A More Enlightened World, One Party at a Time

Last night was a splendid night.

I had the opportunity to attend the latest Lucid NY event and enjoy talks by two amazing design superstars: Stefan Sagmeister & Chuck Hoberman.

[In case you live in NYC and don’t know what I am talking about, shame on you. Just go here and learn more about the Lucid talks.]

Most likely, you’ve already heard about both of them. Stefan was recently at TED sharing his view on how design is capable of inspiring happiness, and Chuck gave us an exciting lesson last year on how transformative design can enhance an entire experience with his [dazzling] round-breaking expanding video screen for the U2 360° tour.

I think that while these are very different manifestations of design, they share a common theme: design’s ability to create lasting connections.

Both examples serve as evidence of how far and wide design's power is. It's also a sign of how the bar has been raised thanks to costumers that now expect [and in some cases even demand], more from the design of everything they buy. What’s even more, they have proven how ‘good design’ [whether physical or not] has the ability to move them from just ‘buyers’ to ‘ambassadors’.

The lesson here [in the words of Jeffrey Zeldman]: content precedes design. Design in the absence of content is not design; it’s decoration.