Theme 6: Backwards

Money is a detail, not an excuse.

It's hard to think about eating really cute things. The importance of thinking about it is that we need to understand where our food comes from. We need to understand and demand how it is treated, how it is raised, and demand that it is done humanely.

Reflect credit but embrace blame. If there's something wrong, you own that. If someone, particularly a boss or a client wants to take credit, that's fabulous! The reason it's fabulous is that they will come back to you for more of that. They have a choice of who to work with, and they're eager to work with people who make them look good.

What is a "higgs"? A "Higgs" is a name, is a guy who proposed the idea 49 years ago. And a "boson"? That is a bit more tricky...

Back to the future, be born before you were born... crazy thing!

Is a better client somebody who nearly pays you more? or are you selling your soul and selling out your career by taking someone today who's gonna put you in the wrong box, vs choosing your own path to find the client who is capable of giving you the platform that you deserve?

We're not in the industrial economy anymore, we are in the connection economy and connection creates value.

It's the work you are after, not the credit.

Demand responsibility but don't worry at all about authority.

I have no doubt that the people in this room are going to succeed - the question is, are you going to matter?

It has never been easier for you to figure out who your audience is, who you're gonna change, and what work you're gonna do that's gonna matter.

The people who are doing work that matters aren't doing work that's popular, they're doing work that changes some people.

Think about who your heroes are in the world you work in. None of those heroes are known by the typical man on the street.

Everyone's not gonna love your work, but you don't need everyone.

If you want to put on an event and have 500 people come, you can. If you wanna write something online and have a million people read it, you can. If you wanna be in the connection business, you can. And this is really bad new for who are insisting on being picked; because you're not gonna get picked.

If they don't get it, go somewhere that does. You don't get tomorrow over again. You don't get next week over again. If you're working with people who are truly stuck in a way that they cannot get out of it, you need to find someone who gets it.

We've got all these tools and what we're using them for is to play angry birds, which is ridiculous.

No one is stopping you except the little voice in your head that says 'It's not your turn and you're not supposed to.'

Do small things - things that won't get you fired, without asking. If they work, go to your boss or client and let them take full credit for what you did. If they don't work, go to your boss or client, tell them what you've learned, and take responsibility.

Reflect credit but embrace blame. If there's something wrong, you own that; but if someone else, particularly a boss or client wants to take credit, that's fabulous. The reason it's fabulous is they will come back to you for more of that - they're eager to work with people who make them look good.

Tell stories that resonate with those in charge. You cannot prove anything to get the people you work for to do something, but you can tell them a story that gets under their skin, that resonates, that they remember.

Do it on purpose. Figure out on purpose every day, 'How am I leading up? How am I laying the tracks to get my clients to be better clients, to get my boss to be a better boss?'

It's deep within in us to let the boss tell us what to do.

What we see is that the people who have jobs or who have clients who are making a dent in the universe are doing it by leading the people who are ostensibly in charge to make better decisions.

Many people believe that great designers get great clients. It's not true. It's the other way around.

Patience is for the impacient.

It's so easy to say that my boss won't let me when what we're really saying is no one gave me an effective place to hide.

There is no longer ANYTHING for everyone

It's too important that you do work that's important, than you do work that's pretty.

"If you want to make change, make it for people who deserve it. But don't give up too soon, because maybe it's your fault that they don't get the joke."

Reflect credit but embrace blame.

All of you have convening power. We're not in the industrial economy anymore, we're in the connection economy—and connection creates value.

Your curiosities need to be paid attention to. They need to keep us up at night. They need to be the things that we want to chase after and pursue because eventually they might become the starting path for the work that we want to do if we're not already doing it.

Investigate the past with curiosity.

Time is a valuable commodity these days. We have all this fantastic technology that makes our lives so much easier, allows us to do things more efficiently and quickly, but it doesn't really give us any more time. We just spend more time doing more things.

I would suggest that a really beneficial thing for you to do is, to rip something off that you love, and by that I mean, find something that speaks to you. A design, a logo, a film sequence, something that you really admire for the way that it's put together and build it yourself.

Exhibition design is the 3-dimensional translation or manifestation of a narrative, story, idea, concept, question, memory. Exhibition designers create transformative experiences that educate, awe, inspire, and engage visitors.

Being an artist, you don't really wait for people to tell you to do something, you just do it, and do or die, you just find means to get it done.

If you ignore a return on investment in what you’re creating, you can be more creative.

Do small things.

Being creative is for the sake of satisfying our curiosity.

To find out where to start, find out where you need to end.

I had to figure out where to start and to that, I had to go back to the end.

We have to get rid of things that hold us back from excellence.

Patience is for the impatient.

Always keep making.

Define problems, and make stuff.

Define. Ideate. Select. Make. Analyze. Repeat.

Design is a process to solve challenges.

Just because I understand your point of view, doesn't mean I have to agree with it.

All backwards is is forwards upside down.

Going backwards is just another way to go forwards.

Restraints can free you.

The end is often an opportunity for us to then present other ideas, new ideas, and inspire people even more.

I made this, and I was damn proud of this when I made this (...) and I didn't want it to be beautiful; I just wanted it to exist.

Demand responsibility but don't worry at all about authority.

One of the things that we see when we look at the work of people who have put really big ideas into the world is that they got there by being patiently impatient, or impatiently patient.

This is the golden age of yes.

And some people will say “I don’t get it.” And you may have to say, with guts, “then it’s not for you.”

It’s more important you do work that’s important, than you do work that’s pretty.

Fall back on the skills you learned in kindergarten. Use your scissors, play together, and question everything.

Paper is a lot less scary than software.

When you have these things you love, put it out there. Eventually you're going to find like-minded people, and they’re going to help you further along in your journey and your path.

The myth of the overnight success is just that, a myth.

Patience is for the impatient.

How much of your day is spent working to get better clients versus pleasing the clients you've already got? And is pleasing the clients you've already got the best way to get better clients?

Many people believe that great designers get great clients. It's not true. It's the other way around.

Force yourself to do something that might get you fired, might get you embarrassed, because it's only when you do that work that you'll create vulnerability for yourself.

Create an environment where it's not only safe to fail, but required to fail.

Design isn't about you. It's about the user.

I don't think you have you have to have a diagnosis to have a realization.

We made that, and it's really ugly, but it's helped us get to where we are now.

When's the last time you mentored somebody who was less experienced than you?