COLLABORATIVE ENTERPRISE MAGAZINE

DESIGN:
(RE)SHAPING
powered by

BUSINESS
02

Perpetual
Beta
Collective
Magazine
Open Free Infinite
2
 COLLABORATIVE ENTERPRISE MAGAZINE

powered by Logotel

DESIGN:
(RE)SHAPING
powered by

BUSINESS
02

This Magazine collects and develops ideas and

contributions from the event/exhibition “Making
Together / Shaping Tomorrow” by Logotel (Milan
Design Week 2012): a collective storytelling
of how and why an open, social and
collaborative design is a real opportunity
for today’s enterprises for (re)shaping
business. Enjoy your reading.

3
CREDITS
MAKING WECONOMY
Collaborative Enterprise Magazine
www.weconomy.it

Designed by

Project & Content Manager Logotel is the Italian service design

Cristina Favini company that shapes and drives
business innovation in a collaborative
Book Editors way.
Thomas Bialas The company’s team is made up of
Matteo Pozzi more than 120 people. It is located in
Milan in 2,000 m2 of spaces in the
Art Direction former Faema factory plant.
Gianluca Alderuccio The company is currently working
Claudia Molinari with 50 clients, developing more than
70 different projects.
Research In 2011 Logotel trained more than
Antonella Castelli 5,000 people; it also designed and
managed 22 business communities
We Authors that daily connect and deliver
Jessica Aroni, Roberto Battaglia, services and contents to more than
Nicola Favini, Josephine Green, 40,000 people.
Susanna Legrenzi, Stefano
Maffei, Stefano Micelli, Luisella
Peroni.

This work is licensed under a Creative

Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Shar-
eAlike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy
of this license, visit http://creativecommons.
org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ or send a letter to:
Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite
300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.
INDEX
DESIGN
WHY? CAPABILITIES
6 10
DESIGN
FAQS

8
OPEN SOCIAL
DESIGN DESIGN
22
16 28
BELIEVE BELIEVE
IT IT

18 30
CO MAKE
MAKE 22
DESIGN IT
IT
22 31
19 WECONOMY
INSIGHT
BELIEVE
IT
WECONOMY
INSIGHT

20 MAKE
24 32
WECONOMY WECONOMY
TOOLS IT
TOOLS
21 25 33
WECONOMY
INSIGHT

26 PRESENT
WECONOMY STORIES
TOOLS

27 34 FUTURE
STORIES
35
FINAL
LAP

MAKING
36
TOGETHER
22
SPECIAL

38

5
WHY

VALUE: THAT’S THE POINT

HOW CAN OUR COMPANIES
DESIGN VALUE FOR THE FUTURE?

By now, in today’s scenario of unpredictable cause- build the future together with other people. Designers
and-effect links between increasingly hybrid economic imagine, train their “Vision”, shape “possible futures”
systems on a global scale, we should have all become consistent with the enterprises and the market. Every
aware of how value is volatile; of how market’s disin- designer’s proposals are inspired by the needs of people
termediation is reducing the value itself; of how the in real contexts and by their dreams, those same needs
competition has turned the offer into a commodity, that people have perceived themselves but are not able
with a progressive loss of price and, therefore, of value; yet to express, because they don’t have the right tools
and of how customer’s hybridization in choosing what and they use old mind maps.
and especially how and where to access to a product / Designers live in the present: they are curious and
service (via digitalization) has moved the value away, they can observe. They observe both in an implicit
or simply that what we considered as “value” is not way, because they share the same contexts of life and
recognized as such anymore... And so on, and so on. the same experiences people have, and in an explicit
We have seen on our last issue of “Making Weco- way, designing tools inspired by other disciplines. De-
nomy” how companies should be more “Auto, Beta signers can detect the emerging values.
and Co”; they must also re-start to design value and to Designers make projects, never losing sight of their
invest in true innovation. Innovation as a means (not SENSE. The design of a new product, service, custo-
as an end), in order to return to imagine and offer pro- mer experience or organizational model can work in
ducts, services and opportunities for value, emphasi- the end only if it produces Value for its stakeholders
zing enterprise’s collective intelligence and its business inside the company, for the end users outside of it,
ecosystem (supply chain - industry). Because without and for society itself. Designers have a systems holistic
the “WE-factor” it’s hard to think about a possible re- thinking but they can also structure all of the various
combination of the “value chain”. details of the project. Designers ask themselves whether
This is the reason why we want to talk about the let- the customer experience and all of the “touchpoints”
ter “D for Design” in this issue as one of the emerging with the company are synergistic and consistent, and
words in the vocabulary of future companies, in order whether the customer will be able to effectively access
to “re-shape our business”. Designers have capabilities the service and “exit” from the service itself. Designers
that are truly precious for today’s management. Desi- use dynamic and cross-functional tools such as the
gners use the project as the scope of their action. They storyboard and the blueprint among others. Compa-
 Cristina Favini
Strategist &
Manager of Design Logotel

nies often work by closed misaligned “silos”, using old first-hand how useful it is, especially today, in order to
and static tools which parcel out the project and its make people - with different cultures, objectives and
vision to the point of having results that don’t make languages within the same company - work together to
sense nor reason of choice for the customer. a common goal: restarting to produce value.
Design shapes and visualizes ideas, enabling collecti- Let us ask ourselves: what does prevent us from
ve imagination and discussion, encouraging trying to work with a design thinking approach? Even
the co-creation of a meaning, making the meeting on a “small” project, even within a “big” organization.
between different cultures easier within and outside On our next issue we’re going to talk about other
of the organization (the so-called “cross-fertilization”), words from the new enterpise’s alphabet, all around
also for the development of a new the world of retail, and we’re going to see how servi-
service. ce design is becoming an enabling factor for building
Design can “drive” projects inside the organization. new business opportunities and managing more and
There is no action without strategy and there is no stra- more effective relationships with the customer.
tegy without an interactive process between different In the meantime, enjoy your reading.
organization’s stakeholders: a process aimed at collabo-
ratively building a meaning. That’s why we talk about
“design process”.
Last but not least, designers have one more respon-
sibility than that of supporting companies trying not
to lose sight of the sense of their action (thus chan-
ging the way art direction of a project works): they
should also trigger processes to transfer know-how
(and know-why) and enhance internal and external
collective intelligence (learning by doing). And that is
why in these pages we insist on the concepts of OPEN
DESIGN, COLLABORATIVE DESIGN and SO-
CIAL DESIGN. You will have understood by now
that I’m a fan of design thinking. Because I see and feel
7
DESIGN FAQs
IMAGINARY DIALOGUE ON THE
DISCIPLINE OF SHAPING THINGS
Q. A.
Design for It’s related to furniture, but not only furniture. The design
companies?! But you speak about – product design – is very important: it is
design didn’t just no coincidence that currently the major design initiatives
relate to furniture? in Italy congregate around the Salone Internazionale del
Mobile furniture fair in Milan (every April). But product
design is just one of the many branches of an overarching
discipline which, as stated by Wikipedia, has “no universally
recognised definition.”

Q. A.
“No universal Ok. In the Anglo-Saxon tradition, design - like for example
definition.” Shall we architecture or photography - is considered an “applied art”
try anyway? in contradistinction from the “fine arts” or pure arts such as
painting, dance or music. Design obviously has a common
aesthetic quality (“art”), but it also incorporates the element
of utility which the pure arts lack - these can be “beautiful”
without necessarily being “useful”. To quote the designer
Bruno Munari: “The artist’s dream is to reach the Museum,
the designer’s dream is to reach local markets.”

