(토요모임) [12. Nov. 2016] Saturday meeting topic

[*시에나*]

1. Why does design matter?

https://medium.com/@iamdylanshaffer/why-does-design-matter-dd53ef840911#.b0k5wc43v

And how design cognizance can benefit you (and your business).

Design is one of the most powerful means of communication in today’s world. It subconsciously — or for some of us, consciously — affects many of the decisions we make throughout our lives.

So, what is design, and why should you — or anyone for that matter — give a damn about it? The word design embodies a multitude of definitions, both exuberantly broad and exquisitely narrow. Much like “love”, “spirituality” or “community”, design itself is very much open to interpretation. The Design Council phrases design rather eloquently, saying that:

“design [can] be viewed as an activity that translates an idea into a blueprint for something useful…”

It’s this definition that should invade your psyche for the rest of this discussion.

It’s more important to note that in recent culture, design has been modified as a “buzzword” to reflect superficial beauty when pertaining to objects. And while a commercial product such as eating utensil, tennis shoe, or microwave can make a lasting impression with its aesthetic value, the level of its outward beauty does not alone embody the principles of great design. No matter the standard of ingenious style, no design is any good unless it fulfills the need of a user — and fills it well.

So, with that being said, why does design matter? Why should anyone — why should you — learn to “see”?

Even as a “non-designer”, learning to “see” through the lens of design is one of the most useful tools to add to your cognitive portfolio. Not only will it enable you to appreciate good design — or on the contrary, express mental disdain for bad design — but it will give you the means to leverage design in your favor.

Design is a powerful tool once a creator is able to harness its true potential, as it’s pervasive throughout our entire lives as inhabitants of the planet Earth. Design alone can determine how we feel, what we do and how we look. It [design] plays an extensive role in the way in which we engage with: food, fashion, media, daily commutes, technology and various other elements in our lives. And whether or not those elements become a source of satisfaction boils down to, you guessed it, design.

The pervasiveness of design cannot be ran from, but we can be thoughtful towards the impact it has on our lives and use that knowledge to position ourselves among the “seeing elite”.

You might be asking yourself, what’s in it for me? Simple. Design leads to profit, or so studies would suggest. One of the most conclusive studies ever published on how design impacts profit is that of the Design Council in 2005 which examined the portfolios of 63 companies traded on the FTSE through a period of 10 years, between 1995-2004. The study culminated the evidence that the companies emphasizing design outperformed the FTSE 100 index by 200% during the span of the study.

Simply put, a well designed experience can lead to more revenue. Money demands attention, therefore, design demands attention. Learn to “see”; every brick, every stitch, every pixel — they all count.

Design well, make money.

Questions:

1. Are you interested in design? What kind of design is it and why?

2. How much does design can affect your decision?

3. How do you think design can transform your life?

4. If you become a designer, what area do you want to work for?

2. Decisions Are Emotional, Not Logical: The Neuroscience behind Decision Making

http://bigthink.com/experts-corner/decisions-are-emotional-not-logical-the-neuroscience-behind-decision-making
Think of a situation where you had bulletproof facts, reason, and logic on your side, and believed there was absolutely no way the other person could say no to your perfectly constructed argument and proposal. To do so would be impossible, you figured, because there was no other logical solution or answer.

And then the other person dug in his heels and refused to budge. He wasn’t swayed by your logic. Were you flabbergasted?

This is similar to what many negotiators do when they sit down at the table to hammer out a deal. They come armed with facts, and they attempt to use logic to sway the other party. They figure that by piling on the data and using reason to explain their side of the situation, they can construct a solution that is simply irrefutable—and get the other party to say yes.

They’re doomed to fail, however, because decision-making isn’t logical, it’s emotional, according to the latest findings in neuroscience.

A few years ago, neuroscientist Antonio Damasio made a groundbreaking discovery. He studied people with damage in the part of the brain where emotions are generated. He found that they seemed normal, except that they were not able to feel emotions. But they all had something peculiar in common: they couldn’t make decisions. They could describe what they should be doing in logical terms, yet they found it very difficult to make even simple decisions, such as what to eat. Many decisions have pros and cons on both sides—shall I have the chicken or the turkey? With no rational way to decide, these test subjects were unable to arrive at a decision.

So at the point of decision, emotions are very important for choosing. In fact even with what we believe are logical decisions, the very point of choice is arguably always based on emotion.

This finding has enormous implications for negotiation professionals. People who believe they can build a case for their side using reason are doomed to be poor negotiators, because they don’t understand the real factors that are driving the other party to come to a decision. Those who base their negotiation strategy on logic end up relying on assumptions, guesses, and opinions. If my side of the argument is logical, they figure, then the other side can’t argue with it and is bound to come around to my way of thinking. The problem is, you can’t assume that the other party will see things your way.

What the negotiator can and must do, however, is create a vision for the other side to bring about discovery and decision on their part. In the end, your opponent will make the decision because he wants to. Getting him to want to, using the step-by-step methodology that is part of the Camp System, is the job of the negotiator—not trying to convince him with reason.

You don’t tell your opponent what to think or what’s best. You help them discover for themselves what feels right and best and most advantageous to them. Their ultimate decision is based on self-interest. That’s emotional. I want this. This is good for me and my side.

