Contagious rounds up the landmark events, movements and socio-economic shifts that have shaped the last year and flag up key trends for 2013.
In this year's report contagious have looked at: Movements, Divine Data, Personalisation, Marketing as Service Design, Loyalty, Design, Amplified Live, Technology, Retail, Screen Grabs, Social Business, Image Sharing, Payments, Small But Perfectly Formed Companies, Augmented Media and Purpose.
"Good Fucking Design Advice aims to serve the needs of the greater design community for the common good. Whether you’re a student unable to receive a timely response from a professor, a designer eagerly awaiting feedback from a vacationing art director, or a sheltered freelancer lonely toiling away in her studio apartment, Good Fucking Design Advice will provide you with immediate unbiased assistance 24/7."
Eno's 'Oblique Strategy' cards
While we're on the subject of design advice I've always found Brian Eno's 'Oblique Strategy' cards rather good, they also have less swear words in them! Created with artist Peter Schmidt, Eno's deck of creative suggestions has been inspiring mind blocks since 1975.
Also see my post on Bruce Mau's Incomplete Manifesto for Growth, another great inspiration - Top of the 'Incomplete Manifesto' Pops | Bruce Mau http://kathykavan.com/top-of-the-incomplete-manifesto-pops-bruce-ma
"Written in 1998, the Incomplete Manifesto is an articulation of statements exemplifying Bruce Mau’s beliefs, strategies and motivations." They guide how his agency approach every project. Full list here: http://www.brucemaudesign.com/#112942
My Top 10...
1. Allow events to change you.
You have to be willing to grow. Growth is different from something that happens to you. You produce it. You live it. The prerequisites for growth: the openness to experience events and the willingness to be changed by them.
4. Love your experiments (as you would an ugly child).
Joy is the engine of growth. Exploit the liberty in casting your work as beautiful experiments, iterations, attempts, trials, and errors. Take the long view and allow yourself the fun of failure every day.
8. Drift.
Allow yourself to wander aimlessly. Explore adjacencies. Lack judgment. Postpone criticism.
10. Everyone is a leader.
Growth happens. Whenever it does, allow it to emerge. Learn to follow when it makes sense. Let anyone lead.
14. Don’t be cool.
Cool is conservative fear dressed in black. Free yourself from limits of this sort.
15. Ask stupid questions.
Growth is fueled by desire and innocence. Assess the answer, not the question. Imagine learning throughout your life at the rate of an infant.
16. Collaborate.
The space between people working together is filled with conflict, friction, strife, exhilaration, delight, and vast creative potential.
17. ____________________.
Intentionally left blank. Allow space for the ideas you haven’t had yet, and for the ideas
of others.
19. Work the metaphor.
Every object has the capacity to stand for something other than what is apparent. Work on what it stands for.
37. Break it, stretch it, bend it, crush it, crack it, fold it.
Also see my post on 'Good F***ing Design Advice' which also includes info on Brian Eno's Oblique Strategy cards: http://kathykavan.com/good-fing-design-advice