Is creativity a team effort? “There’s No ‘I’ in Des gn” — a Lecture and Exhibition featuring Blu Dot
Is breakthrough creativity driven by one person? Or is it the happy result of collaboration and cross fertilization?
I’m sure you have an opinion. I’m also sure your September calendar is filling up fast, but this is one event that’s bound to be interesting and informative. Blu Dot, the award-winning Minneapolis furniture company, will be presenting their design philosophy as part of the CVA Leaders of Design Series.
Not familiar with Blu Dot? If you’ve been to the Walker Art Center (and what good MIMA member hasn’t?), you’ve seen and possibly sat on sleek, simplified Blu Dot couches set off by watermelon red steel tables.
Okay, so what does designing couches and tables and chairs and beds have to do with designing digital experiences? If the lecture title is any indication — “There’s No ‘I’ in Des gn” — the process for Blu Dot is not about ego or individual grandeur. It’s all about collaboration, cooperation, and camaraderie.
Isn’t that the same with interactive marketing?
Yes, of course, we’ve all encountered the strutting, self-important designer, interactive strategist, project lead, SEO consultant, and so on, but really, when you come right down to it, isn’t some of the best creative work borne of collaboration? Almost everyone I work with believes that welcoming multiple contributors (on the client and agency side) improves outcomes and engenders success.
“Get designers, writers, strategists, information architects, developers, publicists, business analysts, and customers working together. Connect the MBAs with the MFAs. Ask the attorneys to collaborate with the creatives. Pair the scientist with the art director — and see what happens.
It’s certainly true too many people working on an idea can be messy and cumbersome, but it can also open the door to wildly exciting possibilities.”
— Excerpted from Your Marketing Campaign: What’s the Big Idea?
Another way to encourage creativity is to stop running directly at the problem and seek inspiration in a sideways manner: So perhaps furniture design can illuminate digital design?
You can register for the September 24th lecture here through AIGA Minnesota. The lecture features Blu Dot founders John Christakos and Maurice Blanks. The next day, Thursday, September 25, there’s an opening night exhibition party and a Blu Dot furniture auction (both free and open to the public) at the CVA Gallery.
Tickets for the Blu Dot lecture will go fast. Last year’s CVA Leaders of Design Series featured Steven Heller, and it sold out weeks in advance. See you there!
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August 19th, 2008 at 10:16 pm
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