The Power of Story in Sustainable Building
Posted by CCA LiveE January 20th, 2010 
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by Mike Funk
As a child, one of my favorite nighttime stories was Virginia Lee Burton’s classic, The Little House. The book follows the life of a tiny house in the countryside that gradually gets swallowed up by an encroaching nearby city. All the things the little house loves about its life in the country-the birds, the grass, the sun and the moon-disappear once the sidewalks and skyscrapers take over. In the end, a passer by recognizes the little house and transports it back to the country where it lives happily ever after.
Every home has a story. But who gets to tell this story? Is the story documented and, more importantly, how is it told? What was once a tale of four walls and a roof has evolved into a complex system of purposefully integrated components designed to minimize impact and maximize efficiency. The true power of homes’ story lies in its ability to successfully transfer knowledge to future residents. The rationale behind south facing windows, how the energy meter works, and why the greywater system is more efficient than a traditional sprinkler system may be perfectly clear to the architect or original owner, but unless the story resonates with the new occupants, these advancements will rest idle and eventually work against the home.
Of Monkyspheres and Microhoods: Collective Urban Living for the 21st Century
Posted by CCA LiveE January 19th, 2010 View Comments
Phenotype Tower by Chris Chalmers of BIOS Collective www.biosarch.org The virtues of Social Capital have been extolled by urbanists from Jane Jacobs in the 1950's, to Robert Putnum's more recent Bowling Alone. The last sixty years has seen plenty of progressive planners, architects, and environmentalists advocating for the re-creation of tight-knit residential communities with the power to counter everything from sprawl to obesity, loneliness to dependence on foreign oil. I count myself among those that believe in the power of localism and community—and I've seen this power manifest. Twice.
by Kurt McCulloch
When I was 18 years old, I voluntarily sequestered myself for nine-months on a narrow strip of rugged volcanic coastline on a tiny island in the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu. For almost a year, I worked, slept, ate, and socialized inside an area bounded by mountains and the sea. Everything was within a two hour walk, and I became a member of a fully integrated community where I was working as a volunteer teacher. Sure, I got a little island fever, but I also bore witness to the groundedness of people that are truly of a place to a depth my westernized mind still struggles to fathom.
Fast forward to 2009, San Francisco, my family and friends scattered across the globe. In contrast to life in Vanuatu my life is socially complex and spatially fragmented and, as many of us do in this web2.0 world, I use digital networks to stitch some of the pieces back together—my world a patchwork landscape of times and places viewed through digital windows. While San Francisco is one of the densest cities in the country, my social network is none-the-less-diffuse. I’m relatively untethered, another transplant walking down the sidewalk with the taletale white earbuds plugged into the sides of my head—I’m sure I’m not alone in my loneliness. And I’m convinced it has something to do with the places we call home.
Mind The Gap: The Space Where Design Strategists Live
Posted by CCA LiveE January 19th, 2010 View Comments
By Ryan Opina
“Great concepts and great vision are not enough to make an impact.
Designers must recognize the challenges around implementation and deliver comprehensive prototypes with clear implementation plans.”
-Tim Brown – Designing for Social Impact
Grand visions of a breakthrough product. A service experience that will change the world. A video game that is immersive, entertaining and educational. Who doesn’t want to be involved in creating something along those lines? Coming from a background in design research, the purist, specialist side of me says to start with a clear and intimate understanding of the needs, motivations and behaviors of your users. Get that right and the rest will follow. Over the years however, experience has shown me another angle, one where the technology leads the way, not consumer behaviour. In fact, Donald Norman has recently published an article stating that design research is great for improvement but useless for innovation, while Steve Portigal provides a thoughtful reframing away from the term innovation and more to the identification of opportunity areas. It is here that I see ‘the gap’, the area that we as individuals in the MBA in Design Strategy program will find ourselves living.
Bosnia and Herzegovina: The Heart Shaped Country
Posted by CCA LiveE January 17th, 2010 View Comments
"Martin Brod, Bosnia and Herzegovina" by Jim Marshall
By Amina Horozic
You’re from where?
