In my last post a suggested some ways to innovate in a down economy. Two suggestions I made was to Observe and to Collect Ideas, but I should’ve  also added Share.

In that spirit I’d invite you to take a look at the following article which presents 10 actions for better (sustainable) design.

Allan Chochinov, editor-in-chief at Core 77, was a speaker at Compostmodern on Saturday, and presented some great steps for designers. He calls them “Denting an Impossible Design Problem in 10 Sustainable Steps.”

While these are intended to apply to sustainable design I think that they are equally applicable to any project requiring creative thinking. Allan’s steps were:

1. Acknowledge the privilege you have as a designer.
2. Use the word “consequence”.
3. Question authority.
4. Surround yourself with the awesomest people you can.
5. Don’t play fair.
6. Be intentionally dumb.
7. Redistribute – then reduce, reuse, and recycle.
8. Broaden your market.
9. Indulge in discursive design.
10. Talk to anyone who will listen.

For an expanded commentary of the ten steps take a look at the TreeHugger article.

Related Posts:

• Creativity and the community
• Innovation in a down economy
• Two words to boost creativity

Tags: collaboration, Design Thinking, Learning to Think, problem statement, Sharing