HOW Design 2011 in review: Part four

Monday, June 27, 2011

This is a continuation of HOW Design 2011 in review: Part three.

HOW Design Conference 2011 I am attending the HOW Design Conference 2011 in Chicago, Illinois. Below are my notes from the sessions I attended on Monday.

9:45 am-11:00 am – 36. All Your Creativity Questions Answered – Deborah Morrison, Heather Lins, Chris Chapman & Chris Elkerton
You’ve seen how Chris Chapman, Chris Elkerton, Heather Lins and Deborah Morrison keep their creative juices flowing and consistently deliver innovative concepts. Now’s your chance to ask them anything you want (preferably related to creativity). Even if you missed their earlier sessions, you’re more than welcome to come join the discussion in this panel-style session.

  • Session hashtag: #howanswers.
  • disneycollegeprogram.com – internship
  • “The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.”
  • No idea is ever original; get as much influence as possible; the best take stuff and put their own spin on it.
  • “Your ideas aren’t precious.” – Heather
  • Get out of the studio to generate ideas.
  • Chris C.: My office is the world … my physical office is only where I execute
  • Support people getting out of the office, and make the office more open and collaborative
  • Everything is a Remix video series
  • Statistical proof: The more fun people have, the more productive they are
  • More design inspiration (through curation):
  • Be a student of the world and never stop learning
  • Get yourself out of your element
  • Get engineers (or business people/marketers) and designers together from day one.
  • Making the whole company creative might be better than building an isolated pod of creative people.
  • Pick and choose your battles wisely.
  • Have non-designers describe what’s not working instead of art-directing you.
    • You are the professional designer. Don’t let them move layout. Have them rely on you.
    • It’s really them just putting their thumbprint on something because they want to be part of the process.
    • Ask them: “What is this not achieving?” Big picture, not details. (Define roles, and context.)
    • You’ve got to train them on what their role is.
    • Example question: “Does this design recommendation you’re making impact the success criteria we’ve established?”
    • Don’t let them stand over you as you work.
  • Search: innovation-based culture
  • Academic credentials and working for universities:
    • Chris C.: All my biggest heroes dropped out of school or didn’t go to school at all.
    • Chris E.: You can go get the letters after your name, but if you’re a dick you’re not going to get the job.
    • Chris C.: “Get them [the manager] an MBA (Manage by Absence)” – your designer doesn’t have ownership because they know they are going to be micromanaged.
    • “Creativity is change. Universities don’t like to change.”
  • Find this TED talk: Pixar (at their worst) during the Toy Story 2 process

11:15 am-12:30 pm – Closing Keynote – 39. Fascinate: How to Persuade and Captivate – Sally Hogshead
Why are you captivated by some people and not others? Why do certain messages convince you to change your opinion while others go ignored? And how can you create designs that irresistibly attract attention?

Find out as Sally Hogshead reveals her secrets for creating ideas that both persuade and captivate your audience. You’ll discover:

  • which of the 7 fascination triggers you naturally use to persuade and captivate
  • how to provoke strong and immediate emotional connections in your design and presentations—and even in your personal life
  • how to influence decisions using the 7 fascination triggers: power, lust, mystique, prestige, alarm, vice and trust

What makes your personality irresistibly fascinating? Find out by taking the F-Score Personality Test.

  • Session hashtag: #howfascinate.
  • Are you selling a green ticket or are you selling an orange ticket? An orange ticket is fascinating.
  • We take things that have no intrinsic meaning and we make them more meaningful and valuable.
  • “Hi” is the GAP khakis of online dating.
  • If your message fails to captivate … you get lost in the crowd.
  • 9 seconds is our attention span (BBC study) and our brains are being rewired. You’re designing to goldfish.
  • “In a competitive environment, the most fascinating wins.”
  • The about your name that makes it different will one day make you love it.
  • What makes you different, what sets you apart.
  • Free digital version of her first book, Radical Careering: 100 Truths to Jumpstart Your Job, Your Career, and Your Life: sallyhogshead.com/rc
  • Expressing your truest self is ultimate competitive advantage.
  • You can be comfortable, or creative, but not both.
  • Better to fail by going down in flames….
  • Design comes in two flavors: Vanilla and Pistachio. If you want to create Pistachio, do not work at a (soul-crushing) Vanilla company.
  • The 7 Triggers of Fascination (triggers are like instruments; the reasons why are almost compulsive about certain people & media).
  • Mystique is almost the opposite of Passion; it is the most delicate of all the triggers.
  • Rebellion is the trigger of creativity.
  • Trust was the most dormant by a longshot among the HOW attendees.
  • Trust is about consistency and reliability – make you work exciting and your structure boring if you want trust. Establish and repeat patterns to build trust long-term.
  • Alarm is about deadlines and consequences. What is the negative consequence of not taking a particular action? If (not) X, then Y. Now your own emotional journey.
  • Emotional journey of creative process: 1. possibility, 2. doubt, 3. agony (I am a hack and world is going to figure it out; I actually suck and this project is going to unveil me), 4. epiphany, 5. craft. The most important part is the agony, where you work through all the things that have already been done. Truly revolutionary ideas happen during the Throne of Agony. The worse it gets, the better the epiphany is going to be.
  • Take the test: FScoreTest.com
  • Mark Zuckerberg: Power and Mystique.
  • HOW Design attendees:
    • 43% on the Passion trigger, secondary on the Rebellion trigger. (18% is statistically significant.)
    • You defend the world from predictability.
    • Passion is not a luxury. It is an imperative.
    • You rarely sort of care. The world is not changed by people who sort of care.
    • Use your natural fascination talent. It’s not enough to be the better (or best) unless it’s you.
  • Make people fall in love with your ideas.

Thanks, Chicago. Back to Oregon.

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