a universal design approach and using co-design methods. See link for survey results from the Global Centre for Modern Ageing, and also a link to the Inclusive Design Toolkit that has a section on how many people can be excluded by a product design based on different levels of capability. See link for both.

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With five books by #QUT’s #design researchers due to be launched in June in Brisbane and London, and QUT’s introduction of the Master of Design (Strategic Design), design is generating diverse currents of governance, societal, environmental and economic impact. Prof. Marcus Foth, a co-editor of the forthcoming book "Designing More-than-Human Smart Cities: Beyond Sustainability, Towards Cohabitation" (OUP), provides insights into how design research is not only addressing national priorities, such as #urban policy, but also enabling counternarratives and pathways. https://lnkd.in/gxEMM4By

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"The "Named after Nelson" (NaN) project is a collaborative Global South and Global North project that utilised a co-design approach to integrate contributions from diverse stakeholders to memorialise Nelson Mandela's legacy in the metropolis. This initiative benefitted from the complexities inherent in co-design, including understanding the varied needs of diverse stakeholders, navigating power dynamics, and fostering effective communication within a multicultural and multidisciplinary team. The approach focused on capturing and reflecting the profound influence Mandela knowingly and unknowingly had on placemaking, revealed through the graphic heritage depicting his legacy in locations named after him." More on this here - https://lnkd.in/dvC4j_Yy

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Assistive tech has a "sex appeal" problem. Much like the wider tech space, assistive tech gets obsessive about the next big thing - the one that promises to change the lives of disabled people with some utopian, sci-fi-like product. But when push comes to shove, most of these products fail to live up to the hype, and ultimately create a distraction from the more modest, yet effective tools on the market. Most of the time, this gap between dreams and reality boils down to one thing: a lack of involvement of the end user in the design process. I don’t mean that these companies aren’t testing on disabled users — they are. It’s just that by the time this testing occurs the product is already hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars into development. The ship has already sailed. I had the pleasure of joining Steven Scott and Shaun Preece on Accessible Media Inc.'s Double Tap, to talk about the assistive tech industry's tug-of-war between flashy and functional, and how companies can better serve disabled users by involving them throughout every stage of the design and development process. Thanks to Steven and Shaun for highlighting this important issue! #a11y #AssistiveTechnology #Disability #Tech4Good

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Is your design or CX team ready to deepen its practice and become more trauma-informed? Trauma is more common than you may think. Team training in trauma-informed design has the potential to bring trauma-informed thinking to the fore, creating shared understanding and language that supports safer, more evolved ways of working. I’ve had the privilege of delivering trauma-informed training to some fantastic organisations lately, including Portable, Westpac, and Fire to Flourish. If you’re interested in exploring how this approach could benefit your team, let’s connect! I offer tailored training for teams, and for individual practitioners, my next 4-part online training starts in November. Let’s help, not harm. #TraumaInformedDesign #LetsHelpNotHarm #DesignForGood (Big thanks to Portable for sharing. It was a pleasure to talk trauma-informed practice with your awesome team)

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Facilitating ways of knowing in workshops. The social politics of professional voice and technological authority and the individual/AI meta-cognition issues of speaking with confidence and certainty. Managing these things in groups is being explicit that the issues exist and being deliberate in viewing equity and honesty as key goals. Consider how to use facilitation to move both the sense of energy and of power between people. Hopefully, use explicit statements at the start to enable self-management within groups, but be willing to deliberately intervene later.

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A bit later than usual, but here’s Nigel Cross - the podcasts' 120th guest - Emeritus Professor of Design Studies at The Open University, design researcher who played a pivotal role in establishing design as an academic discipline, and Editor in Chief of the journal Design Studies between 1984-2017, developing the concept of design thinking along the way. We speak about the second edition of his book, Design Thinking: Understanding How Designers Think and Work, published with Bloomsbury Publishing Plc in 2023. On design, Nigel says: ‘the key thing for me is to see it as a […] form of skilled behaviour, not as a talent or a gift, you know, something which you just magically have or you don't have. It's a form of skill. It's a set of cognitive and practical procedures that designers do in the process of designing. So that, I think is the most important thing for me to come out of what I've been researching - is to see it as a skill. And if it's a skill, then it can be enhanced, it can be trained, it can be educated.’ This is a refreshing and for some I suspect, rather a challenging suggestion. If it can be trained, perhaps we might ask, why isn’t it more? On the recording I mention Nigel’s paper Design thinking: What just happened? published in Design Studies 86 (2023), and his earlier book, Design Participation (1972), which was the Proceedings of the Design Research Society International Conference, 1971: Design Participation. Link here and elsewhere worth it: https://lnkd.in/e5CKn4Qj

