Design worth doing, ideas worth spreading.

TED annual conference kicks off today April 24 2017 in Vancouver Canada. Hundreds and thousands of artists, designers and storytellers gather again for a week of great talks about technology, entertainment and design.

People look at TED as a vast and mighty creative and design community. From the logo branding to stage designing, from the speaker lineup to global TED community, we have experienced a creative boom of all things designing and inspiring over the years. Checking out the programs and topics like future, mind, meaning and planet……reminds you that design has become everyday life, now it’s time to celebrate creativity and get inspiration by connecting to the community.

Design is thinking made visual. — Saul Bass

What’s design?

It’s a graphic image, a trendy concept car or a green building…In one word, design is a visual creation. In design world, color, shape, image…everything is combined differently and freely with creative concept and practice. It can be one of a kind object, a unique creation or a practical making. Visually speaking, design is all about creating and making things in style and originality.

Architecture, technology and automobile……design is everything everywhere. We say design is about making nice things, and people like pretty stuff and beautiful look. Creating something beautiful for viewing pleasure is primary idea of design concept. Many popular brands have a creative design for their innovative products and remarkable images, such as Google, Tesla cars, TED talks, Apple computers and iPhones etc. , so what does the process of the creation look like with design thinking?

As an art of creative thinking and visual making, design in business means innovative solution. For instance, good architecture is for a safe and comfort living by saving cost and making most of space, eco-fashion design is not only for dressing to kill and also for dressing to save the world with environmental purpose, as well as good branding design is easy to stand out with quality creation and original content. Making things easier and nicer, good design changes the way of our thinking and viewing the world.

Design matters

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. — Leonardo da Vinci

Less is more, color, culture, style and environment……ain’t we seen so much more in design? Kenya Hara, the Japanese graphic designer shows the notable design concept of tranquility and emptiness in his book Designing Design. Another great design is toilet paper by architect Shigeru Ban. He simply redesigned the round roll to a square core which becomes a nice package with the purpose of saving space and reducing the consumption.

Create, make, solve and change…design is a solution, creativity and innovation. In the world of business and technology, there is boundless inspiration to be capable of creative thinking and visually speaking with the design thinking. If design mind is more about creative beauty and life, then design thinking is more about spirit and strategy of innovation for business.

Being a part of creative community, it’s like keeping up with constantly changing technology, looking for the solutions with curious minds, and being design thinker with a passion for research, making and solution. Whatever is green tech or digital media, the way of doing business can be very different with design thinking. Keep short and sweet:design for less, design for all, design for change. 

Think big, think global. Open your mind, visualize the future with design thinking… Insights, outlook and impact, how much more we can do with design thinking for the global environment and a better future? Contributing to the solutions, presenting best practices and visions to the world , that’s the power of design!

Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist. — Pablo Picasso

Design for change

TED2017 is taking place this week. Every spring, the global TED community unites thousands of creative people all over the world for a week of conference filled with imagination, invention and inspiration. During 5 days, total 50+ stage talks and 11 sessions bring the spotlight on curious minds and inspirational content including The Future us, Tales of Tomorrow, robotic and AI challenge, genomics and sustainable energy…The full program guide can be found here.

Speaking design, the TED experience offers much more than talks with eye-catching visual design. The famous TED stage is designed with multi-functional platform for a custom theatre experience, ever noticed the big red logo on the stage along with huge screen in background to bring a visual impact of interactive talks. On the stage, color and light are everything. The overall visual look is made with the contrast between bright logo and dark stage, the balance of different levels of audience areas around the stage, and the spectacular impression of light and color for a theatrical image. All is to create and design a stylish environment for sharing ideas freely and visually to the world.

TED talk on VR. Photo by Marla Aufmuth / TED

The week-long TED2017 experience includes main stage program of ted talks, art exhibits and tech demos, dinners and parties in the city, and much more. As usual, the speaker lineup is impressive with researchers, business leaders and designers of different creative industries including some big names: tech giant Elon Musk, tennis icon Serena Williams, roboticist Marc Railbert and acclaimed healthcare reformer Atul Gawande.

Last year, the theme of TED conference was Dream, this year is The Future You. And the topics look quite exciting with futuristic artworks, sustainable designs, microsculpture series photography and ironman style flight system…..literally the future is now!

So inspiration comes with a big question, how do we thrive in a world full of change? Well, the world is full of surprises and possibilities. Our answer is to keep calm and be part of change, see the future coming and design it for a better place.