Tim Brown – Enjoy it! It’s not so serious
It’s hard to imagine a successful designer not always being one step ahead when thinking about the current challenges and developments in design. This is also true for Tim Brown, longtime CEO and now chairman of the global design and innovation company IDEO, as well as vice-chairman of the kyu Collective. He holds honorary doctorates from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena (USA) and Keio University (Tokyo) and is the author of Change by Design, a book that has become a standard work in introducing design thinking to leading companies worldwide. During his visit to the Hochschule für Gestaltung (HfG) Schwäbisch Gmünd, Brown discussed the role of designers and the future of design education with around 250 attendees and longtime IDEO partner Leif Huff, who has been a professor of product design at HfG since October last year.
Complexity as a Challenge: For Tim Brown, overcoming simplification is a key task in today’s design process. “I have a hypothesis that, partly because of the complexity of the problems we’re facing, we find it even more challenging to think long-term. So I do think that this is a challenge I would pose for design,” Brown stated. The goal, therefore, must be to reconnect complexity with long-term thinking — and, in this context, also to work in analog spaces and processes. This is where creativity emerges beyond repeatable algorithms. Only this can make companies more interested in design again — and show the world that design, through observation and implementation, can make the world a better and more exciting place.
“For me, the essence of design is the tension between the idea and the expression of the idea. You cannot just do one of those well and have good design. You can have a wonderful idea, but if it’s just an idea, it doesn’t achieve anything in the world. You can have a wonderful expression, but if it isn’t bringing anything new, if it isn’t moving the world forward in some way, then how important is it really? It might be lovely, it might be beautiful, but it’s just another version of something that might already exist. So that relationship between the quality of the idea and the quality of the expression is what design is all about.”
Design as Teamwork and Leadership
In his talk, Brown focused on the creative opportunities arising from current trends. The result was an evening that addressed challenges without surrendering to them. While Brown lamented the decline of industrial interest in design — caused by the pandemic, financial uncertainties, and the focus on technologies like AI — he also pointed out that there are now more well-trained designers than ever before, many of whom are starting their own businesses. Overall, Brown hopes to see more designers in leadership positions, as this could fundamentally change how companies think and act in the long run.
According to Brown, design must once again be understood as teamwork. For designers, this primarily means close networking: with experts from other disciplines who can bring different perspectives into the design process; with leaders who are willing to think long-term and integrate human values such as sustainability; but also within teams where ambitious ideas are not abandoned out of fear of failure.
“Because sometimes, we get so concerned about getting everything right that we stop being ambitious. We stop pushing. We stop taking risks. And I think, in order to be ambitious, we have to be willing to mess it all up occasionally and not succeed.”
For Brown, success in the future will arise from a combination of various factors: The integration of career changers from other fields can diversify perspectives in the design process. Closely observing everyday problems can lead to truly society-changing solutions. And implementing long-term design options can challenge social thought processes.
“When we’re designing products, I think we’re going to have to find mechanisms for imagining products over much longer periods of time. We’re also going to have to move beyond our kind of fascination with having too many choices. I think we’re going to have to figure out what the right balance is between having enough choices but not having so much that it is inevitably and incredibly wasteful.”
The Possibilities and Limits of AI in Future Design Processes
In addition to this multi-generational design approach, Tim Brown sees an efficient resource cycle as one of the most important design goals for the future. This requires new material sciences and improved infrastructure for product recycling and reuse. Brown sees innovative opportunities for artificial intelligence, particularly in material development. AI should primarily be viewed as a tool for executing projects, making the human factor in idea development even more important.
„I’m not one to believe that AI won’t be able to produce things that we haven’t seen before, but I’m fairly sure AI won’t know that it’s created things that we have seen before. And so: human designers will need to be part of that process. That’s something that gives me hope.“
Especially in collaboration with AI, designers’ ability to think in new ways and develop creative solutions is essential. At the same time, designers must increasingly address the question of how human-technological interaction between humans and AI can succeed.
At the end of the two-hour event, Tim Brown described design as a way of life — one that constantly renews itself and offers the opportunity to actively shape the world. Despite all challenges, designers should never lose the joy and curiosity for the creative, sometimes playful, process.
“There is one capacity that you, as designers, have that the world is in massive shortage of: the confidence and ability to genuinely think about new things. The world is full of people who are really good at looking backwards — analyzing what already exists, understanding it, and making small improvements. But there are very few people who are truly good at thinking about new things. That ability — your ability — to imagine new possibilities is a superpower. It’s something the world needs and will always need. We have to be thoughtful about how we apply it, but it will always be essential.”
Future designers should not be discouraged by setbacks or current societal challenges.
“No matter how hard it might feel sometimes — whether it’s acquiring the skills, winning the work, getting the job, or whatever — the privilege of creating the world for others is mind-blowing. And I think… very few people in the world get to do that. But we’re lucky enough to be able to do it. So here’s the thing: Enjoy it. It’s not so serious.”
