Jon Kolko

"A new way to create-and then disrupt Industry disruption is no longer isolated to a unique product or service. Today's consumer needs engagement in order to be swayed to interact, connect, and buy your next offering. Achieve this and you'll achieve success. Sharp and refreshing, design insider and expert Jon Kolko offers a new view and usable process for conceiving and building powerful, emotionally resonant new products in this new book. In Well-Designed, Kolko-VP at MyEdu and Founder and Director of the Austin Center for Design--shows how deep, meaningful engagement happens when products and services are delivered in an authentic way, when consumers see them less like manufactured artifacts and more like good friends. The key is empathy-driven design thinking, using a process of storytelling and iteration, with results that provoke emotion, change behavior, and create deep engagement. Kolko, who has been engaged in this process of design for more than 15 years, now shares a concrete set of steps for identifying lucrative opportunities, designing for innovation, and producing products that have deep, meaningful emotional engagement. By following this process, readers will learn how to raise the role of design to a strategic competency"--

How to Use Empathy to Create Products People Love

Well-designed

As the world deals with increasing complexity -- in issues of sustainability, finance, culture and technology -- business and governments are searching for a form of problem solving that can deal with the unprecedented levels of ambiguity and chaos. Traditional "linear thinking" has been disparaged by the popular media as being inadequate for dealing with the global economic crisis. Standard forms of marketing and product development have been rejected by businesses who need to find a way to stay competitive in a global economy. Yet little has been offered as an alternative. It is not enough to demand that someone "be more innovative" without giving him the tools to succeed.Design synthesis is a way of thinking about complicated, multifaceted problems of this scale with a repeatable degree of success. Design synthesis methods can be applied in business, with the goal of producing new and compelling products and services, and they can be applied in government, with the goal of changing culture and bettering society. In both contexts, however, there is a need for speed and for aggressive action. This text is immediately relevant, and is more relevant than ever, as we acknowledge and continually reference a feeling of an impending and massive change. Simply, this text is intended to act as a practitioner's guide to exposing the magic of design.There are three simple goals for this text.The first goal is to present a theory of design synthesis in a simple and concise manner. This theory is based on academic research and discourse, but presented in a way that is clear and valuable to a practicing design manager, designer or design researcher. This theory of design synthesis can then be used to substantiate single methods of synthesis.The second goal is to offer a rationalization of why design synthesis is important, both in a general sense ("why should I care about this at all?") as well as in a more immediate sense ("why should I care about this right now?").The final goal is to present a set of actionable, learnable methods for design synthesis that can be applied to any design problem. Practicing industrial designers, interaction designers, interface designers, and designers of other disciplines can use these methods to make sense of complicated design problems and to move seamlessly from various forms of research to design. The methods can add a systematic sense of rigor to an otherwise subjective, often introspective process.

A Practitioner's Guide to the Methods and Theory of Synthesis

Exposing the Magic of Design:A Practitioner's Guide to the Methods and Theory of Synthesis

Thoughts on Interaction Design

I've taught design for 15 years, and when I started teaching, I felt very much like I was doing it wrong, and everyone would find out. Over time, I learned how to teach by building on the work of other great professors and through informed trial and error.This book captures what I've learned along the way - how to teach design, but more simply, how to teach. It will be useful for new professors and adjunct instructors who are just starting out. Creative directors will also find value in leveraging these approaches as they build out training for their internal teams. And, individual designers can utilize the methods and processes described here as they evolve their skills and advance their practice.

Reflecting on Fifteen Years in Design Education

How I Teach

Thoughts on Interaction Design, Second Edition, contemplates and contributes to the theory of Interaction Design by exploring the semantic connections that live between technology and form that are brought to life when someone uses a product. It defines Interaction Design in a way that emphasizes the intellectual and cultural facets of the discipline. This edition explores how changes in the economic climate, increased connectivity, and international adoption of technology affect designing for behavior and the nature of design itself. Ultimately, the text exists to provide a definition that encompasses the intellectual facets of the field, the conceptual underpinnings of interaction design as a legitimate human-centered field, and the particular methods used by practitioners in their day-to-day experiences. This text is recommended for practicing designers: interaction designers, industrial designers, UX practitioners, graphic designers, interface designers, and managers. Provides new and fresh insights on designing for behavior in a world of increased connectivity and mobility and how design education has evolved over the decades Maintains the informal-yet-informative voice that made the first edition so popular

It feels like our world is spinning out of control. We see poverty, disease, and destruction all around us, and as we search for ways to make sense of the chaos, we're turning to new disciplines for answers and solutions. New, creative innovations are needed, and these new approaches demand different methods and different theories. This book is presented as a handbook for teaching and learning how to design for impact. In it, you'll learn how to apply the process of design to large, wicked problems, and how to gain control over complexity by acting as a social entrepreneur. You'll learn an argument for why design is a powerful agent of change, and you'll read practical methods for engaging with large-scale social problems. You can read this entire book online for free at http://www.wickedproblems.com/

A Handbook & a Call to Action

Wicked Problems Worth Solving

Everyone wants to turn their company into a creative power-house, but few understand how to do it. In Creative Clarity, best-selling author Jon Kolko will teach you how to manage the complexity and chaos of creativity, as you bring it into your organization.

Creative Clarity

Matt Franks

Chad Fisher

Would you love to know what your customers really want and need, even if they don't yet understand it themselves? Do you dream of creating products that feel natural and right when people use them, that they recommend to their friends, and which-most importantly-sell really, really well?This is the book that explains the key ingredient for doing this. It's called storytelling.Discover how experiencing and telling your customers' stories will enable you to:- Uncover your customers' conscious and unconscious desires- Create a design strategy that gives them what they want- Bring your colleagues on board with your vision of the future- Create products you can be proud of

The Power of Storytelling to Shape and Drive Product Roadmaps

This Chainsaw Cannot Fly

Thoughts on Interaction Design offers readers new insight into Interaction Design and the connections between people and technology. Now in its second edition, Jon Kolko's title builds upon its engaging material aimed to educate Designers, help Designers educate business owners, and legitimize Interaction Design for businesses. This edition explores how changes in the economic climate, an increased connectivity, and an international adoption of technology affect designing for behavior and the nature of design itself. Ultimately, the text exists to provide a definition that encompasses the intellectual facets of the field, the conceptual underpinnings of interaction design as a legitimate human-centered field, and the particular methods used by practitioners in their day-to-day experiences.

A Collection of Reflections

What's it really like to sell a design company? This is, first, a book of stories: the experiences that leaders from companies like frog, Idean, T3, Hot Studio, and Cooper had as they went through the process of selling their companies. You'll read about how these leaders navigated the complexities of a sale: how they positioned their value, negotiated for themselves and their teams, and how they closed the deal. This is also a handbook, containing the pragmatics of how to get ready for a sale, how to work through the complex financial and legal journey, and how to prepare operationally, and mentally, for an acquisition. This book is also a warning for those who run an agency and want to get out. You'll hear about reward, but also regret. As you read the stories in this book, it will become clear: you can cash out and make a ton of money. But you can't hold on to your company, or your sanity, in the process.

Jon Kolko

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