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New Life for a 100-Year-Old Flour Mill
The following post is part of the course work for “Live Exchange” the foundational course on communication for The MBA Design Strategy Program at California College of the Arts. The rest of the posts are presented here.
By: JM Hutch
The Hayden Flour Mill currently stands derelict and deserted like a sentinel at the century-old cornerstone entry to the city of Tempe at the base of a hill steps away from the Salt River.
Upon moving to Arizona over 15 years ago, I passed the mill every day curious to explore the abandoned site. I spent a year studying the mill at ASU. I learned that for over 120 years, it manufactured some of the highest quality refined and enriched “Rose” brand flour in the American Southwest. It stands as a lonely icon for the city of Tempe for over a dozen years without being demolished because it encapsulates the qualities of its founder, Charles T. Hayden and his commitment to founding the community in the middle of the Sonoran desert.
Dozens of proposals have come forward to re-purpose the land and structure, but they lack a vision that represents the spirit of the city´s founder who established the mill and a ferry service for crossing the Salt River.
Why Designers Will Become the Next Gen of CEOs
The following post is part of the course work for “Live Exchange” the foundational course on communication for The MBA Design Strategy Program at California College of the Arts. The rest of the posts are presented here.
By Lil Tydings
Designers have been taking center stage in companies across many industries and leading them toward profitable outcomes based on better customer experiences. Over the past five decades, we have evolved the contribution of design past that of pure aesthetics to include strategy, business models, the deployment of technology, leadership, and total business sustainability.
Charles and Ray Eames introduced people to a different way of looking at the world through multidisciplinary design. Through furniture design, installations and filmmaking, Charles and Ray explored design as a life skill, not merely a professional skill and the artifacts of their work were pivots between processes and systems that could be continuously improved. Charles used to say, “The extent to which you have a design style is to the extent you do not solve a design problem.” To both, it was about how they approached systemic challenges and the application of the design process (now regularly called “design thinking”) across materials, manufacturing, economics, business model, communication, society, and yes, aesthetics, simultaneously.
Picasso Got It Right: Sustainable Production and Profitable Consumption
The following post is part of the course work for “Live Exchange” the foundational course on communication for The MBA Design Strategy Program at California College of the Arts. The rest of the posts are presented here.
By Maya Joseph-Goteiner (CCA)
If you want to see artist Claire Baker smile, buy her a 150ml tube of Cadmium Red oil paint for $50. That is the “luxury” item that Baker has had to sacrifice to keep her work “large.”
While the $8,000 price tag of one of her 60” x 70” paintings may sound expensive, Baker’s net revenue isn’t much at all. I asked Baker to itemize the cost of one oil painting.
The Crossroads of Sustainability, Business and Design is Change
The following post is part of the course work for “Live Exchange” the foundational course on communication for The MBA Design Strategy Program at California College of the Arts. The rest of the posts are presented here.
By: Shirin Ardakani
The Greek philosopher Heraclitus said “the only constant is change.” To those passionate about working at the crossroads of sustainability, business, and design, this is not a new idea. Inf fact, it may be basic common sense. We point to systems that resist change as the crux of the problem, and call the heroes among us “change makers.” We may devote our entire professional lives to making change, as intrapreneurs or entrepreneurs. We nod in easy agreement that change is inevitable and to resist is futile.
There is no doubt that passion and the drive to think big and tackle the myriad wicked problems is essential if we are to be successful. But I would argue that there is a danger if we get overly focused on the big external battles. Because fundamentally, before we can make change on a large scale outside, we need to be aware of, and compassionate towards, our own resistance to change inside. And this can potentially be more challenging than any external fight we might come up against.
We are learning more every day from research done in neuroscience about how our brains adapt to change. Evidence of the physiological battle we are up against is mounting.
Climate Change? There’s a Game For That
The following post is part of the course work for “Live Exchange” the foundational course on communication for The MBA Design Strategy Program at California College of the Arts. The rest of the posts are presented here.
Image courtesy of PSFK
By Shana Fong
Do you believe games can help save the world? Al Gore seems to think so. So does Jane McGonigal, a world-renowned game designer and one of the movement’s leading thinkers. McGonigal states that we need to spend 21 billion hours playing games every week to solve the world’s most pressing problems, such as hunger, poverty, obesity, and climate change.