Q. A.
I understand: design The point is, it is applied to products (tables and
- both beautiful and chairs, or cars, smart phones, etc.), and in this case it
useful - is applied art. comes under what is/was called “industrial design”.
But applied to what? But it is also applicable to non-physical objects such
as a website (web design), or to processes such as
training (instructional design) or to human-machine
interaction (interaction design). Rather than being
a specific field, therefore, design is an approach to
many possible areas.

8
 Q. A.
There is one word that helps us to understand this: “project”. Doing
Ok then, can design means, literally, to “project”. And “pro-jecting” (throwing forward,
you define this anticipating) means there must be three things: creativity (as a means, not
approach? as an end), a method to trigger and orient that creativity at the same time,
and the vision of “where” the project can and should go. This is what is
meant by having a “design”.

Q. A.
I understand: this is Yes and no. No, because it would clearly trivialise the concept (a draw-
why the English term ing in and of itself is not “design” unless it is drawn – “projected” with a
“design” is related particular orientation in mind). Yet this semantic coincidence reminds us
to the Italian term that design has a lot to do with “rendering visible” something that is not
disegnare (to “draw”, visible, “giving form” to something that lacks form. An idea, for example.
to “design”)? Or a service.

Q. A.
I have heard about As the author of “Service Design – Practical Access to an Evolving Field”
“service design”, but Stefan Moritz says, “service design is a new holistic, multi-disciplinary,
what is it? integrative field that helps to either innovate or improve services to make
them more useful, usable, desirable for clients, as well as more efficient
and effective for organizations”. In our words, it means designing new
meaningful experiences for the people who work inside the organization
(“b2b” service design), for their customers (“b2c” service design) or for a
combination of both (“b2b2c” service design).

Q. A.
Thank you. One last The answer is in the next page.
question: can you
describe how is a
designer made?

9
HOW IS A Vision
The designer’s brain is focussed

DESIGNER MADE? on an approach that interprets

the context in question: complex
and unpredictable challenges and
HARD SKILLS ASIDE, THE CONTEMPORARY markets are not an obstacle but
DESIGNER IS A MIX OF EXTRAORDINARY rather a plausible opportunity, a
ABILITIES, A VERITABLE MINE FILLED creative constraint.
WITH PRECIOUS RESOURCES FOR THE
MANAGEMENT OF THE BUSINESS.
WHAT ARE THESE QUALITIES?

Listening
to the user
The designer has an ear attuned
to people: he always listens “on
their side”, he knows how to
nail down the needs, dreams
and fancies of people, who may
already be aware of them but are
unable to articulate them.

10
 “Project”: the meeting point
between business and design
It’s a fact: today’s companies must be able to live in the present and
always be ready to quickly adapt to the market and seize new business
opportunities. Service design approach is a sort of bottom-up “plug-in”
that can support companies along their path of transformation (partial or
total), thanks to its ability to pre-view and observe the context, to detect
people’s needs and, therefore, design new strategic visions. Project is the
common factor between business and design: the company itself is a
“project” (made up of people, activities etc.) and it needs a daily feeding
of innovations in order to generate future.
Observing On the other hand, the project is the essence of design itself, of its
and pre-viewing capability to imagine the future, to act with responsibility towards the
company and the customers, to bring vision, direction and innovation
The designer has a special throughout the whole system.
anticipatory eye: he can view
reality “from inside” but at the
same time distance himself
in the proper way by using Accelerating
social, anthropological and knowledge
ethnographic observation tools.
The designer has a mouth
that speaks the language of
sharing: he visualises ideas
in real time, he gives them
substance and incorporates them
into a collaborative working
environment, thus facilitating co-
creation within the team.

Visualizing
The designer has a hand that simply “makes”:
he doesn’t just imagine the future but he constructs it,
gives it form, makes it visible. The designer designs,
and utilises the design or “project” as the perimeter
of his activity and the group’s activity.

Building sense
and context
The designer has a heart that beats to the tune of
“invariances” such as truth and beauty: as a result he is
capable of building constellations of meaning and value that
can be shared amongst all the players in a (eco)system, thus
motivating collective action.

11
Previously on Making Weconomy:
- 01. Auto, Beta, Co: (re)writing future

AUTO
DESIGN

CO

BETA

12
13
OPEN
COLLABORATIVE
SOCIAL

DESIGN
A designer is an
emerging synthesis
of artist, inventor,
mechanic, objective
economist and
evolutio­nary strategist.
Buckminster Fuller
OPEN
DESIGN
wiki
According to the Wikipedia free encyclopaedia,
Open Design is “the development of physical
products, machines and systems through the
use of publicly shared design information”,
a process that is “generally facilitated by
the Internet and often performed without
monetary compensation”.
As the entry makes clear, the concept is
associated with the open source movement (see
Beta chapter on Making Weconomy 1): open
design represents an extension from the sphere
of software and digital information to the
sphere of hardware and physical objects.
The idea of practical “making”, which
combines the tradition of the do-it-yourself
craftsman with new technological innovations
(e.g. 3D printing - “fabbing,” or “digital
fabrication”), is analogous with the methods of
open design.
Open project, new alliances, blending of
digital and analogue: what can our enterprises
learn from the makers of today and tomorrow?

SO WHAT?
For a company, to make open design
means being able to develop solu-
For further in-depth tions (products and services, both
information consult the book: of evolved and evolutionary nature,
Makers: The New Industrial with physical and digital hybridiza-
Revolution di Chris Anderson tion) through an opened and shared
Crown Business, 2012 design approach, in order to finalize
(out on October 2012) the promotion of meaningful and
identitary co-creation processes.
BELIEVE IT Download Open Fabrication report by IFTF
goo.gl/85WLJ

DESIGNING CONNECTIONS Stefano Micelli

MAKING AND DESIGN BETWEEN Director
CRAFTS AND BUSINESS Venice International University

The significant attention given in recent years to ar- are fused together much more closely than one might
tisan work is related to the possibility of connecting think. For instance, the Venetian artisan craftsman
artisan know-how to an economic and social context who makes a fortune making custom-built keys in a
beyond the perimeter of the workshop. charming little workshop can have business contacts
It has become fashionable to use the English term with a big Japanese metallurgy company that supplies
“maker” to translate the Italian term “artigiano”. The large quantities of high-tech titanium wire.
Italian term, in fact, still carries a somewhat “dusty” If an alliance is possible, it is precisely this: we need
connotation in our culture, reminiscent of an awkward to design new connectivity, to offer contemporary arti-
past which (according to some) we ought to abandon. sans and makers new opportunities, new connections
Today, Italy is receiving a wake-up call from Ameri- - which until recently were inconceivable - with indus-
ca, France, and Northern Europe: ‘Cherish the special try, with research, with design, with the end consumer.
thing you have in Italy”. Under the pressure of these Connections that may not yet have a definite name,
influences (“making” linked to the new technologies but that gravitate in and around what we call the “in-
and to processes of open design in the American sense, ternet”. Global houses such as Etsy.com or local houses
or luxury artisan design in the rest of Europe), we are like GarageDesign.it represent new supply chain hubs
beginning to understand - even in our country - that which we are not yet used to, but these are soon to be-
there is something important and highly innovative come engines of a new way of organising innovation,
about “making”. Increasingly, today, we are grasping production and the relationship with demand, a new
that thinking and making are two intimately connect- way of building dialogues and relationships.
ed dimensions. This is the economic reason for the revival of artisan
But two factors prejudice our ability to consider ar- work, but the management of these relationships is by
tisan making as something new, fresh and innovative. no means obvious. Artisan know-how requires spe-
The first ambiguity is the persistent association of ideas cial attention: respect for the autonomy and identity
between the concept of “craftsman” and the “small” or of the artisan maker, curiosity for what can be learnt
even “micro” enterprise. This is actually our problem. from practice and training, sufficient time given to the
To give an example, Patrick Thomas, CEO of Hermes, learner. And this is a type of collaboration with its own
has recently laid claim in the media to the identity of particular nature and qualities, in contrast to the rec-
“contemporary artisan”, with a 3 billion euro turnover. ommendations of traditional management manuals or
The other theme is the opposition between artisan e-business guides.
making and industrial innovation, traditionally con-
ceived as something clearly (and physically) separate.
But this is not the case (any longer): these elements
18
MAKE IT

