The Design Strategy Years: 1987-1993
By fortunate happenstance I joined a management consultancy that specialized in conceiving creative business strategies for corporations. As a consequence, I learned about both design and strategy, and especially about the magic of their confluence and interesction, from two inimitable intellectual giants.
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Jay Doblin, founder (in 1981) of Jay Doblin & Associates. Three of the greatest firms in the history of design were the Loewy office, Lippincott & Margulies, and Unimark. Each group became influential in its day, but no other individual worked at all three. |
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Larry Keeley, Innovation Strategist, President, Doblin Group. Innovation can be the submarine that you sneak into the safe harbor of an unwary competitor, or it can be the clever entreaty you use to begin a fantastic lifelong relationship with your customer. |
Incredible “strategic design planning” for clients aside, I was forced to
accept the existence of a little box that the designers seemed to love:
“Hello”
But it was Hypercard on the Mac II that forever changed my expectation to work creatively and productively with personal computers:
 Macintosh II |
 Hypercard |
 Thank you Bill Atkinson |
While at Doblin Group, an unconventional and gifted cohort introduced me to MIDI music,
opening yet another avenue for the muse to demand creativity.
 Chris Csik… |
 E-mu Systems: EMAX II digital sound system |
 MOTU Performer |
One day Chris had me meet him at his father's office at the University of Chicago.
 Chris's father Mihali Csikszentmihalyi |
 Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi |
Chris wanted to show me something on the Internet:
 NCSA Mosaic logo |
 Thank you Marc Andreesen |
I knew the Internet revolution had started.
