Designers, these entrepreneurs of tomorrow

A new generation of entrepreneurs endowed with a designer culture is beginning to rise, in extremely varied domains: intelligent thermostat (Nest’s Tony Fadell), mail processing programme (Mailbox’s Gentry Underwood), housing booking platform (Airbnb’s Brian Chesky) or washable disposable nappies (Génération Plume’s Florence Hallouin)… And this for one essential reason: the calling, way of thinking and action process of designers concern pragmatic problem solving. Just like entrepreneurs.

However, few designers are really aware of the fact that they are sitting on a goldmine as far as creating economic value is concerned.

As an entrepreneur and a designer myself, I have worked with the CEOs of large companies and SMEs, in Europe, North America and Asia. This was an opportunity for me to realise the degree to which the approaches of designers and traditional entrepreneurs are similar, and to better understand where the specific added values of each one of them can be found.
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Economy of happiness (amazing!), theory of perspectives, behavioural economics, neuro-economics...

Winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, Daniel Kahneman has been upsetting theories on economics and the belief in a perfectly rational homo oeconomicus.

Because he was able to show that our decisions and behaviours are infused with cognitive illusions. He explains that our decisions are above all taken under the influence of an emotional, intuitive and rapid System 1. This System establishes relations and feeds on a network of memories and emotions which are mutually reinforcing one another. It seeks global coherence, but does not rely on anything rational in doing so. Reason is a matter for System 2. This System evaluates the pertinence of the responses of System 1. In addition, it is a living praise of the laziness which is actually saving itself.

The beauty of this analysis is that it gives our sensitive brain a central role again: it is that brain that allows us to make sense of the world around us.

To me, Daniel Kahneman clarifies the power of ethnographic studies from the point of view of an economist and a psychologist. Read more

I met digital artist Soomi Park in Seoul a few years ago, and her wearable technology experiments have made a strong impression on me. Today, she tackles the issue of privacy protection, a sensitive subject especially since the PRISM scandal. Her project, The Republic of Privacy, stages a fictitious republic in which everything, but absolutely everything, is private. And she questions the possibility of living in complete privacy, while still benefitting from digital technology.

Her project raises questions on the value of information and privacy: what new sociological value can spring from sharing our personal data? How can we build up true and sincere relationships and share intimacy in this fictitious nation? What new technological systems do we need to invent to guarantee a completely private life and take care of this new cultural system?

This year, her projects are exhibited at the Royal College of Art 2013 SHOW in London.

Photo credit: Christian Scheer for Soomi Park

Before, I was a designer... Since the 'Design Thinking', apparently I have a brain.

In reality, nothing has changed for us designers, except that we are being increasingly perceived as problem-solving professionals, and that many of us are increasingly at ease with being artisans of innovation.

Designers are the men and women of innovation.

They know how to draw that methodological and collaborative path that will lead the whole company towards tomorrow’s model. Yet, competitiveness depends largely on innovation. So then why, while they are at the centre of the driving force of competitiveness, do companies under-exploit them? The rate of design utilisation by companies at the strategic level is low in Europe, barely 40% for instance in France (See in particular a study conducted by the APCI, Cité du design and the Institut Français de la Mode on behalf of the French Ministry of Economy, Industry and Employment in 2010). This finding is not new, but it is becoming increasingly preoccupying for our competitiveness. Better understanding their inputs and integration into the company is therefore a major issue!

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