Top Twenty Design Thinkers
The list includes thinkers who have provided major theoretical contributions to the profession, or have successfully executed products, services and strategies that incorporate the philosophies and principles of Design Thinking. Pioneers like; Buckminster Fuller. Charles and Ray Eames, Dieter Rams, and many more will be honored in another post.
1. Bruce Mau. D-Thinker, theorist and doer, the father of modern Design Thinking. His work and design philosophy paved the way to liberate design from its pre-conceived borders. In his words: ”…it is not about the world of design, it is about designing our world”.
2. Steve Jobs, today’s quintessential visionary; discovered, navigated and choreographed through a labyrinth of systems and subsystems to create a holistic, authentic, unmistakable ONE. Jobs is responsible for giving design a seat at the boardroom table and influencing an entire global culture; Design Thinking and Design Doing in complete and absolute synchronicity and harmony.
3. David Kelly, founder of IDEO; coined the term Design Thinking. Kelly is responsible for the creation of Stanford’s d-school, one of the top DT institutions in the world. He has been the key figure in the development, standardization and fine tuning of the Design Thinking curricula.
4. Li Edelkoort, the Grand Dame of design education. As former chair of the Eindhoven Design Academy, she was the visionary and restless promoter of interdisciplinary studies that provided the fertile ground for the development of Design Thinking.
5. Paola Antonelli, chief Design Curator at MOMA, exposed Design’s expanded territories in the monumental exhibition “The Elastic Mind”. She is the most important ambassador of the design domain. Her curatorial directions give credibility to design’s newly discovered assets.
6. Jonathan Ive, Apple’s Wunderkind, responsible for inducing, managing, cross-pollinating artistic, economical and technological creativity within ONE single interface; Design Thinking’s main objectives flawlessly executed.
7. Bill Mc Donnough, the architect of the future, the architect with a conscience. Mc Donnough uses the essence of Design and Design Thinking to weave, business, ecology and culture into life-changing, real and doable projects around the globe.
8. Hartmut Esslinger, founder of Frog Design, a virtuoso thinker who, for over twenty years, constantly questioned pushed, expanded the mission of the design disciplines.
9. Rene Mauborgne & Chan Kim, economic theorists, who penetrated the analytical world of business and finance with simple revolutionary theories that blurred the lines between left and right brain thinking.
10. Philippe Starck. By thinking of people as active protagonists within an environment, and considering every point of contact with the experience itself, he reinvented the hospitality business model, and paved the way to the development of human-centered, design-driven strategies.
11. Tim Brown, IDEO’s chief, the prophet and voice of DT. His efforts gave Design Thinking global exposure and business validation. His just released book, “Change by Design”, provides some of the first clear and detailed insights into the culture of Design Thinking.
12. Tyler Brule, founder of Wallpaper magazine and Monocle. His keen eye enabled him to curate creative content of the highest grade, and expose the public to a never before seen global aesthetic culture. In the process, he inevitably created an early platform that encouraged the cross-pollination between materials, products, technology, business and design…the fertile ground for the evolution of Design Thinking.
13. M P Ranjan, professor at the National Institute of Design, Ahmebadad, India, predicted the rise of Design Thinking in 1997, and produced, in my opinion, the first and most valuable paper on Design Thinking. It contains ALL of the main DNA strands of DT that are considered still viable today, including the term “Design Thinking”.
14. Chris Anderson, TED’s creativity curator extraordinaire. Chris has been instrumental in designing the ultimate “Experience for the Enlightened Mind”. TED has transformed the monolithic, self-serving conference model into a global interdisciplinary forum that houses some of the world’s greatest creative capital, including that, of most of the top twenty design thinkers.
15. Roger Martin, dean of the Rotman School, a relentless ambassador of Design Thinking for business and academia. His work on “Integrative thinking” and its adoption into the DT-strategy, has been crucial in the process of creating contextual clarity between left and right brain thinking.
16. Bill Buxton, Microsoft’s Design Thinker and Doer. Not afraid to be critical of his own company in the pursuit of holistic design solutions. His insights and knowledge into interdisciplinary relationships make him one of the most eloquent speakers on the subject of design and Design Thinking.
17. John Maeda, Head of RISD, one of the greatest minds in cross-disciplinary thinking with the uncanny ability to untangle complex algorithms into simple bite-size elegant morsels of understanding.
18. James Dyson, the modern day visionary, design thinker and design doer. Dyson has been involved for decades in a restless pursuit for finding the propper synergy and harmony between product, design, technology, human need, learning and teaching.
19. Idris Mootee, under the radar theorist, practitioner and writer. His stunning presentations blur the lines between business and design. His design literacy and strategy knowhow reflect the ever-so important ”mutual respect between business and design”.
20. Brad Pitt, actor, design aficionado and activist. Pitt was influential in designing and re-building an entire community in New Orleans based on the core principles of Design Thinking: people’s needs, sustainable environments, democratic design, quality and wellness.
So, there you have it. That’s my list. There are quite a few people who are missing, even though they are constantly mentioned in the press, and others, that some may not consider Design Thinkers, are at the very top. Why not AG Laffley, the former head of P&G, for example? Well, I have not found enough evidence to consider him a D-Thinker. He is an adopter of the DT intelligence. Laffley is essential to the DT system. Without visionaries like him, new emerging professions like DT may never find a way in the market space. However, we must make clear differentiations within the components of the system itself in order to improve the structure and maintain its credibility.
So, go ahead, fire away!!! Whom did I miss? Who does not belong on the list?
October 15th, 2009 at 10:47 am
This is a good list indeed.
