Hopefully, many of you are aware of a project Matthew Muñoz and I have undertaken with Leslie Boney — www.changepapers.org. In a recent post, one of our readers posted this quote from Machiavelli:

“One should bear in mind that there is nothing more difficult to execute, nor more dubious of success, nor more dangerous to administer than to introduce a new system of things: for he who introduces it has all those who profit from the old system as his enemies, and he has only lukewarm allies in all those who might profit from the new system. (more…)

I wanted to share a recent article from the influential design blog Core77 that adds New Kind to a growing list of influential regional design groups building on the efforts of the U.S. National Design Policy Initiative (NDPI).

On a state and regional level, independent design groups seek to address the lack of federal funding for design- and innovation-based initiatives. One goal, among many, is to give young designers access to resources so they can create and innovate — seems elementary, but these resources have been sorely lacking to date.

In early 2008, Matt Muñoz traveled to Europe with MASS LBP Principal Peter MacLeod, visiting think tanks Demos and Involve, as well as design organizations Participle and Kaospilots, among others. While there, he saw first hand the support young thinkers receive in countries like England and Denmark, where national programs provide funding and infrastructure to emerging ideas and talent. Muñoz and partner David Burney were inspired by this level of commitment to design and innovation, one thread which compelled the formation of New Kind in 2008.

In her article, Lisa Smith of Core77 writes that companies like New Kind, Design Industry Group of Massachusetts (DIGMA) and Design West Michigan “seek to organize state officials, design industry leadership, and educational institutions to promote design as an agent of economic growth and social change in those regions.” Hear, hear!

Beate Becker, Founding Director of DIGMA, invited Muñoz to attend the launch in Boston this summer, and he hopes that an ongoing conversation between groups like New Kind and DIGMA, the first state-level design industry group, will help lay the groundwork for effecting change on a regional level.

Smith’s Core77 article provided insight into the challenges and opportunities facing the changing landscape of design. Through her efforts with the Chicago-based Object Design League, Smith and co-founder Caroline Linder embody this new way of thinking about design and collaboration. New Kind is honored to be mentioned alongside such inspirational groups.

Change is scary. And so are new ideas. Today, our lives are filled with both.

The good news is that designers can make change less scary by making circumstances easier to understand. We also help manage the risk inherent in new ideas by making them real, tangible and concrete. Once real, ideas can be tested and evaluated, providing organizations with insight into potential success or failure.

Designers all over the nation create beautiful, functional and delightful things that improve lives. The U.S. National Design Policy Initiative exists to encourage the government’s use of design in order to improve U.S. democratic governance and economic competitiveness. Simply put, a national design policy offers a unified vision for how citizens and government can work together to design a better nation.

I’ve given much of my time and energy in service of the initiative, as a facilitator of the Design Policy Summit, researcher of the Federal Design Improvement of the 1970s, designer of the 10 policy proposals document and of the Summit Report.

This video reaffirms my support and briefly explains my thoughts on the importance of design and design policy for America’s future.

Check out other videos by design policy supporters on Facebook and YouTube.

Transcript:

Hi, my name is Matt Muñoz and I’m a designer and partner in New Kind, based in Raleigh, North Carolina.

As the makers of things, designers play a crucial role in the creation and communication of ideas and meaning. We form the products, messages and environments people experience every day.

Designers can make information accessible and relevant in ways that encourage trust and that manage the inherent risk of new ideas.

1) What role does design play in US economic competitiveness?

Designers help companies compete better.

We give form to the brands — the reputations — that people love and respect.

We collaborate on teams to make smart, relevant and delightful things that connect emotionally and perform brilliantly.

Companies that utilize the value of design can change the rules of business by building products and services that provide superior consumer experiences,which enable them to outpace competition.

Designers also encourage the American entrepreneurial spirit.

By makings new ideas real, entrepreneurs can better understand how their ideas compete in the market. Once these ideas become market-tested innovations, entrepreneurs can more efficiently grow their businesses and create jobs.

If more US companies utilized design to create superior experiences, they will gain more value in the global marketplace, and thus make the US more economically competitive.

2) What role does design play in US democratic governance?

Designers help the U.S. government engage citizens in democratic experiences.

We can clarify complex issues by visualizing them in concrete ways. We can build platforms for participation, so that citizens can play a larger role in the creation of public policy. We can improve democratic processes so that they become more efficient and accessible.

Through the things we create, we can make government more transparent and trustworthy.

3) In what specific ways, would a national design policy further enable design to play those roles?

To make certain that our best days are ahead of us, citizens must be able to see and believe in future opportunities, and understand one’s role in building them.

A national design policy is a unified vision illustrating how we, as a nation, can design our future to be socially, environmentally and financially sustainable.

This vision — comprised of many different activities and public policies — would enable citizens to understand and act towards a sustainable future. It could spread good ideas from where they are born, to the places they are needed.

4) What would you pledge to do to help design play that role?

Today, we need less fear and more determination.

As a designer, through the things that i create, I pledge to make change less scary by making it easier to understand. I pledge to encourage trust by making processes transparent. I pledge to make organizations more successful by making the design process more accessible.

In summary, I pledge my time and energy, in any capacity, in service of the US National Design Policy Initiative.

A few years ago while returning home from a trip to San Francisco I had a short lay over in the Salt Lake City airport. I browsed through the airport book store and picked up a copy of “Made To Stick.” I had read some very positive reviews and I loved the design of the cover. Glancing over a few pages, I  found the writing simple and strong. I bought a copy and finished it on the flight. When I landed I purchased copies for everyone in my office; all storytellers can benefit from the Heath brothers explanations of what we do.

At the time, my team at Red Hat has just finished the first of many short animations we created in-house that we titled “Real Technology Lessons.” As part of our Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 launch, we wanted to show that Red Hat understood the most basic problems our customers faced every day. Red Hat was the leading Linux provider in the world. Which meant we worked closely with the open source community to develop software for the Linux operating system. We delivered enterprise-ready, open source solutions. We supported and serviced these solutions using a subscription model. Very abstract and unfamiliar ideas for most IT purchasers.

We began by locking in a room one our brightest technical marketing guys— Joel Berman— with Jonathan Opp, a wonderful writer who I have longed referred to as Red Hat’s poet laureate. Together, they began to create the basic idea of a series of very simple stories. The team quickly grew as additional writers, designers and animators (Tim Kiernan, Rebecca Fernandez, Bascha Harris, Josh Gajownik, Adrienne Yancey, Chris Grams, Greg deKoenigsburg) joined in the open collaborative process. Soon ’servers’ became characters with personalities. Everything— the design, animations, voice overs, soundtrack— created internally. We kept it simple, true to the KISS principle.

One of the earliest lesson I learned in design school (thank you again, Michael Pause) was the KISS principle— Keep It Simple, Stupid. It works, of course. Made to Stick does a wonderful job explaining why. In their terms, we at Red Hat turned our large, complex, abstract stories into parables— simple, accessible and memorable stories easy for others to repeat. That’s how an idea passes from one person to another. In this case, we made our videos ’sticky’ so people would want to watch it. And share it.

That’s the simplest storytelling— and branding— there is…

I continue to recommend Made to Stick— one of the best books I’ve ever read on the power and practice of storytelling. If you want to see great examples of great storytelling, take a look at Real Technology Lessons. I’m still proud of this work.