There’s a detailed and systematic way to go about building vision the right way. But in general, if you can get the other party to reveal their problems, pain, and unmet objectives, then you can build a vision for them of their problem, with you and your proposal as the solution. They won’t make their decision because it is logical. They’ll make their decision because you have helped them feel that it’s to their advantage to do so.

Questions:

1. What do you consider when you make a decision?

2. Do you condsider yourself to be logical or emotional? And why?

3. Do you have difficulty making decisions? And why?

3. How Do You See Yourself?

I gave a toast at my best friend's wedding last summer, a speech I carefully crafted and practiced delivering. And it went well: The bride and groom beamed; the guests paid attention and reacted in the right spots; a waiter gave me a thumbs-up. I was relieved and pleased with myself. Until months later—when I saw the cold, hard video documentation of the event. As I watched myself getting ready to make the toast, a funny thing happened. I got butterflies in my stomach all over again. I was nervous for myself, even though I knew the outcome would be just fine. Except maybe the jitters were warranted. The triumph of that speech in my mind's eye morphed into the duller reality unfolding on the TV screen. My body language was awkward. My voice was grating. My facial expressions, odd. My timing, not quite right. Is this how people saw me? It's a terrifying thought: What if I possess a glaring flaw that everyone notices but me? Or, fears aside, what if there are a few curious chasms between how I view myself and how others view me? What if I think I'm efficient but I'm seen as disorganized? Critical, but perceived as accepting?

While many profess not to care what others think, we are, in the end, creatures who want and need to fit into a social universe. Humans are psychologically suited to interdependence. Social anxiety is really just an innate response to the threat of exclusion; feeling that we're not accepted by a group leaves us agitated and depressed.

The ability to intuit how people see us is what enables us to authentically connect to others and to reap the deep satisfaction that comes with those ties. We can never be a fly on the wall to our own personality dissections, watching as people pick us apart after meeting us. Hence we are left to rely on the accuracy of what psychologists call our "metaperceptions"—the ideas we have about others' ideas about us.

The bottom line: It comes down to what you think about yourself

Your ideas about what others think of you hinge on your self-concept—your own beliefs about who you are. "You filter the cues that you get from others through your self-concept," explains Mark Leary, professor of psychology at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Our self-concept is fundamentally shaped by one person in particular: Mama. How our mother (or primary caregiver) responded to our first cries and gestures heavily influences how we expect to be seen by others. "Children behave in ways that perpetuate what they have experienced," says Martha Farrell Erickson, senior fellow with the Children, Youth and Family Consortium at the University of Minnesota. "A child who had an unresponsive mother will act obnoxious or withdrawn so that people will want to keep their distance. Those with consistently responsive mothers are confident and connect well with their peers."

As an infant scans his mother's face he absorbs clues to who he is; as adults we continue to search for our reflections in others' eyes. While the parent-child bond is not necessarily destiny, it does take quite a bit to alter self-concepts forged in childhood, whether good or bad. People rely on others' impressions to nurture their views about themselves, says William Swann, professor of psychology at the University of Texas, Austin. His research shows that people with negative self-concepts goad others to eval‎uate them harshly, especially if they suspect the person likes them—they would rather be right than be admired.

The top line: You probably do know what people think of you

But it's likely you don't know any one person's assessment. "We have a fairly stable view of ourselves," says Bella DePaulo, visiting professor of psychology at the University of California at Santa Barbara. "We expect other people to see that same view immediately." And they do. On average there is consensus about how you come off. But you can't apply that knowledge to any one individual, for a variety of reasons.

For starters, each person has an idiosyncratic way of sizing up others that (like metaperceptions themselves) is governed by her own self-concept. A person you meet will assess you through her unique lens, which lends consistency to her views on others. Some people, for example, are "likers" who perceive nearly everyone as good-natured and smart.

Furthermore, if a particular person doesn't care for you, it won't always be apparent. "People are generally not direct in everyday interactions," says DePaulo. Classic work by psychologist Paul Ekman has shown that most people can't tell when others are faking expressions. Who knows how many interactions you've walked away from thinking you were a hit while your new friend was actually faking agreeability?

And there's just a whole lot going on when you meet someone. You're talking, listening and planning what you're going to say next, as well as adjusting your nonverbal behavior and unconsciously responding to the other person's. DePaulo calls it "cognitive busyness."

Because of all we have to contend with, she says, we are unable to effectively interpret someone else's reactions. "We take things at face value and don't really have the means to infer others' judgments." Until afterward, of course, when you mull over the interaction, mining your memory for clues.

Questions:

1. Do you agree with the statement "How our mother (or primary caregiver) responded to our first cries and gestures heavily influences how we expect to be seen by others." in this article? Why or why not?

2. Do you think there is a gap between how you view yourself and how others view you?

3. Do you care about what other people think about you? How much that affects you?

[Scarlet]

What a good topic !~ Thank you for your dedication as always !~

[*시에나*]

질문 늦게 올려서 미안해요 ㅜㅜ 오늘 많이 왔으면 좋겠네요. 모두 잠시후에 봅시다 ^^