TED lectures have been an inspiration and opportunity to learn from anywhere in the world for thirty years.

The article contains presentations by designers and visionaries about thinking outside the box, technologies in design and the nature of the creative process.

All videos have Russian subtitles, do not forget to include them.

The main secret of good design is attention

Speaker: Tony Fadell, former Apple VP

We all get used not only to the good, but also to the bad, and over time we learn not to notice the inconvenience. For most people, this is simply necessary, because it is extremely tedious to constantly analyze everything that is happening around. For most, but not for designers and innovators.

How to build confidence in creativity

Speaker: David Kelly, founder of IDEO

David Kelly preaches the idea that dividing people into creative and non-creative is wrong, because we are all creative from birth. It’s just that the fear of criticism does not allow some to reveal their abilities. Lack of self-confidence can take root in a person in childhood due to the disapproval of teachers or classmates and remain for life. One can get rid of insecurity, like any other phobia, with the help of “directed mastery” – that is, a gradual overcoming of fear, “a series of small victories.”

The art of first impressions – in design and in life

Speaker: Chip Kidd, graphic designer at Alfred A. Knopf, book cover designer

Simplicity and mystery are two of the most important characteristics of design in general and of a book cover in particular, so their balance must be closely monitored, says Chip Kidd. The secret is to give the reader exactly as much information on the cover as they need.

Airbnb: How to Build Trust in Design

Speaker: Joe Gebbia, designer and co-founder of Airbnb, partner at Y Combinator startup incubator

Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia shares how his project monetized hospitality. The designers faced a difficult task: to convince the owners of the apartments to let strangers into their house – and even at their own request.

My life in fonts

Speaker: Matthew Carter, typographer, invented the Verdana, Georgia, Tahoma fonts used by Sports Illustrated, Newsweek, Wired, and the Washington Post

Matthew Carter started working with typography in the 1960s. This is the man who invented the typeface that was used to print the second most popular (after the Bible) book in the United States – the telephone directory. During his tenure, the printing industry has undergone many changes. In his speech, Matthew talks about how the work of a designer is changing against the background of transformations of life, whether a compromise can be found between creativity and technical limitations, and whether the personality of the creator influences the appearance of letters.

Simplicity sells

Speaker: David Pogue, Technology Columnist for The New York Times and CBS News Correspondent

David Pogue literally begins to sing his lecture, telling the story of an unfortunate user who has been trying to call tech support for 12 hours. The song is short – the first one and a half minutes – and reflects the main idea of ​​the lecture: people often choose too complex programs simply out of vanity. They always think: the more functions, the better, although they may not understand the potential of the service.

How good design makes us happier

Speaker: Don Norman, former vice president of Apple, co-founder of the Nielsen Norman Group, author of The Design of Everyday Things

Does it make sense in very neat design solutions that harm the functionality of the thing? Don Norman thinks there is. The whole point is how to look at a certain object, because there are different levels of perception: intuitive, behavioral, mental.

Seven rules: how a designer (and not only) become happier

Speaker: Stefan Sagmeister, Austrian designer and art director, partner at Sagmeister & Walsh

Hundreds of books have been written on the topic of the search for happiness with more or less useful advice, but in order to find happiness, it would be nice to know what it depends on. Stefan Sagmeister analyzed the results of many studies and came to the conclusion that our state of mind does not correlate in any way with age, race, or even wage increases or climate.

The secret to a happy job

Speaker: Sean Aykor, positive psychologist, CEO at Good Think Inc.

Continuing the theme of happiness, Sean Aykor argues that happiness becomes unattainable for the image of a person cultivated by science and society. Success is seen as a necessary step on the path to happiness. But when a person finally achieves something, new tasks stand in his way, and this can last indefinitely. How to get out of this vicious circle, why happy employees are more effective and whether it is possible to awaken an optimist in oneself with simple exercises – this will be discussed at the lecture.

On the nature of human genius

Speaker: Elizabeth Gilbert, writer, author of Yes. Pray. Be in love”

The idea that creativity and suffering are linked is today perceived as an undeniable truth. But should it be so? Representatives of the creative professions are under tremendous psychological pressure: public attention is riveted to their work, everyone is interested in whether they will create something great or not. And even after the birth of a masterpiece, the creator cannot relax: he (and everyone around him) is tormented by the thought that the main achievement is already behind him, and that perhaps he will never create anything significant again.