ARDUINO
You can’t talk about making or
open design without mention-
ing the best-known open source FREE UNIVERSAL LOCAL MOTORS
hardware platform for electronic CONSTRUCTION KIT We already mentioned the in-
prototyping. Even more so if you Including the company case his- stance of the US automobile
remember that the cradle of Ar- tory of a New York collective that micro-industry in the Wecono-
duino is the unofficial capital of aims to “hack art and culture” my-book: at the Frontiers of In-
the Italian weconomy: Ivrea, the may seem provocative. And in a teraction 2012 event, where we
homeland of Olivetti (it is not sense it is (just like the way the met with its CEO John Jay Rogers
by chance that this company has Occupy movement stood at no. and gleaned some further insights
its “fingerprints” on the project, 7 in the Fast Company Top 50 into this vibrant open source en-
created in 2005 inside the late most innovative “companies” of vironment on four wheels from
Interaction Design Institute so 2012). But “inspirational” value Arizona. The first, in fact relating
wished for by the company of the aside, this open design project by to corporate culture, is that “All
Telecom Group). The kernel of F.A.T. Lab (Free Art & Technol- You Need is LORE”: Leadership,
the platform (the printed circuit ogy) poses a serious issue to the Organisation, Respect, Engage-
that anyone can purchase already brands: the issue of interoperabil- ment” - the 4 pillars of innovation
assembled for a few euros or build ity. What happens when a system according to Rogers. The second
oneself thanks to the open avail- emerges from below that literally referred to the new payoff at the
ability of the project) has injected connects the products of different top of the official Local Motors
into the public imagination the brands ? Yesterday it was software site: “Empowering a World of
seed of the Creative Commons (VLCs that read the video formats AutoMakers.” Not only product,
copyleft movement applied to the of various proprietors, for exam- therefore, so much as a service
physical realm, and not exclusive- ple), today - with this Free Uni- that “systematises” the commu-
ly the digital. Without counting versal Construction Kit – it’s all nity of enthusiastic co-designers
the value that the Arduino eco- about building games, thanks to through the Forge initiative: a
system adds both inwards (small a set of adapters that can be freely physical-digital platform for shar-
Italian companies that build the downloaded and printed in 3D ing (with a significant market-
components), and outwards (the in your own home. And tomor- place) not only their own projects
startups that have created a busi- row? Watch out! The imagination but also their skills, from engi-
ness model from the development knows no bounds. neering to 3D modeling, right up
Arduino-based products). to pure “manual skill”.

Massimo Banzi’s TED Free Universal Construction Kit website The Forge Community by Local Motors
goo.gl/RzuQq goo.gl/XQiWU forge.localmotors.com

19
WECONOMY
INSIGHT
Watch RADICAL OPENNESS video
by Jason Silva
vimeo.com/38260970

OPEN DESIGN MANAGEMENT Gianluca Alderuccio

THE GOVERNANCE OF OPEN Art Director
PROCESSES AND THE NEW EVOLUTION Logotel
OF ART DIRECTION

What would happen if customers were asked to co- in the game, in a different and more evolved role.
operate with a team of designers in order to design a From maker to catalyst of ideas, from actor to director
product or a service, leveraging their user experience to and supervisor of innovation processes. It’s all about
turn it into a design vision? integrating the work of internal and external design
And what if a company made a new business plan teams in order to align all the brand expressions with
public as if it was the beta version of a software, or the strategic objectives, without losing (and make oth-
asked customers help for improving the user expe- er people lose) sight of the overall meaning of what we
rience of a service or a brand image thanks to their are doing. The core problem of open design in business
needs, insights and preferences? is therefore to make so that such complex organiza-
These questions were some kind of a taboo until a tions are able to shape simple ideas. It’s necessary to
few years ago, but they are frequently asked today in- identify and articulate a good idea, and then make that
side all of those companies that have decided or are hundreds - even thousands - of people can simultane-
considering the opportunity to rely on open policies. ously work on it.
It’s called “open design”: a formula borrowed from For decades, design - closed inside its professional
the fields of free software and open source, based on creative”bubble” – has patiently played a role
the use of design processes that can be considered considered marginal or just a “support” for other
“open” on multiple levels. It means working in “beta business activities, deemed priority or more
mode” on software, products, services or brands, shar- strategic. And, until recently, companies have there-
ing and visualizing in real-time the work-in-progress, fore used design almost exclusively as a “beauty salon”
the items yet to improve and the possible interpreta- through which pass on brands, products or communi-
tions; it also means involving a base of “participants” cation campaigns just before their launch.
much wider than traditional approaches, and made up What’s been overlooked is its potential in creating
not only of professionals, but rather of people who of- so-called “rule-bending innovation”; but when the
ten know the company or the product already, people degrees of freedom and complexity increase, rules are
who can thus anticipate needs and uses and multiply necessary more than ever.
the number of available ideas and insights.
As usual, however, it’s easier said than done. Because
it’s true that participation and opportunities increase
but, consequently, the levels of complexity to be man-
aged increase too. And that’s where designers are back
20
WECONOMY
SERVICE DESIGN TOOLS
PROJECT ROADMAP

WHAT
We can consider the roadmap as “the shortest way between vision and action”: a design tool for displaying, com-
municating and sharing a project, its strategy and the effective steps to implement it.

WHY WHEN
- the map facilitates concentration on roles - a roadmap can be very useful to develop a project with
and objectives by all of the stakeholders a high rate of innovation, so that the most “ambitious”
involved, balancing between detail and scenario will be kept in mind without losing sight of the
systems vision; intermediate incremental innovations;
- the visualization of intermediate stages - if the project has an impact on the customer experience,
of scenario that gradually - as if they were the roadmap draws, below the visibility line, the related
stacked layers - make up the overview of organizational activities to be performed.
the ultimate “destination” facilitates its
sharing, even by multidisciplinary and
multicultural teams;
- by clearly shaping a common direction HOW
to take, it contributes to strengthen the
identity project by its participants. - an “ad hoc” art direction of the roadmap is essential to
manage the collaborative process while maintaining the
overall meaning and identity of the project consistent and
tangible to all of its participants;
- like most of these design tools, the project roadmap is
a “Beta tool”, modifiable over time, to be consequently
released in a series of subsequent versions.

