I wanted to share this recent blog posting by John Maeda, President of the Rhode Island School of Design. John is an inspired thought leader on the subjects of innovation, design and technology.

A few months ago, I sat with John Sculley, the former CEO of Apple, who described Steve Jobs’ primary design principle: “Not what you can add, but what you can remove.” It reminded me of the first law I outlined in my book The Laws of Simplicity, that, “The simplest way to achieve simplicity is through thoughtful reduction.” This philosophy runs counter to a typical tech company’s approach, where the goal is always to upgrade and add as opposed to subtract. It’s true, for the consumer to pay more and get less defies conventional wisdom and seems to contradict economic principles. But simplified technology doesn’t necessarily mean less functionality.

Apple products aren’t simple technologies by any stretch, but there is a beautiful simplicity to them. How does Apple do it? In terms of the design evolution of the controls, the iPod started out simple, with one large button. It got more complex in middle-generation devices, and in the newest versions, it has oscillated back towards extreme simplicity in design , with all of the buttons now integrated into a single seamless control. With the iPhone and iPod Touch, you can’t even see that control anymore.

So what’s next for technology and design? A lot less thinking about technology for technology’s sake, and a lot more thinking about design. Art humanizes technology and makes it understandable. Design is needed to make sense of information overload. It is why art and design will rise in importance during this century as we try to make sense of all the possibilities that digital technology now affords. Apple’s done it. Others want to follow suit.

Right now, our nation sees left-brain thinking, focused on logic and reasoning, as critical to future economic development. You can see it in the emphasis on the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) subjects. What’s missing from STEM is right brain thinking — embodied by what I call the key “IDEA” (Intuition, Design, Emotion, Art). We need both both halves of the brain to work together and channel that brilliance through our hands and propagate ideas throughout our world. We all wonder why Apple’s products have that je ne sais quoi that draw us in. I’m beginning to think that it’s not just that they understand the power of simplicity, or the power of software. It’s that you can see they were born from a person, from two dirty hands, from just a little bit of technology, and from a massively powerful IDEA.

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-maeda/technology-design-apple_b_291748.html

Also visit John Maeda’s website on business, simplicity and design: http://lawsofsimplicity.com/

Please take our online BRAINSTORM SURVEY here http://bit.ly/5BgiY
We are trying to establish some baseline data on brainstorming. Please take a few moments to complete the survey. Thanks for your help.

We are thrilled that this question has elicited so much response.

First, to date, of those who answered the poll, almost 1/2 (47%) believe creativity can be taught, 29% think this is “somewhat” the case (that people can improve their creative ability), 24% feel you’ve either got it or you don’t.

Perhaps more interesting, however, is the number and variety of responses we received when we posted the question on LinkedIn. In just one day the question received 23 answers from business professionals of all kinds, from different industries. Many were extremely thoughtful and provocative. We hope to use highlights from several in our article.

In the meantime, I’ll share an original poem offered up by Michael Lyubomirskiy, project manager, consultant and inventor at Lyubomirskiy Consulting.

Can creativity be taught?
Debate is endless. All for nought.
“Self improvement” so much fun
Run around, but nothing done.
Geniuses meanwhile left to rot…

More soon on this topic!

We’re really excited about launching our blog.

Innovative thinking is what this blog is all about. And in particular, how to do it more effectively, more efficiently and more enjoyably. We’re going to be sharing regular insights, experience and tips and techniques to help you and your organization generate more, better ideas then ever before.

In today’s challenging environment, businesses need a constant supply of fresh, innovative ideas. We call this the “Innovation Imperative,” and we’ll refer to it often on these pages.

Workforces are overtaxed and frustrated due to constant pressure to think “outside the box,” to work more efficiently, to raise performance levels and to maximize productivity-often under the stress of tight deadlines and limited resources.

One of the most widely-used tools for generating new ideas is traditional brainstorming. However, brainstorming is a severely inadequate and fundamentally flawed process.

SmartStorming is a totally new approach to brainstorming. You can learn all about it at www.SmartStorming.com.

But for now, we’d like to start with a poll, to find out just what you think about brainstorming as it’s currently practiced in your organization. We’ll report back on the results when they’re in.

Thanks again and we’ll be back to you soon.

Mitchell & Keith

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