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Design should not be an afterthought. Our future depends on the creative and innovative thinking that design nurtures. By embedding design into education, we equip the next generation with critical skills to not just tackle challenges but to proactively shape a brighter future through creative problem solving.    The Design Education Advisory Committee (DEAC) has laid out a visionary plan to transform learning at all levels. The DEAC's ambitious vision for a 𝙁𝙪𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝘿𝙚𝙨𝙞𝙜𝙣 𝙎𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙤𝙡 advocates for design to be taught as a fundamental life skill, from primary school all the way through to higher education. This approach nurtures design capability and builds the creative confidence essential to navigating an uncertain future.    To learn more, download the full report at bit.ly/deac-report.    –    The Design Education Advisory Committee (DEAC) is Singapore’s first-ever national platform for design education thought and practice leadership. It aims to shape the quality of design education in Singapore to develop a global, resilient workforce that can help businesses stay competitive.    #DesignSingaporeCouncil #DesignEducation

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Designers in Victoria asked to free pitch* by Victorian Government Department: use this information to decline. It is not Victoria Government policy to ask designers to work for free. If you’re uncomfortable with the conversation, contact me or Greg; the Design Business Council are happy to advocate on your behalf. *Free pitching is when someone asks another to to work for free to prove they’re able to do what they say they can. It differs to proactive pitching (often perceived as entrepreneurial) because of the power balance. In free pitching, the potential client has all the power. It is not uncommon to ask many designers to pitch because ‘they will know it when they see it’. In proactive pitching the designer has the power to decide when and where they will invest their time speculatively. Websites, case studies and testimonials demonstrate capabilities. There is no reason a Government Department should require a designer to supply designs at no cost. It is a lazy method of procurement. (This article offers more info https://lnkd.in/g4mzEUCd)

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Still buzzing from a wonderful conversation with the Master of Design Futures community at RMIT yesterday on Decolonizing Research and Design. I don't recall publicly sharing the story of Pause and Effect's emergence from Inclusive Design to Relational Design before - and it felt so liberating. It's the little self reminders that we are in a constant state of becoming, that frees me from feeling fixed in the way I define myself and our organization. Grateful to Leander Kreltszheim for initiating this discussion, and for being an incredibly thoughtful moderator. I am looking forward to sharing our work and this story with students in the Inclusive Design program at the University of Washington next week! --- Interested in hearing more from us? We've got two exciting learning experiences coming up: July 10 or 11: Deconstructing Coloniality in Design and Research Audre Lorde famously said, the "master's tools will never dismantle the master's house". If you're wondering what the master's tools are when it comes to design and research, this is your cue to join us. Sept to Oct: Reimagining Research This is a futures-focused 5 week community of practice, where we deconstruct the role of the researcher and reimagine it through liberatory framing. Learning is application based and hands on. Find out more below 👇🏾

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The UK Government’s Design Principles: https://lnkd.in/eNp7p_VK I enjoyed reading this, especially because it is adaptable for people designing policies or digital services for public consumption. It cuts across multiple sectors. 1.⁠ ⁠Start with user needs 2.⁠ ⁠Do less 3.⁠ ⁠Design with data 4.⁠ ⁠Do the hard work to make it simple 5.⁠ ⁠Iterate. Then iterate again 6.⁠ ⁠This is for everyone 7.⁠ ⁠Understand context 8.⁠ ⁠Build digital services, not websites 9.⁠ ⁠Be consistent, not uniform 10.⁠ ⁠Make things open: it makes things better

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Why does it seem like public services are only using service design for digital, and not other patient interactions? Even when a digital solution is patently not the right answer? One of the key principles of design is to go in with an open mind, so why are we limiting ourselves to only digital solutions? It seems like there's a perception that digital solutions will increase efficiency, and be the answer to all our capacity issues. Well, if you apply a proper service design approach to your non-digital journeys that would probably improve efficiency and solve some problems too. Maybe? Who can tell, if we're not bothering to do it. Why isn't there as much enthusiasm for making GP services work effectively and efficiently, as there is for making them work digitally?

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In this talk, Terry Irwin introduces a new area of transdisciplinary problem solving called Transition Design; an emerging approach for framing complex, wicked problems within radically large problem frames. Transition Design argues that wicked problem resolution is a strategy for igniting positive, systems-level change and transitioning our communities, organizations and entire societies toward more equitable, sustainable and desirable long-term futures. The lecture took place at the Transition - Design - Education conference in Prague on 6 May 2022.The conference was organized within the project Transition design: A new challenge for service and interaction design education, which was funded by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA Grants 2014- 2021, Education Programme. #DesignThinking #SystemsThinking #HumanCentredDesign #ServiceDesign #SystemicDesign #InnovationDesign

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