21
COLLABORATIVE
DESIGN
wiki
Interesting fact: the free encyclopaedia
Wikipedia redirects the search of the specific
entry “Collaborative Design” to the generic
entry “Collaboration”.
But if you search the shortened version
“Co-Design”, the resulting definition refers
to a “development of systemic thinking”
according to which “every process of design
must take into account the different values and
perspectives of people.”
Co-design, in this sense, is to be distinguished
from the so-called Participatory Design of
Scandinavian origin, in that it places all
stakeholders of the project on the same level
without a priori hierarchies: what guides
the process, in other words, is collective
intelligence (of a crowd at macro level or of a
working group at micro level), while ideas and
design tools combine to create the horizon of
meaning and to lend it form and substance.
Creative sharing, systemic vision, the sparks of
experimentation: can collaborative design (and
the design of collaboration) really change our
enterprises?

SO WHAT?
For further in-depth information
For a company, making collaborative
consult the book:
design means to rethink the design
Democratizing Innovation
chain looking at the ecosystem with
di Eric Von Hippel
a wider point of view, bypassing
MIT Press, 2005
the internal organizational “silos”
downloadable from
and opening to the contribution
goo.gl/l1Kka
of other external actors, so that the
design process can exploit extended
and integrated experiences for the
customer.
BELIEVE IT Watch co-design Exhibition What If…
(Dublin 2009) video
goo.gl/xhtjI

Susanna Legrenzi
Journalist

CREATIVE CONNECTIONS
CO-DESIGN: A NEW BALANCE
BETWEEN INDIVIDUALS
AND COLLECTIVITY Stefano Maffei
Designer and Associate Professor
Politecnico di Milano

Great emphasis is placed on the idea of doing design users already tests out the inclusion of consumption
together. There is increasing talk of co-design, or par- (and its sophisticated potential) in the process of creat-
ticipatory design or P2P (peer to peer) design pro- ing (and modifying) products/services.
cesses. The unifying idea behind these approaches is Attributing to users and participants in the design
simple: the market as such often fails to speak (to us). process - and to all processes of materialisation of the
In the sense that it does not clearly tell us which direc- product/service - an influential role within the whole
tion, path, development it will take. design process means liberating a creative potential
To understand these shifts, the most structured com- that is penetrating, widespread and destabilising. But
panies have for some time been developing and ap- it could also create an invisible, oppressive, binding
plying the ability to gather and amplify weak signals: conformist vision based on groupthink.
signals that may belong to the universe of imagination For this reason making together must travel an even
and of signs (ideas, narratives, aesthetic identities), to more audacious path: it must feed off the contrary dy-
the existence of technological or production oppor- namic, attempting to establish relations with solitary
tunities (both products and services), or to the emer- mavericks, obsessives, minds that are too far advanced,
gence of new challenges (environmental, social ...). critical and fiercely motivated “what ifs”.
The approach to the collaborative dimension of de- To create a proper balance between the individual
sign implies that this voyage of discovery, which is and the collective in the relationship between design
aimed at the emergence of something that has yet to and creativity, which takes the best from both.
fully reveal itself, occurs in and through relationship. The (connective) freedom of design and of design-
And more specifically, through relationships with peo- ers creates the necessary element of redundancy in any
ple. genuinely innovative design.
It is through relationships with people that the pro- Get ready, get set, go! To promote not (only) a pro-
cesses of dialogical interaction and experimentation cess of creative destruction (Schumpeter) but a process
encounter the corporate other. of creative connection.
This is the difference (of perspective, experience,
history, competence...) which activates the contami-
nation of the standard process. And not only in the
normalised vision of Von Hippel, who with his lead
24
MAKE IT

KICKSTARTER WAZE
As reported in a recent article by Community-driven innovation
TechCrunch, 2012 seems to be is the best way of defining Waze,
the turning point for the well- a free social-network GPS nav- DARLING DELICIOUS
known creative crowdfunding igation app for smartphones, Collaborative design can occur by
platform Kickstarter. Active in launched by the Israeli startup of involving users in various ways:
America since 2008, the site has the same name (80 employees and at the actual creative phase (with
hit the headlines in recent months 20 million users!). “Pure” as well all its pros and cons), in funding
thanks to the astonishing suc- as original collaborative design: (Kickstarter), in feedback (Waze)
cess of a handful of projects (7, the city maps are literally “drawn” or – as in the case of Darling Deli-
to be precise) that have broken in the process of use, turning cious - in a beta-testing phase (the
through the million-dollar ceiling individuals into “wazers”, collec- B of Beta which returns) which
of community funding. From the tively aggregated by the system. can be decisive in the retail en-
new album by the singer Aman- Simply by passively activating vironment. A neologism defines
da Palmer (yet another chapter the app while driving (providing it as “tryvertising”: the ability of
of the now irreversible process of data on one’s movements) makes a brand to promote itself in an
disintermediation of the record a substantial contribution to the unconventional way by having its
industry), to the Pebble “smart- project, never mind the real add- own customers test it out in ad-
watch” which holds the current ed value that people can bring vance. This Dutch platform has
record with over 10 million dol- by reporting - in “active” mode turned it into a business model
lars collected (compared with the - traffic congestion, accidents, on a twin track: B2C, with a mul-
100,000 dollars requested - 100 traffic updates etc. “Outsmarting tibrand sales outlet (or better - a
times greater!), Kickstarter is traffic, together”: this is the motto “trend shop”) in continuous trans-
imposing new ways of thinking of a project that is legitimising the formation offering luxury food
not only in funding but also in concept of “turn-by-turn” naviga- and cosmetics, where it is possible
the area of actual design: prod- tion – i.e. navigation in real time to find exclusive innovations not
uct quality isn’t enough, what’s based on actual traffic conditions yet on the market (and the buzz
required is to create a system for – at the near-global level. Becom- is assured), and B2B, which of-
sharing the value of the “pledges” ing fully global is now only a mat- fers extremely accurate and useful
(the greater the funding, the more ter of time and critical mass. consumer feedback to brands that
you get in exchange) that is capa- belong to the platform.
ble of genuinely engaging users.

Kickstarter goes local: the Lucky Ant case All of Waze Community videos Darling Delicious on Springwise
www.luckyant.com youtube.com/wazegps1 goo.gl/s0fKL

