007: Season 2 kick off with A76 creator Noel Childs

Change. It’s so ubiquitous that it seems ridiculous to even talk about.  Yet our relationship to change is challenging. We have poor reactions to it, we ignore it hoping it will go away. We’re even surprised when it happens; which we should never be. The only thing in life that is constant and will never stop, is change.
Obviously this is a big topic with many facets to it, but why do we have to approach it this way? Why does change have to be so painful? Are there other ways to get ahead of it? To manage it better? And could a designer’s mindset completely change how we approach, change?

My name is Noel Childs and in season 1 of A76 we discussed AI’s impact on the design industry and a potential shift in our methodology. And throughout our conversations I was reminded of the incredible flexibility of thinking from the designers I talked to. And I’ve been lucky to have worked with some of the most creative people in the world over the course of my career. Their ability to not only deal with change but to drive it for their projects, their clients and people around them is heroic and inspiring.

This is something I’ve been thinking about for awhile. I often say that I should have a PhD in Change Management simply by working in the design industry. If I’m touching a project, or my team is, there’s a reason for it; something needs to change, or be solved, or be enhanced. We need to move people’s perspectives from one area to another. And the reality is, I spend a comparatively short amount of time coming up with the solution and most of the time convincing my clients and the people around me it’s the right approach. 

So in season 2 of A76 I’ll go deep on the designer’s mindset. Get into how we approach change, talk about the tactics we use to shift the thinking around our projects and hear stories from people who grapple with this everyday. My goal is to not only share it with all of you so we can get a little better, but also bring it to as wide an audience as possible. This is a strength designers have that everyone can benefit from, and our world needs it. We have too many issues to solve that can only be done through transformation. We need to continue to build those mental muscles to get better at managing change. Find the right balance between a fixed mindset and a growth one. And recognize change for what it truly is, an opportunity.