Four By Design
Four by Design was a grassroots series of talks by designers, for designers. It was making space for unapologetic design talk, in a culture that was still learning about design.
As designers, we hear the same few influential people speaking about design over and over. I adore these people. They are amazing, talented, and do so much for design literacy. These rockstars have fantastic wisdom to share - but so do my peers.
I created, designed, and ran a series of talks at Microsoft that featured everyday designers, talking about the things they are most passionate about. The goal was simple, to inspire each other.
If you have something you’re passionate about, talk about that. You are inspiring. Everyone has a talk.
One of the hardest parts of running these talks was convincing everyday designers that they had something worth talking about. Although each of them had inspired me personally, they didn’t see how what they had to say was unique or interesting to others. I loved this about them.
I encouraged everyone to talk about something beyond the projects they worked on all day. To talk about something they were passionate about. It’s easy to talk about something you’re passionate about for ten minutes. And if you talk about something you care about, in an authentic voice, you can’t help but inspire your peers.
The format for the series was simple. Each event featured four, ten minute talks by designers from around the company. Topics of the talks ranged from the power of prototyping, to magic, to dreams of fictional art country clubs. They were fantastic.