25
WECONOMY
INSIGHT
COLLABORATION DESIGN Jessica Aroni
FROM MEANING TO ACTION Project Manager of Education
Logotel

In the business sphere (corporate training, in partic- - When the desire exists to bring the greatest num-
ular) a second concept corresponds to collaborative ber of people on board new projects involving high
design, which is the reflection and prerequisite of the levels of innovation (especially in the field of services
first: the design of collaboration. Collaboration cannot design), gathering ideas from them and thus facilitat-
be improvised but requires, in turn, a phase of pre- (or ing their “metabolism” (corporate innovation – as we
meta-) design that empowers and facilitates using the well know - is not always easy to digest ...).
correct spaces, rules and methods. Choosing the right sphere of application for collab-
The design of collaboration stems from a prior, essen- oration design is an important insight, but even more
tial demand: to share a common foundation of mean- important is the way to activate it. There is only one
ing on which to build a project, whatever its nature. “secret”: to be methodical. To communicate the steps
One can begin only from this point: the delimitation of the process in as clear and simple a manner as pos-
of a horizon of meaning that is strong in its inner core sible (what are the phases of a collaborative workshop,
and in its guiding principles, but is also “porous”, al- for example, and what above all is its main objective).
lowing the contributions of individuals to permeate, Keep attention focused on sub-goals according to tight
capable of enriching itself with their ideas and cues schedules and strict compliance with time frames. De-
for development and exploration. To share this “com- fine with maximum precision the nature of the output
mon meaning” within an organisation (i.e. turn it into that must be achieved. Precisely determine the roles of
“con-sensus”) is to make available to all a powerful those involved, from the perspective of self-organisa-
driver to action and change. It means lighting up a vis- tion that is on an equal basis but, but at the same time,
ible beacon, around which new projects and meanings that is functional to the achievement of the specific
can then gather. It means to choose to channel - and objective.
provide a creative direction for - energies that might One final ingredient is key: the design of collabora-
otherwise risk becoming dispersed. tion should be moderated by a team of professional
When should one embark on this kind of path? facilitators. A facilitator that is capable of taking the
There are a multiplicity of areas of application for col- right “step back” in the design is, in fact, is the con-
laboration design; three of the most effective are: ditio sine qua non of a proper collaborative process,
- When the desire exists to share a vision and together which can thereby rely on a systemic overview of the
to design, around this pole of attraction, a series of entire project from the proper distance. To embrace
“challenges” to give it substance, a series of new nuclei complexity to its fullest extent, to facilitate a genuine
of possible meaning; transition from meaning to action.
- When it is required to pool a strategic objective and
to give collaborative form to the specific projects that
will constitute the “realisation” phase (a sort of “call to
action” to involve people in defining objectives)
26
WECONOMY
SERVICE DESIGN TOOLS
GENERATIVE LEARNING WHEEL
TEAM APPRENDIMENTO GENERATIVO

azione
più CONCRETO

azione
fare INDIVIDUALE
coordinata

riflessione
riflettere in Team
decisioni risultati
decidere

pianificazione connettere
congiunta
più ASTRATTO

senso
condiviso gap

MODELLI MENTALI

più AZIONE più RIFLESSIONE

WHAT
The generative learning wheel model is a training tool for designing team collaboration, inspired by the 5 dis-
ciplines of systems thinking that characterize today’s “learning organizations” (see “Auto” chapter on Making
Weconomy 1).

WHY WHEN
- generative learning breaks the typical loop of “simple learn- - as it invites the team to look differently
ing” (decision - action - results - gap - new decision) and en- at itself, a session of collective questions
ables people not so much to try improving what they’ve always based upon the 4 steps of the learning
been quantitatively doing, but rather to qualitatively change wheel can be a good starting point for
the field of their actions, imagining new and more useful areas generating and sharing processes of collab-
of application; orative innovation “outside of the box”;
- it is thus possible to overcome the barriers of individual spe- - the model itself works both for the in-
cializations, turning teams into organic “units” of work, able to dividual (the smaller circle) and for col-
think and act together on the basis of a shared meaning. lective teams (the largest circle), reaching
this way deeper levels of reflection, action,
abstraction and concreteness, 360°.

HOW
- the “wheel” phases take place as a session of collective questions the team members ask themselves, reflecting
upon values and beliefs motivating their action, connecting them to the external context as new hypotheses
and then choosing between these shared alternatives an emerging path of action.

27
SOCIAL
DESIGN
wiki
According to the free encyclopedia Wikipedia,
Social Design “has many possible definitions
and the term is put to very different uses
around the world.”
In the field of design, it is understood in the
strict sense as “a process that contributes to
improving human well-being and livelihood”
or, to quote the principal exponent of socially
responsible design - Victor Papanek - “the
conscientious commitment to impose a
meaningful order of things.” From a business
perspective, Social (Business) Design thus
refers to the “intentional creation of systems,
processes and cultures that are socially
calibrated to help organisations improve the
exchange of value among all the players”
(Peter Kim, co-author of “Social Business by
Design”). As noted by the subtitle of this same
book (“transformative social media strategies
for the connected company”), the word
“social” is, in the end, inevitably associated
with the replication of the logics and dynamics
of the 2.0 network and culture.
Responsibility, ecosystem, social technologies:
how can our enterprises (re)design themselves
to take account of the anthropological leap
that awaits them?

SO WHAT?
For the company, making social
design means to conceive new re-
For further in-depth informa- ports, systems and processes in order
tion consult the book: to improve the exchange of value
Change by Design: How Design among all actors involved, for the
Thinking Can Transform Organiza- generation of a system of meaning
tions and Inspire Innovation di Tim able to increase participation
Brown. and collective actions in and out the
Harper Collins, 2009 organization.
BELIEVE IT Visit Pyramids to Pancakes website
www.pyramids2pancakes.com

WE MUST LET GO Josephine Green

SOCIAL INNOVATION Beyond 20: 21st century stories
FOR 21st CENTURY Consultant

I believe our biggest challenge today is to learn how compete but also to collaborate, to love, to share and
to collectively live well in a non-linear world of no to care, those very qualities we now need. So why
straight lines, a world in which everything becomes collaborate when we can compete? Because inevitably
less predictable, more fluid and more complex. collaboration is the next evolutionary leap and there is
The solution, I believe, lies in a distributed creative no alternative, collaborate or risk extinction.
capacity to figure things out as we go along and to The question not only for business, but more impor-
figure them out collectively. This generalized capacity tantly, for society, is how can the fairly simplistic top
to create, to innovate and to act together is the re- down command and control industrial organizations
sponse to a world increasingly out of control and to of the 20th century nurture and release the necessary
the necessity to re-invent just about everything for the creativity, innovation and collaboration we need. Can
21st century, including new ways of producing and they learn to be comfortable with words like ambigui-
consuming, new ways of living, new health and new ty, unpredictability, agility, adaptability and collabora-
education systems etc. tion, can they acquire the new vocabulary, values and
Social innovation not product innovation is the dri- behaviours of a new age? And most of all, will our
ver of the 21st century and social innovation invol- managers be able to adapt to this new reality, if what
ves many players and stakeholders who all need to be reality itself is asking us is to abandon conventional
part of the solution. Based on complexity and social control? The answer is simple: “we must let go”.
innovation, the future will be less about doing things To find new socially shared solutions, together.
to and for people and more about doing things with
and by people themselves, which depends on collabo-
ration, co-operation, relationships, diversity and trust.
Our priority now has to be the widespread collective
creative capacity throughout the system and I believe
that Design and design thinking facilitates, integrates
and manifests such collective open innovation.
By enabling and empowering people, our most abun-
dant resource, we have the possibility to move from
a past based on scarcity and competition to a future
based on abundance and collaboration. What we must
remember is that evolution has taught us not only to
30
MAKE IT