I was almost twelve years old when I came to the US in 1994. Since then whenever I mention that I am from Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, I am always inundated with all sorts of unusual questions. Occasionally, I have to clarify that it is a country in Southeastern Europe east of Italy; that yes it does consist of two names Bosnia and Herzegovina, but it is oftentimes referred to only as Bosnia; and that Sarajevo is in fact the capital city. More frequently however, the questions typically revolve around the war of the early ’90s: the siege of the city, the genocide of the country, the ethnic cleansing of the people.
Rarely am I asked questions about my homeland outside of the war context, though it has been almost fifteen years since the war has ended. Despite its many positive attributes, to the majority of the outside world Bosnia and Herzegovina is still a scary and foreign place, synonymous with war and destruction. What is less commonly known or recognized about Bosnia and Herzegovina is its untouched natural beauty and ecological wealth.
Curriculum Vitae Verde – Practical Tips for Refreshing your Resume
Posted by CCA LiveE January 16th, 2010 View Comments
By Lindsay Wolff Logsdon, Human Resources Manager, frog design
With the Green Jobs Act now over two years old, and President Obama pledging that jobs in sustainable energy and resources will be a keystone of US economic recovery, the next frontier of the American job market is a very green place. Job seekers pushed out of more traditional markets are pursuing these “green collar jobs”. As they take that step towards a career in green business, they need to consider the best way to highlight their experience and passion. Whatever your background, a fresh résumé is a great place to start. In this post I’ll share a few practical tips to help make your résumé a strong reflection of your passion and ethics.
As a recruiter and human resources manager, my zone of experience has mainly been in the design industry – my advice comes from many years of reviewing applications for design, technology, and program management positions within design consultancies. That said, the design and green industries share many similarities (and in some sectors, they downright converge) – both industries require a high level on innovation, a strong passion for the subject matter, and in many cases, an unconventional approach to career paths.
From a résumé and job hunt standpoint, there are many things someone interested in breaking into a green business can learn from the design industry.
Design Involves More Than Thinking
Posted by CCA LiveE January 15th, 2010 View Comments
By Jason Linder
In 2008 CCA introduced an innovative new approach to the business degree—the MBA in Design Strategy. In 2009 CCA took this idea even further and began offering a dual-degree MFA/MBA. I am one of three students embarking on this hybrid journey. My curriculum integrates courses from the existing MFA in Design with the new MBA in Design Strategy Program to offer completion of both degrees in three years.
Having worked in interactive design for the last 10 years, both at small agencies and in-house at a large corporation, I have witnessed the mesh of creativity and business many times and am excited about what both disciplines can learn from each other. One term that has become a popular way of describing this crossover is “Design Thinking.”
The core idea—that the creative processes used by designers can be applied to the processes used by business—is compelling and full of promise. But the term “Design Thinking” sets a misguided expectation about how these creative processes work—that it’s simply a matter of switching to a different mental mode. On the contrary, one of the most important tools of the design process is to take the thinking out of the equation.
Untying and Retying the Knot: Building a New Kind of Leadership
Posted by CCA LiveE January 14th, 2010 View Comments
By Linda Chang & John Garvie
Teach-Us-Something-in-7-Minutes is one of the keystone introductory projects of CCA’s DMBA program. The project, TUS-7M, as it came to be called, sets up students in pairs to develop a subject of compelling interest to be presented at a public event in CCA’s Timken Auditorium. The constraints were that we address something in the domains of communication, design, business and/or sustainability, that we consider the difference between “telling” and “showing,” and after 7 minutes, we would be cut off, whether we were finished or not. Our presentation, The Girl Who Woke Up in a Knot, was a metaphorical story about knots. Knots represent not only complicated problems, but also interpersonal entanglements that come from our most important conversations – personally and professionally. We wrestle with knots as difficult problems to be solved and unsnarled, but they are also “the ties that bind,” connecting us to what is essential.
As we write, at the end of 2009, the crisis of the American economy remains an open question. Jobs are no longer being shed at the astounding rates of the last year-plus, but unemployment percentages remain at double-digit highs. Meanwhile, expert economists have claimed that the economy is growing again, yet the Federal Reserve has pledged to keep interest rates “exceptionally low” for a foreseeable “extended period.”