Gaming for Good is a recent example of this burgeoning movement. A recent collaboration between PSFK and Gore’s Climate Reality Project, Gaming for Good put out a call to action in the creative community to solve the unsolvable – by designing concepts that use game mechanics to promote education, awareness, and behavior shifts that positively affect climate change.
The competition was inspired and informed by PSFK’s latest trends research report Future of Gaming. I spoke with Scott Lachut, Director of Consulting for PSFK, to get his perspective on how games can help save the world, and what we need to do to get there.
Business Predators & Prey
The following post is part of the course work for “Live Exchange” the foundational course on communication for The MBA Design Strategy Program at California College of the Arts. The rest of the posts are presented here.
By Ryan James
Like animals, businesses must eat to survive. What is it that dictates which end of the food chain your business is on?
New businesses enter the market place every year; some succeed and others get eaten alive. Every time a business enters the market it poses a threat to a competitor, on the other hand many businesses have exposed weaknesses making them vulnerable. Some companies know about these weaknesses while others do not. For example, Method Soap realized its competition’s weakness and attacked, creating the first environmentally friendly cleaning product line. This innovative approach to cleaning products has built a hundred million dollar business in about a decade.
Many aspects contribute to a business succeeding. I believe these include intuition, speed, and agility.
Communicating Effectively to Bridge the Great Divide
The following post is part of the course work for “Live Exchange” the foundational course on communication for The MBA Design Strategy Program at California College of the Arts. The rest of the posts are presented here.
Whether in the form of a large marketing campaign or a simple conversation among friends, communicating effectively is an important part of our lives. As important as it may be, there are times when we can’t seem to resonate with another person or group of people.
There is a broad sweeping philosophical and fundamental divide in humanity which affects our ability to communicate and find common ground with others of the opposite outlook. These two camps are Primitivism and Classicism, terms which might be familiar from artistic movements. Since art is a reflection of culture, these outlooks have existed throughout history in many forms. Obviously, there are many ways of viewing the world and many philosophically nuanced viewpoints but they can all be boiled down to some version of these two general outlooks.
The Unsustainability of Neverending Workplace Marathons
The following post is part of the course work for “Live Exchange” the foundational course on communication for The MBA Design Strategy Program at California College of the Arts. The rest of the posts are presented here.
By K. Bangsund
Living in the Bay Area means, among other things, that you have at least several friends who have chosen the “death march”: working for one of the hot software companies here that essentially require employees to “sprint marathons.” This means working at full speed, as if sprinting, for months at a time in the hopes that one’s effort will pay off big.
There are benefits – being part of the hottest company with all the buzz, competitive salaries – but these companies lack sustainability at their core. Unmaintainable working conditions are the tradeoff for the ever-approaching carrot of the IPO.
How Better Design Can Heal the Fishing Industry
The following post is part of the course work for “Live Exchange” the foundational course on communication for The MBA Design Strategy Program at California College of the Arts. The rest of the posts are presented here.
By Jess Bell
We live in a very innovative time that has allowed people to become faster, more efficient and more productive. Technology allows us to accomplish more than ever before, yet we live on a planet of finite natural resources that are being consumed faster than they can be replaced. The fishing industry is one place where this has become very evident.
Fishing practices that once sought to maximize the size of the catch, as efficiently as possible through the use of GPS and tracking devices, have led to a dire situation: severely depleted fish populations. In the face of this problem, fishers have realized that in order to survive they must innovate and find smarter ways to fish. The focus must now turn from the quantity of the catch to the quality of the catch.
The Current State of Microfinance (and Why it Needs an Overhaul)
The following post is part of the course work for “Live Exchange” the foundational course on communication for The MBA Design Strategy Program at California College of the Arts. The rest of the posts are presented here.
By Brian Schmierer
Microfinance has a long history of helping the bottom of the economic pyramid to build assets and achieve a standard of living the rest of the world takes for granted. Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) act as banks which provide formal financial products and services for economically-productive low-income entrepreneurs, consumers and producers. They exist in many forms such as savings clubs, rotating savings and credit associations, and mutual insurance societies.
Until 2008, MFIs had enjoyed a positive glow from both the media and other financial institutions, seeming to be an uncorrelated sector that delivered on their lofty promises of poverty alleviation, high repayment rates and unlimited lending opportunity. Loan portfolio growth that exceeded management’s capacity to manage, client overindebtedness in certain saturated markets and the lagging effect of the global economic collapse, all contributed to the weakening of the microfinance sector in the last several years. The early funding model in MFIs, in contrast to the commercial banking sector, was comprised of donations and other forms of subsidized capital. In the effort to scale and transform into a commercially sustainable industry, MFIs have hit a significant stumbling block.
