“I Think We Have to Start Over”: Usability Guru Don Norman on the Next Internet
“I Think We Have to Start Over”: Usability Guru Don Norman on the Next Internet
“I Think We Have to Start Over”: Usability Guru Don Norman on the Next Internet
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Don Norman: Overcrowded, by Roberto Verganti: In favor of criticism
I was just in Germany, in Herzogenaurach to be precise, at Adidas headquarters. (Hardly anyone knows where Herzogenaurach is — it’s a 20 minute taxi from Nuremberg.) I was at a conference organized by my old friend (and co-author) Roberto Verganti, from the business school at Politecnico di Milano. Years ago, he and I had a debate in Milan about the value of Human-Centered Design (HCD) and the way it is normally practiced. To the audience’s great surprise, we both agreed:
1. HCD is a powerful tool for improving existing products. That is, it is a powerful tool for incremental innovation.
2. HCD, by its very nature (hill-climbing plus a kind of design by committee), is a really bad tool for radical innovation.
1. HCD is a powerful tool for improving existing products. That is, it is a powerful tool for incremental innovation.
2. HCD, by its very nature (hill-climbing plus a kind of design by committee), is a really bad tool for radical innovation.
UC San Diego breaks ground on first piece of its historic ‘grand entrance’ project
"Design should attack critical societal problems, such as disease, homelessness, a lack of food and access to education,” Innovation involves finding ways to implement change, to get things done." - Don Norman, Design Lab Director
UC San Diego on Thursday broke ground on the $67 million Design and Innovation Building, the first piece of the “grand entrance,” a sweeping project that’s meant to provide a clear, dynamic doorway for the county’s largest university.
The 74,000-square-foot building will provide everything from classrooms to studios to makers space for the school’s small but fast-growing design and innovation programs.
UC San Diego on Thursday broke ground on the $67 million Design and Innovation Building, the first piece of the “grand entrance,” a sweeping project that’s meant to provide a clear, dynamic doorway for the county’s largest university.
The 74,000-square-foot building will provide everything from classrooms to studios to makers space for the school’s small but fast-growing design and innovation programs.
Olga McConnell, Project Specialist and Executive Assistant to the Director of The Design Lab
As the Executive Assistant to the Director of The Design Lab, a project manager for the Lab’s special projects and annual events, and a lifelong learner who holds a M.A. in English Linguistics and Translation, and a M.B.A. in Business Administration and Management, Olga McConnell’s zest for knowledge is palpable. She is currently on track to complete a Project Management Certification at UC San Diego Extension at the end of 2021, and she is planning on obtaining her Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification after that. “I’m kind of addicted to getting degrees,” jokes McConnell. “I even thought the other day, maybe I’ll go to law school. And then I was like, no, enough, enough.”
For nearly five years, McConnell was Executive Assistant to Don Norman, the Founding Director Emeritus of The Design Lab. She is now the Executive Assistant to the new Director of The Design Lab, Mai Thi Nguyen. It is Nguyen’s vision of human-technology-community interactions, along with her JEDI (justice, diversity, equity and inclusion) approach that has McConnell excited about this new chapter in the Lab’s legacy, saying, “I see how great she is as an efficient leader, so I’m really looking forward to working with her, supporting her administratively, as well as taking charge of certain projects that she has in mind.”
For nearly five years, McConnell was Executive Assistant to Don Norman, the Founding Director Emeritus of The Design Lab. She is now the Executive Assistant to the new Director of The Design Lab, Mai Thi Nguyen. It is Nguyen’s vision of human-technology-community interactions, along with her JEDI (justice, diversity, equity and inclusion) approach that has McConnell excited about this new chapter in the Lab’s legacy, saying, “I see how great she is as an efficient leader, so I’m really looking forward to working with her, supporting her administratively, as well as taking charge of certain projects that she has in mind.”