THE MUSIC OF DESIGN
Most people find it hard to understand design and yet they do not have the same problems with music. It is as if musical and visual intelligence run along separate pathways. Which of course they do. Neuroscience indicates they do indeed sit in different parts of the brain...this for auditory experience , that for visual experience
Despite that physiology , they do seem to have some essentials in common.
THE MUSIC OF DESIGN
Most of us like music, although your tastes will not be the same as mine. Most of us understand what it is to be musical .Some of us will be musical naturally, and be able to sing in tune, we think...a delusion not shared by the rest of the family
A smaller number of us will be musicians. Even those who are not musicians will understand the demands of practice of rehearsal, the sheer slog which goes into the building up of skill over years. We call it dedication.
As Malcom Gladwell pointed out recenty ( Outliers 2008)it takes about 10,000 hours of practice to get good at any skill, computing SW, drawing,and music.We understand the importance of practice and rehearsal.
So within our local national,regional, western culture, we have a good understanding of musical knowledge, of capabilities that are unusual and sophisticated, of the difficulty of rising to the highest level. But most of all , we respond to the impact of the best professional work- through our minds and bodies, through our ears, hair follicles, flesh and fingertips down to the soles of our feet
More than that we regularly experienced the pleasure and joy that a good musical performance can bring. We crave the specific pleasure of the moment, that intensity of emotion and delight. But there is also a generalised feeling that makes us glory in what human beings can achieve at their most creative. It defies belief. This is astonishing. This is magic.
Let us say just for the sake of argument, well design is a bit like that. But we can go further than that, for an even better argument . We can say design is EXACTLY like that.
We can say that design is a form of knowledge, it has its own systems and processes, it needs highly developed skills practice and iteration,
We know that the outcome of all these procedures and skills is a form of communication, which has different genres, which appeals to different tastes, which at its best can convey something supreme and uplifting.
So just in the way that there are musical individuals in the world there are musical organizations out there ….. the music they play we call DESIGN.
New Business Review.12 September 2008
The music of design. David Walker
The Design in Business Awards have come around again.
For too many of businesses, design is just cosmetic- the last minute, decorative irrelevance, the lipstick on the gorilla. As a long standing evangelist for design, I take the opposite view.
Design is the perspective that makes the whole business hang together.
Design is the glue, the infusion, the liquid that saturates everything you do: that substance that reaches deep into the organization, permeates every decision and every waking moment. You think I exaggerate? This is not easy to grasp. Let me enlist a little metaphorical help.
Let us say design is like music and that design intelligence is a bit like musical intelligence. Let us say that businesses need design just like orchestras need music. One can scarcely operate without the other. Then of course music is pervasive, infused, and part of every waking moment. It could not be any different.
To extend the metaphor: your business is an orchestra, maybe a big business the Count Basie of the North Island, or maybe a small band, a five piece ensemble.
Within our orchestra ,still a relatively small team, we know we have different skills on different instruments. We expect everyone to be educated in music , and skilled in their department. We require something beyond mere competence. We want players who are fluent, and adroit. Under some circumstances, we expect players to improvise, to take off in an inspirational way. But we know improvisations only work within a framework, against a matrix which is tight and controlled . Improvisation is not playing the piano with boxing gloves.
However the team, the band, is more important than the individuals and the virtuoso skills. There is a lot of mutual support and encouragement within the band. We are of one mind. At best we are intuitive, relaxed, ego-less and sometimes quite brilliant.
The players in the business produce music for an audience, which we usually call -the market. The orchestra will have a regular following of fans.
Of course in any orchestra there can be incompetence. There can be people who have not mastered the instrument. But usually they are exposed. They do not last long under scrutiny. This is an open community of skill and critique
They can be people who habitually play out of tune. We may have a drummer who is not exactly incompetent, but , ho hum, clumsy and irritatingly out of sync.
We aim for that special state when we are all in the groove, in the zone, in that area of collective human understanding, which is implicit and maybe telepathic.
Perhaps you can see how design fits this metaphor? For music read design.
I believe design is part of the generative system that produces intangible qualities and great melodic outcomes that lift the heart. Not the totality of the business, but a central apparatus and resource of extraordinary skills
So when you think about design in business, just ask yourself these questions- Is this organization musical? Is there harmony in what they produce? Is there a melody? Is there musical intelligence?
Look carefully and listen up. Does every one understand the idiom and style? Or is this Dolly Parton singing Schubert? Do the players work for each other? Is the band in tune? Does it rock? Are we unlucky and the CEO is tone deaf? Do we have a brick layer running the orchestra?
Strategy may provide the lyric, but we do not hum strategy. Design is the riff that hooks you, the song that stays in the mind. Design is the music played by business.
David Walker is an architect ,designer and innovation theorist. He is a researcher at the University of Auckland on the INNOVATIONZ project in the Faculty of Engineering
He is a Judge for the upcoming DIB award
extracted from NBR 12 Sept 2008
