It used to be that the only time you saw the interior of someone’s home was when you got invited over. But living online has brought a proliferation of snapshots of spaces once kept intimate. As we tweet and upload images of our new headboard, reclaimed wood coffee table, or redesigned kitchen, our design choices become public domain. And because we are sharing the “after” shots of these design choices, it makes sense that if we crave the most “likes” for them, we crowdsource them.

Given the Millennials’ tendency to strive to be part of a group and our technical agility, it makes sense that we’re the generation most likely to crowdsource our design choices. We’re doing this by starting Facebook conversations around paint color, or pinning design ideas on Pinterest and then only using the ones that get the most comments or “repins” from friends.  (In fact Pinterest is bringing in so much traffic and sales to other sites that it recently launched an open source analytics to show just how much shopping is happening in the space.)  As consumers look for more design savvy groups to crowdsource inspiration from, they’ll start conversations on design blogs, seeking advice in the comment thread. Sites such as Apartment Therapy allow us to comment on design choices we’re struggling with, so that others can help us make the right one. But don’t be fooled into thinking only Millennials are participating in this trend.  Like many other trends, our generation is passing our habits on to Boomer parents and Xer older siblings.

My own Pinterest page where I collect communal ideas and inspiration for design

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Indulge me.

I once wrote a poem called “Profession of Mission” in which I attempted to write a personal mission statement. The poem rambled a bit, begged for clarity in my life’s purpose and ended with the word “crossroads” – no punctuation or finality – intentionally open-ended.

I wrote the poem in 2009 at age 44 – clearly the beginning of Mid-Life Crisis. Yes, young’uns, even older folks wonder what to do with the rest of their lives.

One week ago, at age 47 – no closer to an answer or closure – I took myself to Manhattan.

If I can “figure it out here, I can figure it out anywhere,” right?

I’m pleased to report that I found clarity in Chelsea … without a stitch of help from any of Woody Allen’s analysts.

But I did have help.

I attended a daylong workshop called “Design the Life You Love” created by New York-based product designer Ayse Birsel.

Ayse became a friend after I heard her speak at a user conference put on by a client of mine, Swedish design-software company Configura. Born in Turkey, Ayse is Pratt Institute-educated, a Fulbright Fellow whose work is in the Museum of Modern Art and the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, both in New York City.

She is perhaps best known for designing Herman Miller’s Resolve office system and Moroso’s M’Afrique collection. She and partner Bibi Seck own Birsel+Seck, a design studio that also works with Johnson & Johnson, Hasbro, Hewlett Packard, OfficeMax, Renault, and Target. Ayse designed a potato peeler for Target that’s just $7.99, she says. So, even if you never make it to MoMA or Cooper-Hewitt, you can see (and buy) her products at a Target near you.

Ayse has taken her product design methods – which she calls Deconstruction:Reconstruction™ – and developed the “Design the Life You Love” workshop with concepts and exercises that even non-designers can easily grasp.

The workshop has become a mission for Ayse: “Our lives are our most important project,” she says.

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“The Lure + The Perch”
Jason Austin, Jack Fanning, Sneha Patel, and Sally Reynolds/Philly Works 2012

“Philly Works is collaborative of artists, designers, and makers all working towards the goal of bettering Philadelphia. It’s a tool for empowering creative individuals in Philadelphia.”

That’s the elevator pitch that Will McHale, Katie Winkler, and Alexandra Schmidt-Ullrich use when someone asks. “We know what it is but we don’t know where it’s going,” says Schmidt-Ullrich, trained as an architect. That’s not an admission of confusion or drift. It’s more a protective notion that what they have is bursting with ideas, potential, and momentum. To fix it in space and time might, somehow, ruin or limit it.

2009 Philly Works Exhibit at University of Pennsylvania School of Design
Organizers: Andrew Dahlgren/Alexandra Schmidt-Ullrich
Photo: Bryce Gibson

Philly Works emerged from a 2009 Design Philadelphia exhibit put on by people connected with the University of the Arts industrial design department. It’s evolved into a kind of think tank on urban futures—one that celebrates and leverages the powerful legacies of the past—be they buildings, wealth, industrial heritage, stories, or land.

The collaborative’s latest project was the exhibit, “Qualities of Life in Philadelphia,” at the Art Alliance. The exhibition catalog itself was handsomely produced on a tight budget of contributed and out of pocket funds. It is a cornucopia of intriguing ideas and projects that are re-envisioning and revitalizing contemporary Philadelphia. Among them are the relatively established ViaductGreene’s vision for a submerged park along the City Branch railroad connected to the Reading Viaduct and others even more speculative, like Andrew Dahlgren Machine Knitting, which combines old and new technologies to re-invent the city’s once rich textile and knitting industries, and the Philly Fuel Co., a group of planners, artists, and designers who promote microalgae as a viable alternative energy source.

“Workshop on Interdisciplinary Collaboration” Philly Works
Organizers/Photo: Prad Selvan and Johan Widjaja (2011)

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Newport Beach, California–based interior designer Brooke Shepherdson, founder of Brooke Elizabeth Design, is experimenting with a new form of design delivery aimed at small budget, low-maintenance clients with a service option called “e-design”. With the economy in a lull and after having her first baby last year, she was looking for new ways to work from home while raising a child, so that she could continue to engage with clients who love her style but either live in New York or simply don’t require a full range of services. She realized there was an untapped market of prospective clients interested in a streamlined design process; an e-design option would be ideal for do-it-yourselfers, someone living in a remote location or anyone on a limited budget who just needs a little design help.

“People love the idea, and it makes a lot of sense in these economic times,” Shepherdson says. “I’ve found that my clients love to shop on their own, and with so many online retailers, they have the opportunity to find great items themselves, but they’ve all told me, they don’t know how to pull it all together or make the items they love fit well in their own personal space.”

In response, Shepherdson designed a custom solution: For an affordable flat fee (starting at $800), and after the client supplies photos and dimensions of the space, she delivers an inspirational design board displaying images and sketches, a scaled floor plan, furnishings selections, shopping list, and finally a step-by-step guide to assembling the space.

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