Most would agree that the cause of The Great Recession of 2009 has been an overarching institutional focus on short term gains, in place for decades, not just a cyclical few years. People stopped being people and became merely opportunities for companies to make a quick buck no matter the social cost. People who were supposed to have been America’s best-and-brightest, people who should have known better, were seduced by easy money and quick returns. Meanwhile, most others seemed to have lost sight of being citizens first, consumers second.
Regardless of whether the economy bounces back, the focus on short-term goals with simplistic growth paradigms needs to change. So, how can we make the shift? We need a new way of thinking and acting within business. Like many, we desire a strong business community that integrates new priorities.
We can start with a new kind of MBA. After one semester of learning, growing, stretching our minds and asking questions in our DMBA program, we would like to propose here a view of management for the future and what some of the outcomes may be when managers and businesses start truly cultivating a conscious form of capitalism.
Project: Critique
Posted by CCA LiveE January 13th, 2010 View Comments
Photo by Ahmed Riaz
By Elysa Soffer
This is very NOT Good
A tall, thin, blond woman in her mid-50s, with a thick Swiss-German accent condescends: “Class, come here, everyone, take a look. See this example on the wall? Does everyone see? This is very NOT good.” This was the voice of the typography and design studio teacher who I was both cursed and blessed to have for three years during design school. This voice has echoed in my head for almost 10 years.
Critiquing happens like this – your work is posted on the wall for your entire class to judge, poke and prod at like a science specimen in a lab. They deconstruct the piece and, if you are lucky, help you put the pieces back together by offering some encouraging ideas. It is in school where your skin thickens enough to get you into the real world and strengthen your ability to accept critiques from your future design director and coworkers, who typically have no problem ripping your work to shreds.
Communication Tools and Seed Bombs
Posted by CCA LiveE January 11th, 2010 View Comments
By Anna Acquistapace
Feelings have never been a part of my past educational experience. We are taught to approach education as a purely intellectual endeavor that requires learning the material then proving you know it when exams come around. However, as we grow into adulthood through our school years, our emotional education develops unguided and intuitively. What we learn is that knowing and feeling are two separate realms that exist in two different spheres, public and private.
In our dMBA LiveE course on communication, we learn that effective communication is informed as much by what we know in an intellectual way as by what we feel in an emotional way. There seems to be a myth that communication in business is about asserting solutions to problems and proving these solutions using numbers and calculations. By doing this, you will be able to convince people that you are in control and have the answers. But, what I’ve realized is that the real value of communication is learning, understanding and connecting. While numbers and information can play an important supporting role, building communication paths based on open dialogue, exchange and feelings lead to richer, holistic solutions.
One exercise from this class involved a performance piece called “Teach Us Something in 7 Minutes.” From this experience, I learned several tools for effective communication that I will carry with me.
The Working + Going to Graduate School + Being a Mother Manifesto
Posted by CCA LiveE January 10th, 2010 View Comments
Dear (Corporate) World:
We need to talk. We’re just not connecting. You haven’t changed over the years, but I have. I think we want the same things. But we’re not doing a very good job of listening to one another. I feel like we have different ideas regarding time and what it means to be a productive, engaged, happy employee. You seem to want all of me. All of the time. Enough for me is not enough for you!
Were on the same side, you and me! You want productivity, creative ideas. You want to get things done and make some money. Me too! I want to do these things for you. Make you happy. But not at the expense of myself. What I need is some flexibility. Your emphasis on “butts in seats” as a measure of work being done and productivity is draconian. The world has changed, but your management practices are still based on work and working styles from the 1930’s. It’s time to live in the present.
Freedom + efficiency = happy, engaged employee. Allow me to have control over my time. I’ll get more done, I promise. You see? Do you want my time? Or do you want my work? These are not necessarily the same things. I suspect what you want is the service that I provide, and haven’t considered that hours in the office is only one way to measure and define work. Lets look at the results-only work environment. Have you heard of it? It works like this; people are paid for a chunk of work, rather than a chunk of time. This idea creates a workforce that is energized, focused, disciplined, and happy. Plus, it’s good for your bottom line.
