This article is based on a presentation by Erik Wingren and Petra Wennberg Cesario by Julian Scaff Startups are cool and exciting, and the opportunity to innovate and build a profitable business (or get bought by a big company for a lot of money) is tantalizing for both the founders and investors. But the stark … Continue reading How Investors Can Use UX to Identify Better Startups
Why Purpose and Ethos Lead to a Stronger Vision "The visionary starts with a clean sheet of paper, and re-imagines the world.” ~Malcolm Gladwell In his 2009 TED talk “How Great Leaders Inspire Action,” Simon Sinek famously asserted “People don’t buy what you do. They buy why you do it.” This is true for customers of … Continue reading On Visioning
by Julian Scaff / edited by Crystal Scaff This article is based on my keynote talk at the Wonder Women Tech Conference in Long Beach, California on July 17, 2016. The tech industry has a problem. For all its progressive leanings and inherent coolness, the industry has a big problem with diversity. This problem is … Continue reading The Feminist Tech Company: Ways and Reasons to Build a Culture of Equality and Inclusion
"It takes a long time to become young." ~Pablo Picasso There is a brutal culture of ageism in the tech sector and Silicon Valley, and this ageism that worships youth above all else spills over into the design sector as well. When tech giants such as Mark Zuckerberg declare that “Young people are just smarter” … Continue reading The Myth of Youth in Design Innovation
"Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties." -Erich Fromm The field of design is undergoing a period of rapid change, with disciplines broadening and overlapping and designers taking a more active role in leadership and innovation. There are more designers serving as executive of companies than at any time in history, and the … Continue reading Creative Leadership for Innovation and Agility
"In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move." -Douglas Adams An entire project can be made or broken by a good or bad start. Creative projects, whether designing the Universe or a website, often get off to the wrong … Continue reading Agile From The Start
"A creative leader is one who leads with dirty hands, much the way an artist's hands are often literally dirty with paint." -John Maeda In his book Redesigning Leadership, John Maeda charts his own journey learning how to be an effective leader as the President of the RISD (Rhode Island School of Design), a position … Continue reading Some Thoughts on Creative Leadership
