As a child, I remember reading this magical book, over and over, enjoying funny stories about Huckle Cat and Lowly Worm, Sergeant Murphy, Mr. Fixit, and the other wonderful inhabitants of Mr. Scarry's busy, busy world. What I remember most is poring over the details of how people made paper from wood, how people built a house, or what was inside an ocean liner. I learned a lot from reading this book. And I still learn from it. My mother had the foresight to keep my well-worn childhood copy of the book, and I recently used it as a source of ideas and inspiration, for an infographics project.

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I'm a big fan of Apple, Disney, and Pixar. Each company has undergone important inflection points, and they converge within the story line of this engaging book. Price provides a well-balanced and broadly encompassing perspective on the history of Pixar, its people, and their relationships with Steve Jobs and the Walt Disney Company. As well as telling a great story, Price gives a peek into Pixar's rigorous creative process. As a creative business person, I found the book inspiring. I hope John Lasseter and Co. can bring the spirit of Walt back to Disney.

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Dave Hoffer, Associate Creative Director at frog design, has coined the term Disruptive Realism, and has used Banksy's graffiti as one form of this expression. I've also heard IFTF use the term Blended Reality, which seems to another facet of this notion. Anyway, this book is full of art that'll reveal the quotidian world through a very creative person's eyes. And his body of work is expanding to other forms and venues. I look forward to seeing the continuing progress of his work.

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I work at a large corporation and have managed teams in the past. This book inspired me to think differently about organizations and how to design them. Here's a thought: think about how your company, team, or department uses your time. What would you change, so that your company uses your time more effectively?

Jensen writes, "Simpler companies start at the front lines, where employees and customers meet, then work backwards into business needs. . . . This changes how we design work. Simpler companies are 'user-centered.' They adapt to the needs of day-to-day decision makers. This shift may push some leaders out of their comfort zone. . . . Project design is really about organizing choices . . . . It's asking better questions."

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My job includes creating meaning, and to produce artifacts that inspire and provoke people to look at part of their world a little differently. Stories play a big role in that meaning-making process. McKee's book is a wonderful and rich source for understanding the principles and forms behind compelling and meaningful stories. With some imagination, I have found these principles and forms to have many applications in my life.

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I cannot adequately describe this great periodical that constantly surprises and inspires me with each new issue. So I'm going to quote directly from the source: "Since its conception in 2000 DDD has immatured into a jocuserious fanzine-journal-orphanage based on true stories deeply concerned with art-design-music-language-literature-architecture and uptight optipessimistic stoppy/revelatory ghostwriting by friendly spirits mapping b-sides and out-takes pushing for a resolution in bleak midwinter through late summer with local and general aesthetics wound on an ever tightening coil."

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The discipline and role of design continues to expand. There are graphic designers, visual designers, sound designers, game designers, interaction designers, experience designers, product designers, motion designers, lifestyle designers; there are design strategists, design directors, design engineers, design managers, etc. 

Writing about design education, Anne Burdick wrote, "This sets up an almost impossible demand: In addition to being skillful manipulators of 2-, 3- and 4-dimensions, designers also need to be writers, filmmakers, engineers, MBAs, social theorists, cognitive scientists and so on. What is a 2-year Master’s Program to do?"

At times like this, I find myself going back to first principles. Hence, I've been reading Norman Potter's What is a designer. Originally published in 1969, this book is currently in its fourth edition. In my mind, this qualifies this slim volume as (what Tufte would call) a "forever book."

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I bought this last week. I love books that one can appreciate as artful objects (and if you know of any other such books, please, let me know!). This is a wonderful pop-up book with a Modernist twist. And you can't beat the price!

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Here's another book by Csikszentmihalyi (pronounced "chick-SENT-me-high") that I really like. Both from a personal development and from an experience design perspective, this book gave me some great ideas on how to make activities more engaging and more satisfying. A great companion to this succinct volume is another book by Csikszentmihalyi, entitled Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. Get that book, if you want to understand his principles, in more detail.

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Ever feel like your company, your business organization, or your product team is simply stuck? There's no sense of momentum. No clear vision. You don't know what to do next. People lack motivation. This book may be something you'll want to add to your organizational toolbox. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I'm a big fan of Stone Yamashita Partners. So when I saw that Keith Yamashita co-wrote this book, I had to pick up a copy. The authors advocate a balanced system approach, where Purpose is at the center of it. Surrounding and supporting this center are components, such as Strategy, Culture, People + Interaction, etc. When this system is out of balance, you're likely stuck. I found the book to be quite helpful. And it's a quick and enjoyable read. I'm a strong believer that your organizational culture has a great impact on the kind of products or services that you produce. I believe culture was one of the reasons why W. Edwards Deming was able to implement his management theories in Japan and not in the U.S., and why the Japanese were able to produce more successful automobiles. Look at any civilization's artifacts, and you'll get a sense of its culture.

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