Recently, to prepare for a talk at Northwestern University’s - Master of Product Development (MPD) lectures series, I put together a title list of ten top things design thinkers will need to embrace in serious ways in the coming few years. Many thanks to my colleague Julie Anixter for her help.

While in no order of priority they are all imperatives to avoid what I call becoming a Designasaur.

A Designasaur is a company or person that thinks and acts like it’s still 1985. Consumers have changed dramatically, approaches need to be re-evaluated and Design thinking is the center of much of what is and will be effective about these new strategies.

So here’s the list of ten;

1.    Clarity about Equity

2.    Designers are your Storytellers

3.    Ergonomics of Understanding

4.    Good Design is Good Business

5.    Early and Often

6.    Orchestra Leader

7.    007 for Design Assassins

8.    Head before Hands

9.    Good Shepherd

10.  Single Mindedness

I will use this list as a framework and blog one or two of these titles, in this order, over the next few months. In the meanwhile if you would rather, you can see the talk here;

http://www.mpd.northwestern.edu/webcast/mpd022709.php

Mark