Leisure time is not wasted time. Let me repeat that. Leisure time is not wasted time. It’s valuable. Important. Necessary. People who take time out for themselves to unplug are happier, more engaged workers who do a better job for YOU. John de Graaf co-founder and executive director of Take Back Your Time found: “It’s actually a common finding in epidemiology that health goes up during economic downturns,” he said. “It very much has to do with people having more time. Working hours are down.” See?! I need to take vacations for YOU!
We need to be able to trust one another. This hasn’t been easy for us. In part because there’s the whole “mom” thing. There I said it. It’s out in the open. You have a bias. Because I’m a mother you see me as something of a burden. “Oh, god, she’s going to have to take her kid to the doctor. She has to take some time off for parent teacher conference, what happens when the kid gets sick? And worse…. she’s going to want to talk about them.” Yes. I will do those things. So what? Seriously, so what? That’s life. It’s messy and it’s unpredictable, and children and mothers and fathers have to function within the world of work. You see, with more control over my time, (see above) with the idea of flexibility, trust, and results built into the mindset of the workplace, this becomes a non issue, doesn’t it?
School: I’m doing this for our relationship. Continuing my education is my gift to you! ;) Being involved in the dMBA program has already improved our relationship and helped our communication. We were never able to speak this openly before. Sure I may be becoming more demanding, but I think you secretly like it.
Improvisation as a Communications Skill-Set: Redefining Fun
Posted by CCA LiveE January 8th, 2010 View Comments
I often think about our everyday life being improv. When the pressure is on though it’s easy to get off track.
Communication is not only important, but without it, human life would be non-existent. Honestly, I had no idea what to expect when I discovered I would be taking a communications course called “Live Exchange” (LiveE) in the MBA Design Strategy Program at The California College of the Arts. Having taken the course, I can compose a list of valuable things LiveE has taught me about communication.
While I have taken away a lot from this course and could have an endless list, one of the most important and fun things I learned is how effective communication entails verbal and non-verbal skill-sets. Did I ever think that improv would be a non-verbal communications skill-set or even a skill at all to help me overcome my fear of public speaking?
Storytelling, Performing and Social Growth
Posted by CCA LiveE January 6th, 2010 View Comments
As I think of compelling stories to tell, I realize that I am not only writing stories to be enjoyed by others, but that I’m writing my own story as well—a story containing many pages of triumph and lessons learned through my own experiences, and through the stories of others. Each time I am blessed with the illusive epiphany of concept, I begin a new chapter in my life. My hope is that my experience will inspire others to write stories that entertain, teach, invoke emotion, and promote positive change.
As a kid growing up in Los Angeles, my time after school was spent playing with friends, and in front of television and movie screens for several hours at a time. I have been, and continue to be greatly influenced by the lure of television shows and motion pictures containing powerful stories, which have sparked my interest in creating my own characters and stories. I consider my time spent in front of the boob tube a valuable and inexpensive education in story writing and character building.
Currently, in my spare time I sketch drawings sparked by thoughts of social change- later creating stories that breathe life and purpose into the images, transforming them into deep and meaningful concepts. To me, the drawings without the stories are almost pointless– insignificant. My own stories take shape around a cohesive group, or one central character with an unbelievable goal. I am adept at creating stories depicting compelling characters dreamt from nothing. Some of my stories hint at teaching lessons, but most of the time I try to tell a story that provokes thought, while simply entertaining the reader.
How “Design Thinking” Impacts Developing Economies
Posted by CCA LiveE January 3rd, 2010 View Comments
As a first generation American, I have always been influenced by my parents, who continue to be a powerful example for me. Having faced cultural discrimination, they were forced to flee to the United States with practically nothing. They arrived here, to the land of opportunity, with an entrepreneurial spirit and made a success of their lives. Having learned from my parents’ difficulties in their native land before they came to the U.S., I empathize with people in developing countries. Given my family’s background, my fundamental desire in life is to help other people who are struggling to survive in underdeveloped nations.
As a future entrepreneur, one of my ambitions is to improve living standards in developing countries. I am learning one of the tools that can be used to achieve this in the MBA in Design Strategy (DMBA). It is called Design Thinking.
An Enlightening Experience: Creating Successful Experiences for People.
