We live in a complex world where our lives are more deeply integrated than they have ever been in the known history of our existence.
I am deeply committed to decoding these relationships in the context of design, business architecture, finance , & economy.
I connect across the world to study cultures, people, and ways of living and to interact with corporations, financial firms, universities, and government bodies to share insights from my observations.
This website is a platform to share my thoughts with the world and collaborate on designing solutions that create meaningful impact in lives of people.
PHILOSOPHY
Design -> System
I treat design as a design of systems. Before being categorised as a product or a service anything that we design is a system that gets something done. It makes further sense to see it as working systems.
In my view an aircraft passenger seat is not a product, it is a working system designed for seating through the journey, safety while takeoff and touchdowns, resting arms, storing safety equipment and much more.
Similarly any service model can be treated as a working system that helps people get something done,
It helps, to a great extent, to think of design in terms of verbs. What it means is that if we take every human action, mental or physical, we can visualise the functionality of our design better.
This approach helps me in designing solutions from point of view of the end users interacting with the system.
Design As A Verb
Design As An Enabler
Everyday people are trying to achieve some goals and in terms of Prof. Clayton Christensen, they are trying to 'get a job done.'
I see design as an enabler. A good design enables people to get things done and achieve the intended goal. Designed solutions are an extensions of human beings that provide them with leverage to get things done in a particular context.
A thoughtfully designed pencil is an enabler that lets people write on a surface with relative ease (compared to some to some other tool) , and so is a turning curve on a road enabling people to take a smooth curve at a particular speed.
In principle, strategy building exercises are design exercises. In my experience it helps to see strategy as a system level exercise and design the parts and flow of actions and information in an intended manner to achieve the desired goal.
Strategy & Design
• Decisions
In any design process, we divide our decisions into two primary categories. Design Decisions & Commercial Decisions.
Design Decisions are taken keeping in mind the end user of products and services. These are about the usability of the product, service flow, or space in the lives of people interacting with them.
Commercial Decisions (Financial Decisions) are taken to decide upon the inclusion and exclusion of the outcomes of the design decisions to achieve we want to achieve within the constrains of feasible budgets.
These two types of decision do not work in isolation but there is rarther a frequent back and forth between two types in terms of new information, feedbacks, and exploration of alternatives.
SELECT ARTICLES
Design Thinking