Happiness is Serious Business
The following post is part of the course work for “Live Exchange” the foundational course on communication for The MBA Design Strategy Program at California College of the Arts. The rest of the posts are presented here.
By Catalina Garcia, Co-founder of The Happy Post Project
The Happy Post Project is a social experiment using art and creative endeavors to spread happiness by empowering people with a simple question: What makes you happy? Our mission is to spread happiness. We strongly believe that the power of happiness can change everything — companies, governments, and especially people.
In a world where every day conversations revolve around economic crises, political conflicts and natural disasters, it is no wonder that there is a newfound interest in the subject of happiness. As co-founder of The Happy Post project, I join an ever-growing group of people that are dissatisfied with the path that humanity has taken and the consequences it is having on our planet. As all subjects related to sustainability become increasingly popular, I reflect on the sustainability of the human race and the important role that happiness plays in it.
What’s Next After the Electric Car?
The following post is part of the course work for “Live Exchange” the foundational course on communication for The MBA Design Strategy Program at California College of the Arts. The rest of the posts are presented here.
By Atiim Wiley
I’m what is commonly known as a “car guy” — someone who is really into cars and prefers to have their garage populated with performance cars. I threw a fit when the Toyota Prius won Motor Trends 2005 “Car of the Year” award – it wasn’t a “sexy car” to me. However, there is the bigger picture to consider with the Prius winning the award—a car is still a car, no matter how it’s powered. There is no denying that the norm of the internal combustion engine will be challenged in the next 5-10 years.
It took 10 years for hybrid technology (gasoline & electric) to bridge the gap from gas powered engines to 100% electric vehicles which are starting to emerge on the market—the Nissan Leaf and coming soon, the Ford Focus Electric & Mitsubishi Mi-EV.
The Leftovers of Fast Fashion
The following post is part of the course work for “Live Exchange” the foundational course on communication for The MBA Design Strategy Program at California College of the Arts. The rest of the posts are presented here.
By Brandy Davis-Balsamo
Wandering through a used clothing store, Jane pushes her way into a rack so tight with clothing that she can barely get a view of the item in front of her. Good thing the articles have tags that indicate the brand and size. The clothes that make it here are the lucky ones – approximately 68lbs per person ends up in the landfill every year. Only around a quarter of Americans donate used clothing and of those donations, the majority end up being sold overseas for cents on the dollar. Fortunately, there are a few companies that are disrupting this inefficient model and there is plenty of room for more.
Patagonia is a technical clothing company that started in the early 1970’s. The company commissioned a study on the environmental impact of its business back in the early years. That study proved to be an eye-opener for Patagonia for it revealed that a natural fiber - cotton - was more harmful to the environment than oil-based polyester and nylon, which will live far beyond our lifetimes. At the time, cotton farming used 25% of all toxic pesticides thus surpassing all other fibers in the scale of negative impact. Patagonia used this information to implement positive change and since 1996, its garments are 100% organic cotton. The company has since launched the Footprint Chronicles, an initiative to provide consumers with transparency in regard to each product’s resource consumption, projected environmental impact, and journey through the production cycle. Patagonia also offers consumers the ability to recycle their clothing when reuse is not a possibility and as of 2005, the company has taken back 45 tons in clothing to be created into new pieces.
Building Optimism: American Manufacturing Remerges in a New Form
The following post is part of the course work for “Live Exchange” the foundational course on communication for The MBA Design Strategy Program at California College of the Arts. The rest of the posts are presented here.
By Devin Harvath
American manufacturing once conjured images of sweaty workers in cavernous factories churning out steel beams and station wagons. By the middle of the 20th century, a deep sense of optimism and the possibility of a solidly middle-class life for workers accompanied these images. Today, manufacturing brings to mind offshore sweatshops and abandoned U.S. factories, and this trend shows no immediate signs of ending.
However, there is reason to believe that American manufacturing is alive and growing, albeit in a new form. The reshoring movement and local manufacturing advocacy groups, like SFMade, have received a lot of press attention recently. Additionally, anecdotal evidence among some in my generation X and Y community shows a desire for locally made, high-quality, and long-lasting consumer goods.
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