What shortcuts teach us

Speaker: Tom Hulme, Designer, Principal Partner at GV, Former Design Director at IDEO. Founder of the OpenIDEO platform

What do the “folk paths” that appear chaotically in the city – in squares, parks, in courtyards – speak about? People are uncomfortable walking along the roads that were originally created, and they found a shorter way. What to do with such paths? You can ignore them, or you can, as one university in California did, wait for people to trample the paths and then pave them.

The complex relationship between data and design in UX

Speaker: Rochelle King, Spotify Senior Designer

Website design is both a vision of the future and adaptation – the design must take into account the interests and problems of users and, at the same time, the goals that the organization sets for itself. This is why the site developers have a great responsibility.

How giant sites create products for you and a billion other people

Speaker: Margaret Gould Stewart, Director of Product Development at Facebook

Many people know that it is important to focus on users now, but when developing products with a multimillion audience, there is always a temptation to focus on the interests of “advanced” users and forget about the rest.

Design for simplicity

Speaker: John Maeda, designer, MIT alumnus, ex-director of the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD)

The fashion for simplicity, which has been and remains with us all the time, according to John Maeda, is explained by the constant desire to make our life easier. This is especially noticeable in design, it is not for nothing that designers dress in all black, simple forms are often traced in the logos of well-known companies, and many architectural solutions are designed in a minimalist way. This also applies to contemporary art: Maeda shows by example how fries and camera manuals become sources of inspiration.

404: page history “not found”

Speaker: Rennie Gleason, Chief Interactive Strategist at Wieden + Kennedy, Social Media Specialist

Even small and seemingly unimportant details can make a big difference if you work on them well. Rennie Gleason illustrated this idea with the story of the transformation of the 404 page. Today, it is increasingly turning from a page that causes irritation and feelings of depression (because he did not find what he needed), into a space for humor, creativity and information that can interest the user (although he I did not look for it).

How improved technology can help us avoid distractions

Speaker: Tristan Harris, design thinker, founded startup Apture, which was bought by Google in 2011

Smartphones are the slot machines of the 21st century: we constantly update social networks, mail and news feed in the hope that we will get lucky and finally something interesting will happen. Internet addiction is comparable to gambling addiction. At the same time, it is difficult to completely abandon virtual communication, because there is always the possibility that you will miss something really important.

How to manage collective creativity

Speaker: Linda Hill Harvard Business School professor, author of books on business and team management

When working on global innovative projects, you cannot do without a creative team, but how to organize the work of a large number of creative people so that all this does not turn into chaos? Linda Hill studied the experiences of several large companies (including Pixar and Google) and came to the conclusion that creating the right atmosphere is the most important thing for a productive creative team. In a TED talk, she talks about the benefits of discussion and disagreement and what a product owner should do if their company wants to bring something new to the market.

Pirates, nurses and other rebel designers

Speaker: Alice Rosthorn, design researcher and art critic, columnist for Frieze and the International New York Times

Alice Rosthorn is a supporter of the romantic idea that design begins with a dream and is driven forward by rebels and free-thinkers who may not have the appropriate education. She tells three stories – a ruler, a pirate and a nurse, who, thanks to their visionary thinking, tried to solve their problems with intuitive design. The world needs not only professionals, but also improvisers who are not afraid to take risks and offer ideas that, at first glance, are impossible to bring to life.

Thirty Years of Future History

Speaker: Nicholas Negroponte, creator of Media Labs at MIT, one of the early investors in Wired magazine and its columnist, philanthropist

In his speech, he says that new ideas are perceived with distrust, but this does not mean that they are bad and should be discarded. Many technologies that seemed ridiculous and unreal thirty years ago are familiar to us today.

Artificial intelligence has intuition

Speaker: Maurice Conti Designer, Director of Applied Research and Innovation at Autodesk. Geographic researcher.

Undoubtedly, technology is expanding our capabilities today. But so far they only serve as tools. What happens when artificial intelligence becomes a full-fledged companion of the creative tandem?

Source: tilda.education