February 2012

Use who you are

> As we get more technically driven, the importance of people becomes more than it’s ever been before. You have to utilize who you are in your work. Nobody else can do that: nobody else can pull from your background, from your parents, your upbringing, your whole life experience. – [David Carson](http://www.ted.com/talks/david_carson_on_design.html?source=google_plusone)

Consuming and transforming

“Consumer” is one of those words I’ve never been comfortable with. Along with “user”, it refers to real people as simply receptacles for whatever companies churn out for them. It’s a lazy, impersonal, demeaning, and ultimately unhelpful word. [Alex Bogusky thinks that as consumption is inevitable, people just need to be *better* consumers](http://fearlessrevolution.com/blog/the-empowered-consumer.html). I agree…more

Quantum-sized quantum researchers

[Jonathan Keats continues to blow my mind](http://bigthink.com/ideas/41923?page=2): > “Until today science has been completely dominated by one species,” says Keats, an experimental philosopher and former director of the Local Air & Space Administration…”People may not be biologically equipped to understand the universe at a fundamental level, he contends. “Other species might be better adapted to…more

Everyone gets what they vote for

An interesting idea: > Thanks to the competitive nature of electoral democracies, many – often most – citizens end up being governed by a party they didn’t vote for. But there is a way to ensure that every single voter is satisfied by the results of an election: simply have each voter governed by the…more

3 steps to great product design

*Step 1*: Find the best, most experienced, most professional product designer you can. *Step 2*: Ask them what to do. *Step 3*: Do what they say. Profit! Ok, maybe a little more detail would help. For *Step 1*, your goal is to find the person with the most experience designing products that will work with…more