The only objection I have is Philippe Stark. I know is might be an unpopular perspective but in my view he still represents the ’starchitect’ era in which the designer and the object are more important than the user. Granted, he is an amazing designer but design thinking is about something much larger that contributes more than style and aesthetics – it’s about making the world a better place. Stark is an expert at creating value and luxury through design but it that enough to solve the world’s problems? I don’t know.
As for adding people to this list – there are many missing but the first that comes to my mind is non other than…President Barack Obama.
Thanks for putting this list together and I look forward to seeing it develop as the field of design thinking develops.
October 15th, 2009 at 11:46 am
This list is missing Janine Benyus – Biomimicry
Biomimicry, an emerging discipline that seeks sustainable solutions by emulating nature’s designs and processes.
http://www.janinebenyus.com/
October 15th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
[...] Top 20 Design Thinkers Interesting read and a way to get to know a few more names to read & learn some more, “Top Twenty Design Thinkers“. [...]
October 15th, 2009 at 9:08 pm
Phillippe Starck is hardly a thinker. He is a ‘doing designer’, a tribe that is abandoning the tough part of design to ‘holistic’ approaches, which all said and done, are a lot easier than coming up with beautiful functional forms that people would love to own or live in.
October 16th, 2009 at 12:40 am
Congratulations! Ranjan
Cheers
October 16th, 2009 at 10:34 am
Great list truly
Congratulations to Prof.Ranjan NID.
October 16th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
congratulations…. Prof. Ranjan
October 16th, 2009 at 11:06 pm
Dear Ranjan,
Congrat. Very intresting — I would like to interact :
Designers are generally restless in nature and is not satisfied without trying to solve unresolved problems that he encounters.
He accept the fact that product, like nature, will always seek some ultimate perfection, no solution is final and there is always room for improvment.
There is no end in process of thinkig.
:
October 17th, 2009 at 1:09 am
quite interesting!
October 18th, 2009 at 9:36 am
Congratulations Ranjan. A truly deserving honour…
October 18th, 2009 at 9:57 am
Congratulations to Prof.Ranjan NID.
October 19th, 2009 at 12:44 am
congratulations ranjan.
it feels great to see your name amongst such great names.
October 19th, 2009 at 12:57 am
Congratulations Ranjan…
October 19th, 2009 at 8:55 am
Congratulations! Ranjan
October 19th, 2009 at 9:50 am
Congrats Ranjettan
Barrack Obama got the Nobel for Peace while Gandhi did not, there may other greats they might have missed in your design thinkers list ( just joking )
October 20th, 2009 at 2:55 am
Congratulations Ranjan !
October 21st, 2009 at 3:08 am
Congrats M P Ranjan.
and i didn’t know truth about Brad.
October 21st, 2009 at 3:59 am
congrats ranjan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
October 23rd, 2009 at 3:21 pm
Congratulations!
Delighted to see M P Ranjan(Prof. at my design school) and Roger Martin(Dean of my MBA school) on the list.
October 24th, 2009 at 5:05 pm
после этой заметки – однозначно выпить
October 25th, 2009 at 10:17 am
Not suggesting the validity of Vinay’s statement, I applaud his challenge. At best, among this list are strong people who are leaders in the discipline of Design Thinking. Being a good Design Thinker is contextual to the problem at hand and as one of the best in this field, Christopher Alexander points out in speaking of the ‘form’ necessary as a starting point to observe and critique the elements of a design problem: “The technical difficulties of grasping all the information needed for the construction of form are out of hand — and well beyond the fingers of a single individual.”
Among the attributes of those who can champion such thinking are certainly being visionary (willingness to challenge the status quo) and being a synthesizer…but they also have to have a deep sense of honor for others and the world around them as they embrace reality (not seek to ignore or upend it).
There are some in this list who lack the last quality.
October 28th, 2009 at 11:47 am
I question the presence of Hartmut Esslinger on this list. I suppose it’s inevitable that he’d be on it, given the prominence of the firm he founded and the actual work he’s done, but is he actually a design *thinker*? You wouldn’t know it from reading “A Fine Line”.
The book purports to be about “how design strategies are shaping business”, but it’s mostly about how great Hartmut Esslinger is. It consists mainly of bland truisms and Esslinger childishly settling scores with clients who didn’t listen to him. There’s no doubt he’s a great designer, but can anyone point me to some actual thinking?
October 29th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
Prof. Ranjan, hearty congratulations ..
November 5th, 2009 at 7:33 pm
Dear Ranjan,
I am so proud . on the recognition of all the work you have done so far, Congratulations! wish you many more of these achievements.
with love, vilu Aunty.
November 6th, 2009 at 3:10 am
Great list indeed. I would love to see Prof Patrick Whitney from ID IIT. The man who has been trying to promote Design Thinking since last 20 years. He has nurtured number of design thinkers by running various successful programs at ID. Personally, I find him a true leader of Design Thinking.
http://www.id.iit.edu/368/
Thanks- Alok
November 7th, 2009 at 12:57 am
Great list, but where is Salvador Dalí?
November 14th, 2009 at 5:11 am
Dear Ranjan
Congratulations! a truly deserved honour.
January 22nd, 2010 at 11:23 pm
How about Tibor Kalman
for Benetton’s Colours magazine?
who did champion the way for a global ‘platform that encouraged the cross-pollination between materials, products, technology, business and design…the fertile ground for the evolution of Design Thinking’.
Great list never the less
Cheers
Christian
March 6th, 2010 at 10:53 am
[...] Crane Kalman, Kensington Gardens, Brighton, until 28 January. Go back or read other articles in …Top Twenty Design Thinkers | Design Thinking ExchangeThe list includes thinkers who have provided major theoretical contributions to the profession, or [...]