COMMON
In the era of weconomy, it is not FRIENDSURANCE AIRBNB
just consumption or ideas that “Transferring the dynamics of the What large hotel chain could have
are shared, but also entire brands. web to the real world”: this is one predicted, just 3 years ago, that its
COMMON is just that: a brand of the mantras of social design. most dangerous competitor was
created on the West Coast (no Rather than just being a clever soon to enter the scene: its own
surprise!) a year and a half ago truck - like the famous Dom- customer?! These are the “jokes”
and inspired by the vision of “ac- ino’s pizza ad which posted the (good or bad depending on your
celerating social change” (or “Do- unfiltered reviews of its custom- point of view ...) of the wecono-
ing shit that Matters,” according ers right in the middle of Times my: two boys from San Francis-
to another colourful description Square – the route taken by this co start-up an online service that
), and aims to design and pro- German insurance company, puts those seeking holiday accom-
totype new businesses with/for which based its business model on modation into contact with those
one’s own community. Two exam- a transposition of social logics, be- who have holiday accommoda-
ples: Common Cycles promotes comes genuinely emblematic. The tion to rent in loco, and in just a
the local production of bamboo name “Friendsurance” borrows a few months the phenomenon has
bikes, and Coffee Common pro- key letter contained in the covet- grown to such an extent that it is
motes sustainable integration of ed “F” word of today’s digital cul- now part of the mindset of a sig-
the various players in the coffee ture - the simple “Friend” word, nificant section of the digital gen-
ecosystem, from the grower to which the advent of Facebook has eration (and not only that genera-
the “toaster” to the bartender and given a new meaning. The idea tion). You say “holiday”, you go to
the end consumer. The examples is that the policy is agreed “in Airbnb rather than to hotels. The
may not be overwhelming, but network” with other people who meter on the home page testifies
the idea expressed is that of an are prepared to cover each other’s to the presence of accommoda-
umbrella-macro-brand acting as loss (relatively small loss), which tion in more than 26,000 cities or
an incubator and social “certifier” makes the number of “friends” towns in 192 countries (what oth-
that may prove disruptive, trig- on your network of decisive im- er brand can equal such network
gering unforeseen partnerships portance from a financial point penetration?), while the Wall
and hybridisations that aim to- of view (and since money is the Street Journal now trumpets its
ward an environment of “New medium, they can be seen as ab- membership of the “billion-dollar
Capitalism”. solutely reliable...). startup club” for over a year now.

COMMON videos and presentations Friendsurance official website Joe Gebbia’’s speech
goo.gl/nwwEu www.friendsurance.de vimeo.com/23275754

31
WECONOMY
INSIGHT
Also see Ulrich Beck’ books
goo.gl/In1MT

COMMUNITY THINKING Luisella Peroni

THE NEW SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS Senior Manager / Community
Logotel

“We invented social technologies, when will we invent cial technologies creates fear in those who at this time
social organisations?” This was one of the questions are already “hesitant like the tightrope walkers under
posed on Weconomy by Marina Gorbis, director of the circus tent,” to quote Ulrich Beck. Also because
the Institute for the Future in Palo Alto. Certainly: the “netiquette” for sharing these new spaces between
where do we start? different hierarchical levels has not yet been written.
At first we were told: “technology will be enough.” It is therefore necessary to work on the whole com-
But that would be tautological: technology is “only” pany alongside the managers, by creating (including
an enabling factor - it cannot be either the question or physically) corporate environments where ideas can be
the answer. So the managers have taken us back to the expressed and heard. Invent new managers, fine, but
starting line. As the ad said: “You like winning easily, also design a new Communications based on the sto-
eh?”... Seriously though, I don’t accept the statement rytelling of employees and a new Training based on
that it is enough to raise awareness among managers if continuous self-development, capable of capturing -
a culture of social organisation is to be inculcated. It’s like a radar - the thousands of soft skills of employees.
not even enough to “teach” them - assuming it’s even This kind of “social design thinking” would facili-
possible to teach this - to be exciting, courageous lead- tate understanding of the underlying mechanisms of
ers driven by a strong personal vision, as well as experts corporate communities. Mechanisms more difficult to
in 2.0 dynamics. understand than to describe, mechanisms that have
Of course, managers can hinder the development of the capacity to surprise - as Robert Wuthnow says of
social technologies. But, on the other hand, not even the new voluntary work sector.
managers who consider it adequate to use social net- The fundamental assumption of a particular way of
works in a substantial way are sufficient in themselves performing voluntary work is this: only those who sac-
to bear the 2.0 banner in the company. rifice themselves can help others. The dignity of lend-
Here too, the reason is tautological, and resides in ing assistance and therefore of collaboration resides in
the very definition of “company”. Typically, compa- its being invisible, and unrecognised. Business Com-
nies are composed of a variety of domains or fiefdoms, munities operate according to completely different as-
different cultures, different circles of power. In tradi- sumptions. Self-affirmation and concern towards oth-
tional organisations, managers with too strong leaning ers do not exclude but in fact include, coincide with,
towards social technologies are perceived as a subtle, reinforce and enrich each other. There is no need for
permanent danger. They increase the entropy. Because self-sacrifice invisibility and heroism in order to sup-
if people do not already live in a collaborative culture port social organisations. What is required are collabo-
(leaving out social networks), the pressure to adopt so- rative corporate networks.
32
WECONOMY
SERVICE DESIGN TOOLS
ENGAGEMENT AND MOTIVATION DESIGN

WHAT
This engagement and motivation map is an example of a design tool useful to define and drive mechanisms of
exchange of value between the participants of a community, helping to create an environment of mutual and social
collaboration within the company.

WHY
- social collaborative technologies and spontaneous motivation of proactive people are not enough to ensure
quantitative and qualitative participation. It’s therefore necessary to use a method that, relying on psychologi-
cal and motivational levers, will stimulate more people to “participate”, whether we’re talking about the brand
engagement of customers or about collaboration inside the organization;
- engagement and motivation design relies on models, methods, tools and techniques whose results have to
be continously calibrated and measured. Dividing the engagement into phases can help identifying the best
motivational strategy;
- each phase relies simultaneously on multiple levers of engagement (interaction mechanisms, service etc.) in
order to stimulate multiple different soft skills of different people.

WHEN HOW
- the “cyclic” shape of this tool makes it suitable for - the value exhange by the user at the end of the
“beta” environments in constant instability / evolution; cycle further empowers the system itself, turning
- this tool can also be useful for understanding other the community into a continuously self-develop-
phenomena such as, for example, the business model of ing organism;
a case-study like Dropbox, based on a system of ex- - in this case, by crossing the 4 phases and the 5
change of value, or the “reason why” of the success of a mechanisms as a matrix, it is possible to design
marketing campaign. and detail every single action of engagement and
motivation of the community.

33
PRESENT STORIES

INVADING AND BEING INVADED Roberto Battaglia

THE DESIGN OF NEW Head of Servizio Formazione
COLLABORATIVE Intesa Sanpaolo
EXPERIENCES

Collaboration. Makers. Startups. Noble words. Mag- ment), first and foremost. The point, then, is how a
ic words of the moment. Insidious words, therefore. company like the one I work in can - as a machine of
Everyone speaks them. In some ways, it is almost a learning and as a social agent - put itself in a position
malediction ( a way of “speaking evil” about things), a to respond to this demand, and thus produce a new,
fashion, an abuse. alternative employability.
In our companies, especially the more established That is where (and why) there is a large space for the
ones, I think it is important to discuss and develop a collaborative design of new experiences. And I’m not
mentality that is related to all these concepts and that just talking about a skill belonging to design experts:
may be roughly defined by the term “entrepreneur- what we need are the persons of the last mile that, es-
ship”. pecially in companies that do not sell tangible goods,
Anyone who, like me, acts as “operations manager” can make the difference and transform a traditional
in a company and who deals on a daily basis with de- service into a memorable experience.
signing, packaging and delivering knowledge to thou- Not only “startup schools”, for example, but real and
sands of people, is actually involved in a hidden occu- genuine design of entrepreneurship as a state of mind,
pation - namely prying into the business of others by sharing that knowledge capital to help people re-ori-
inviting others to pry into our business. ent themselves towards the idea of inventing their own
In other words, concepts such as “alliance” or “con- work, and not simply finding it. This is a method, a
tamination” work if we have the personal ability to “be practical knowledge (including with one’s hands) that
invaded” and in turn to invade the territories of others. doesn’t relate only to ICT startups (the eternal dream
I see no alternative: in this interconnected and in- of a Silicon Valley made in Italy…) but also involves
creasingly complex world, a linear, hierarchical way of retrieving and dignifying our artisan culture and the
solving problems no longer works. We must privilege extraordinary potential that is our very own “making”.
curiosity, the commitment to look beyond, the abili- Invade and be invaded is therefore a skill worth teach-
ty to be intelligent while respecting the rules and, at ing, the condition sine qua non for creating the new
the same time, “impertinent” enough to design spaces alliances and new business models so badly needed in
of contamination with people that have different per- our country today. If we succeed in stimulating the en-
spectives and that do different jobs in the company ergies of young people, structuring them, strengthen-
from the ones we do. Customers with whom one may ing them and using design thinking to transform their
co-design new solutions (an imperative today more ideas into sound projects worth talking about, we will
than ever). More generally, a community made up be able to present enterprises with new opportunities
of institutions, schools, young start-uppers that place with fewer risks and impacts, enabling us to look into
specific demands on the agenda. Demands relating to the future with greater confidence and resolve.
employability (no longer just demands for employ-
34
FUTURE STORIES
DESIGNING DISINTERMEDIATION Thomas Bialas
THE FUTURE WILL SKIP THE MIDDLEMAN Futurist