Posted by CCA LiveE January 2nd, 2010 View Comments
As a Lighting Designer I have dedicated my career to the art and science of incorporating light into the dark spaces of the built environment. I design for the needs of the people that inhabit these spaces. My goal is to be truly innovative and to bring forth a design that enhances each space by balancing function and aesthetics. Within my field of design, like many others, there has been the introduction of regulations and frameworks of do’s and don’ts (mostly don’ts) that, in my estimation, limit the essence of design – better known as ‘the experience’.
Throughout the myriad of phases that encompass design, there is a common binding thread known as ‘the experience’. It is within ‘the experience’ that creativity flourishes, innovation is expansive, and playful methodologies flourish. Maintaining the experience in design is necessary to evoke playful notions of grandeur that innocently m otivate every designer. Fresh eyes and new approaches to design live in ‘the experience’.
The rules and guidelines of conservation and the like are indeed warranted. They encourage us to be responsible conscious designers and place the design industry in a position to contribute to greener and safer global efforts. As I too, move closer to environmental awareness I begin to wonder if I am able to find a balance between strategy and creativity. I fear losing the capabilities of play and evoking lasting emotion throughout my designs, while the rule makers and creative types sit at either end of the table not speaking to each other. What is happening to ‘the experience’ in design? Can strategy and ‘the experience’ coexist in design?
Strategy has been defined as an adaptation or set of adaptations that serve or appears to serve an important function in achieving evolutionary success. It is in this discipline of strategy that engaging imagination ceases to exist and begins to dictate ‘the experience’. At any given moment in the design process I find myself abandoning one idea for another solely based on “the numbers”. In relation to a variety of professions, “the numbers” could encompass politics, paperwork, constructability, availability, price points, subjective peer reviews, efficiency standards, etc. The more a designer gets caught up in “the numbers”, the designs potentially become more mundane.
My participation in California College of the Arts’ MBA in Design Strategy program has further enabled me to identify these risks and develop a more cognitive approach to the role of ‘the experience’ in my work; not just in the lighting solutions I create, but also in all things design. It is here that I discovered the need to look beyond design tangibles like paper and pencil; and to concentrate on a more sensory level. For example, simply understanding the role of lighting and lighting equipment, particularly in architecture, is insufficient to determine what design to create, why it is being created, for whom, and how to innovate both presently and over the long term. By incorporating ‘the experience’ in design it becomes a discipline that helps a Lighting Designer reach purpose. On a cursory level, ‘the experience’ in design can be understood as the approach to creating successful experiences for people. This approach includes consideration and design in the senses, personal meaning (of the designer and/or the end-user) and emotional context.
In this age of necessity of sustainable practices and habits it is with great hope that my designs forge an identifiable relationship that creates “socially responsive, culturally relevant, and technologically appropriate lasting value.”
Throughout the design process and its outcome I need a sensational experience, deliberate or not, to occur – an experience that makes my design worthy to be apart of a conversation. In the end, design should enable us to communicate. Only then will I have succeeded as a designer. I am still on the road to discovering a means to balance strategy and ‘the experience’ into my designs. Yet, I present this as a challenge to the design community as it remains a task for those of us in the industry to tackle. If I am to strike a balance between ‘the experience and strategy in design I will be able to embed the communal aspects of my designs into the folds of the architecture around me.
SPECIAL PROJECT
Live Exchange: Communication, Collaboration and Creative Capital
Linda Yaven
In a course I teach one of my students, Ahmed Riaz, said “communication is like air”; indeed, it so ever present it disappears as a domain of inquiry. Yet communication and collaboration are the back story of work.
The articles presented here were 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. Students were asked to write a 500 word post on an aspect of communication, creativity, design, sustainability and/or business of compelling interest.
These writings lean into business as usual: blending the personal with the professional, articulating “studio ways of thinking”, surfacing team work, sustainability and an ethos of “we are in this together” thinking.
We live at a time when those in fiercely competitive environments are called upon to invent missing conversations, walk over the bridge of trans-disciplined communication, steward meaning-making in communication or speak for those without recourse to human speech.
With appreciations to Nick Aster for his inspiring invitation.
Linda Yaven,
Associate Professor, "Live Exchange"
MBA Design Strategy Program
CCA, San Francisco
elle@lindayaven.com
Lindayaven.com
