via thecoolhunter

Though a few of the pictures were compelling of cooler car parks, I was most taken by the following quote:

Innovative developers and designers are recognising just how crucial this is – it’s almost too late by the time the consumer arrives at the front door. The “experience” of good design starts well before that.

How true. An experience begins and (ext)ends well before and beyond the actual “use” of a product or service. The winners and losers in the experience economy are the ones that have influenced as many touch points as possible from first impression to a lasting impression.

Image copyright Richard Bryant/arcaid.co.uk. All rights reserved.

The New Yorker Magazine article, Situation Terminal, offers a startling comparison of the democratic effect on the timetables and budgets of large building projects. I’m certainly not advocating the project-development process used in China to complete the Beijing Terminal 3, just highlighting the disparity. Another insight the author made, had me questioning my own assumptions about airport design:

Before I went to Madrid, I would have said that an airport architect’s most important task was to reduce the distance you have to walk to and from the planes. But, at Barajas, you want to keep going.

Like most people, I would probably complain of the long distances you need to walk from arrivals to exit, but who said that walk couldn’t be made so enjoyable you didn’t mind?

Scotland has appointed the country’s first education design champion. His job? Promote good design of schools. Paul Stallan quickly steered the discussion from lack of budgets to lack of vision and innovation. “A good environment for young people in formative years of their lives is fundamental. They should be encouraged to go to school. Design can address all this.”

He also highlighted the example of Fuji Kindergarten in Tachikawa, Tokyo, Japan as a shining example of school design. (There is little English on the site, except for their user-centred educational policy: “Kids first. Help me do it myself.”)

‘Place’ is a fundamental pillar of any great organisation and I am reminded of one of my favourite quotes on the subject.

Space matters. We mean by this that the physical environment in which an organization works is not simply a neutral backdrop. A workspace supports, enables, or constrains what takes place in it.

James P. Hackett, President & CEO, Steelcase Inc.
Scottish schools are ‘sick’ says education design tsar
Monocle: Fuji Kindergarten report

My favourite TED Talk used to be Ken Robinson talking about creativity and education. That top spot has now been replaced by William McDonough relating his philosophies of cradle to cradle design. With a great sense of humour, he designs a realistic future where all products become biological or technical nutrients and architecture creates buildings that make more energy than they need and purify their own water.

Regardless of whether you are a designer or not, these two videos are worth 40 minutes of your time if you are a human being.