Just three weeks after the launch of Google+, col- about it. Not by habit but because that’s where op-
laborative manuals were available online in English, portunity lies. Looking around, one realises that many
German, Russian and Chinese, created spontaneously of the so-called “disruptive innovations” are the result
by users of the application Google Docs (also a col- of collaborative design processes. Perhaps a number
laboration tool). The issue is very simple. People are of approaches need to be looked at again. That is to
collaborating because they want to collaborate. People say: Research & Development, already transformed
are socialising because they want to socialise. People (for many) into Research & Design, itself turning
are opening (their data and content) because they want into Collaborate & Design. Or better: the attempt to
to. Social technologies (the heavy artillery of the digital design new opportunities through collaboration. But
civilisation laying siege to the final strongholds of the that’s not enough. Now design is for innovation, and
old hierarchical world) are not simply social, but also, today innovation is above all evolution and no longer
specifically, open and collaborative. Period. Nothing (as much as it was) invention. The much-touted digi-
more to say. Because over the last five years at least, tal civilisation (already partly achieved) requires some-
everything has already been said. From Wikinomics to thing apparently simple from enterprises: to replicate
Weconomy, web 2.0 to the social networks. Nothing in their products and services the logics and dynamics
more to say or write about it. of social networks, of open data and of the various col-
The problem, if anything, is a different, and very an- laborative tools.
cient problem: the expulsion from the Garden of Eden Summarised in three design formulas:
was followed by the perpetuation of original sin – sym- - Social design: the art of designing aggregating
bolically: in other words, deciding alone what is good products and services that are accessible collectively
and what is bad in our earthly life. This message applies through shared participation;
to design as well. We design from childhood upwards - Open design: the art of designing products and ser-
(some better than others, one has to say!) and despite vices that are evolutionary and modifiable by the user
the fact that a number of “old-fashioned” pedagogic alone or in groups;
approaches (for example, the Montessori and Waldorf - Collaborative design: the art of designing “demo-
- or Steiner - method) have always sought to spread cratic” products and services created directly from col-
the word of openness, collaboration and socialisation, laboration with customers, suppliers, competitors etc.
in the business arena the dominant Fordist philoso- But the real challenge of the future (a rather promis-
phy has taught and imposed the division of labour and ing one) is the new service design.
hence the design of the self, creative and ego-centred, Designing disintermediation, as has been done in
built on the myth of the lone genius or based on small Germany - www.mytaxi.net: a part social, part open
connected groups. Certainly capable of achieving great and part collaborative app that simplifies (and econ-
things and of great performance, however in today’s omises) the life of the taxi driver and the user at the
world insufficient and possibly even counterproduc- expense (this is the disintermediation part) of the radio
tive in managing complexity and discontinuity. In our taxis and call centres , which see their roles disappear.
“weconomy”, even design has something “us-centric” It will happen in many areas.
35
FINAL
LAP
Nicola Favini
DESIGN: SENSE AND SERVICE DG and
SERVICE DESIGN THINKING Manager of Communities
FOR BUSINESS Logotel

“Serving is the new selling”: the design of a company’s uniqueness is all about service, that intangible added value
which, therefore, can’t be copied by competitors, thus becoming a tangible and effective asset. Sure, we’re still playing
a match about “what to sell”, but “how to sell” is becoming the real field for testing experiments and innovation,
thanks to which we can differentiate ourselves from our competitors and develop effective and collaborative rela-
tionships, filled with useful content for/with the ecosystem. The strategic approach to service creates new business
opportunities for our companies on one side, while on the other it generates real value for our customer, the one
and only starting point for every design process. Service design thinking also enables us imagining and acting accor-
ding to new kinds of business organizations, with more “circles” and less “cells”, with more true alliances and less
supposed-partnerships, with more experimental laboratories and less “silos”.

EXPLORE FIND
ENRICH IT ITS A NEW
DIVERSITY BALANCE
LIVE IN DESIGN
THE KNOW IT SUBSTANCE
PRESENT
CREATE
TEAR YOUR OWN CROSS YOUR
DOWN UNIQUENESS TALENTS

DRIVE YOUR
CHANGE MASH UP PROJECTS
FOR
BUILDING YOU WE CAN
A SHARED BELIEVE IT MAKE IT REAL
SENSE BECAUSE
WITH
OTHER WHEN AND IF YOU
PEOPLE’S SOMETHING BELIEVE IT
TALENTS MAKES
SENSE

36
IN THE NEXT
ISSUE
OF
MAKING
WECONOMY:

RETAIL MAGAZINE CONTINUES HERE:

SPECIAL

37
38
In occasione della Milano De-
sign Week 2012, Logotel ha pro-
mosso e organizzato la mostra/
evento Making Together: per 6
giorni, il WeSpace e il Logoloft
Logotel, nel cuore del distretto
di Ventura Lambrate, hanno
ospitato laboratori, incontri e
installazioni di 7 tra artisti e
designer internazionali.
Il mondo del design e quello
dell’impresa hanno convissuto
fianco a fianco, specchiando-
si l’uno nell’altro e trovando
nell’evento Shaping Tomorrow
del 19 aprile il punto di massi-
ma confluenza e conversazione,
con oltre 100 tra manager e
imprenditori a confronto sui
temi della collaborazione, del
“making” e del service design.

During Milan Design Week 2012,

Logotel promoted and curated
Making Together exhibition/event:
for 6 days, Logotel’s WeSpace and
Logoloft - located in the very heart
of Ventura Lambrate design district
- hosted a series of laboratories,
meetings and installations by 7
international artists and designers.
The worlds of business and design
lived together side by side, mirror-
ing into each other and founding
their highest peak of confluence
and conversation at Shaping
Tomorrow event of April 19th,
when more than 100 managers
and entrepreneurs co-worked on
collaboration, “making” and service
design.

