“Designers don’t actually ‘solve’ problems. They ‘work through’ them. They use non-logical processes that are difficult to express in words but easier to express in action. They use models, mockups, sketches, and stories as their vocabulary. They operate in the space between knowing and doing, prototyping new solutions that arise from their four strengths of empathy, intuition, imagination, and idealism.” – The Designful Company by Marty Neumeier

Check out Marty’s book The Designful Company for his thoughts on “how to build a culture of nonstop innovation.”

1. The most innovative designers cultivate an appetite for “thinking wrong”
2. Businesses need to do more than hire designers. They need to be designers.
3. Innovation lies at the heart of both better design and better business

“The most innovative designers consciously reject the standard option box and cultivate an appetite for ‘thinking wrong.’” – The Designful Company by Marty Neumeier

Purchase Marty’s book The Designful Company for his thoughts on how designing the way forward is the key to innovation and solving business problems.

1. Designers don’t actually “solve” problems. They “work through” them.
2. Businesses need to do more than hire designers. They need to be designers.
3. Innovation lies at the heart of both better design and better business

“For businesses to bottle the kind of experiences that rivet minds and run away with hearts, not just one time but over and over, they’ll need to do more than hire designers. They’ll need to be designers. They’ll need to think like designers, feel like designers, work like designers. The narrow-gauge mindset of the past is insufficient for today’s wicked problems. We can no longer play the music as written. Instead, we have to invent a whole new scale.” – Marty Neumeier

Read Marty’s article “Designing the Future of Business” for his thoughts on how design can turn a company into a “powerhouse of nonstop innovation.”

1. The most innovative designers cultivate an appetite for “thinking wrong”
2. Designers don’t actually “solve” problems. They “work through” them.
3. Innovation lies at the heart of both better design and better business

“Innovation lies at the heart of both better design and better business. It magnifies drive inside the organization. It slashes the costs of inefficiency, duplication, and corporate ennui. It confers the ability to produce uncommon, yet practical, responses to real problems.” – The Brand Gap by Marty Neumeier

Check out Marty’s book The Brand Gap for his thoughts on how to bridge the distance between business strategy and design.

1. The most innovative designers cultivate an appetite for “thinking wrong”
2. Designers don’t actually “solve” problems. They “work through” them.
3. Businesses need to do more than hire designers. They need to be designers.

“To achieve originality we need to abandon the comforts of habit, reason, and the approval of our peers, and strike out in new directions.” – The Brand Gap by Marty Neumeier

Purchase The Brand Gap here.

1. Creative people describe how the world could be
2. Designers should reject the ineffectual commonplace for effectual originality
3. UX designers need to possess both creativity and vision

“While market researchers describe how the world is, creative people describe how it could be. Their thinking is often so fresh that they zag even when they should zig. But without fresh thinking, there’s no chance of magic” – The Brand Gap by Marty Neumeier

Check out Marty’s book The Brand Gap. Great quick read to understand branding and its power

1. Abandon the comforts of habit and strike out in new directions
2. Interaction design finds ways to better connect people
3. What makes people passionate, pure and simple, is great experiences