39
 LA COLLABORAZIONE
PUÒ CAMBIARE
LA NOSTRA VITA?
MAKING TOGETHER MANIFESTO
IN REALTÀ, CHE CE NE ACCORGIAMO O MENO, L’HA GIÀ FATTO.
VIVIAMO NELL’ERA DEI NETWORK IN CUI I GRADI DI SEPARAZI-
ONE TRA INDIVIDUI TENDONO A SCOMPARIRE E IL SINGOLO
STESSO CONTIENE MOLTITUDINI (DI STILI, DI INTELLIGENZE, DI
IDENTITÀ). IL CAMBIAMENTO ALIMENTATO DALLA TECNOLOGIA
NON È SOLO MATERIALE: IDEE, PROCESSI E MODELLI ORGAN-
IZZATIVI CO-EVOLVONO INSIEME AL MONDO. PARTENDO DALLE
RELAZIONI TRA LE PERSONE.
LA MOSTRA È DUNQUE UN’OCCASIONE PER RIFLETTERE, AT-
TRAVERSO LO SPECCHIO DEL DESIGN, SULL’IDEA STESSA DI
COLLABORAZIONE, IN TUTTE LE SUE FORME. SPERIMENTAR-
LA CON I CINQUE SENSI, IN PRIMA PERSONA E IN TEMPO RE-
ALE. DAI GARAGE ALLE SALE-RIUNIONI DELLE IMPRESE, ES-
ISTE UN BISOGNO DIFFUSO DI COSTRUIRE QUALCOSA: CHE SIA
UN’AZIONE CULTURALE O UN PRODOTTO-SERVIZIO INNOVATIVO,
UN’INIZIATIVA INDIVIDUALE O UNA VISION AZIENDALE. IL FARE
INSIEME CON ARTIGIANALITÀ, MATERIALITÀ E IMMATERIALITÀ,
CONCRETEZZA E VISIONE, AMORE DEL DETTAGLIO, È OGGI, IN
UNA REALTÀ FRAMMENTATA, ACCELERATA E CONTRADDITTO-
RIA, L’ATTO RIVOLUZIONARIO PER ECCELLENZA.
È MAKING TOGETHER.

40
CAN COLLABORATION
CHANGE OUR LIFE?

MAKING TOGETHER MANIFESTO

ACTUALLY, IT ALREADY DID, EVEN IF WE DON’T NOTICE. WE ARE
LIVING IN THE NETWORK ERA WHERE THE SEPARATION DEGREES
BETWEEN ONE ANOTHER ARE FADING AND THE INDIVIDUAL ITSELF
CONTAINS MULTITUDES (OF STYLES, OF INTELLIGENCES, OF IDENTI-
TIES).
THE CHANGE MADE BY TECHNOLOGY IS NOT JUST MATERIAL: IDEAS,
PROCESSES AND ORGANIZATIONAL MODELS CO-EVOLVE TOGETHER
WITH THE WORLD. STARTING FROM RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN PEO-
PLE. THE EXHIBITION IS THUS A MOMENT TO REFLECT, THROUGH
THE LOOKING GLASS OF DESIGN, ON THE IDEA OF COLLABORATION,
IN ANY KIND OF FORM. EXPERIENCING IT WITH FIVE SENSES, IN FIRST
PERSON AND IN REAL TIME. FROM GARAGES TO MEETING ROOMS,
THERE IS A SPREAD NEED OF BUILDING SOMETHING: BEING THAT A
CULTURAL ACTION OR AN INNOVATIVE PRODUCT-SERVICE, AN INDI-
VIDUAL INITIATIVE OR A BUSINESS VISION. MAKING TOGETHER WITH
HANDCRAFT, MATERIALITY AND IMMATERIALITY, CONCRETENESS
AND VISION, LOVE FOR DETAILS, IS THE MOST REVOLUTIONARY ACT
IN THE FRAGMENTED, ACCELERATED AND CONTRADICTORY REAL-
ITY OF TODAY.
IT’S MAKING TOGETHER.

41
TANTO DESIGN,
TANTISSIMA COLLABORAZIONE
1 UNICO GRANDE CUORE
A LOT OF DESIGN, A WHOLE LOT OF
COLLABORATION, 1 SINGLE HEART.

15,000 visitors, 7 dogs and 8,926

smartphones (at least)
1,890 smiles captured during the urban
LA MOSTRA-EVENTO SI PONEVA UNA gaming missions
DOMANDA: LA COLLABORAZIONE PUÒ 1,600 colored chewing gums for Mandala
CAMBIARE LA NOSTRA VITA? Chicle performance
DOPO 6 GIORNI E 1000 ESPERIMENTI 1,000 journalists credited in Ventura
CONDIVISI, PER NOI LA RISPOSTA È FORTE Lambrate design district
E CHIARA: SÌ. ECCO ALCUNE CIFRE PER 412 coffees
RACCONTARE L’ESPERIENZA DI MAKING 400 square meters of exhibition floor
TOGETHER. 350 meters of red duct tape for Between
THE EVENT/EXHIBITION HAD THE PURPOSE Your Thougts and Mine sculpture
OF ASKING OURSELVES A QUESTION: CAN 230 post-it ideas stuck to the wall
COLLABORATION CHANGE OUR LIVES? AFTER 139 attendees to the Barcamp
6 DAYS AND 1,000 SHARED EXPERIMENTS, 120 Fanatic Collaborative Magazines
OUR ANSWER IS LOUD AND CLEAR: YES, IT made
CAN. HERE ARE SOME FACTS AND FIGURES 54 square meters of red carpet for Tuft
RETELLING THE EXPERIENCE OF MAKING installation
TOGETHER: 44 urban gaming missions accomplished
33 countries from all over the world
6 designers
1 business event
 WESPACE LOGOTEL
17-22 APRILE 2012:
MOSTRA MAKING TOGETHER
Demian Conrad
Fanatic Collaborative Magazine LOGOTEL’S WESPACE,
Il design dovrebbe essere un metodo per 17th-22nd APRIL 2012:
risolvere problemi di varia natura: non solo
generare oggetti o immagini, ma anche MAKING TOGETHER EXHIBITION
processo e senso. Il design collaborativo riporta
l’attenzione sulla mente collettiva, ad un
processo a più mani, in antitesi con il modello
rinascimentale.
Design should be a method for solving different
kinds of problems, producing not only objects
Natascia Fenoglio
or images but also processes and meanings. Col-
Mandala Chicle
laborative design brings the collective mind back
Collaborare significa condividere un’idea con
into focus: and … process is the antithesis of the
qualcuno che potrebbe renderla completamen-
renaissance model.
te diversa da come te la immaginavi.
Collaboration means sharing an idea with some-
one who could turn it into something completely
different from what you had imagined before.

44
Dominic Wilcox
Between Your Thoughts and Mine
Un duo che canta è un ottimo esempio di
come due voci possano, insieme, creare una
terza cosa differente. Le collaborazioni più
CriticalCity Upload
interessanti sono quelle tra persone che hanno
Urban Gaming
modi completamente differenti di lavorare,
Il ruolo del design nella società contemporanea
cantare, “fare”.
è creare il “software” per le relazioni umane:
A singing duo is a brilliant example of how two
riportare le persone a conoscersi e socializzare,
voices can come together to create a third different
e far perdere il concetto di oggetto-feticcio.
thing. The most interesting examples of collabora-
The role of design in today’s society is to create
tion are the ones between people with completely
a “software” for human relationships: bringing
different ways of working, singing and “making”.
people back to know each other and to socialize,
and banning the idea of commodity fetishism.

45
Numen / For Use
Tuft
La superficie grezza e industriale del lato
esterno del tappeto è lasciata appositamente
in vista per fare da contraltare alla sezione
interna, invitante, morbida, carnale. Entrando
nell’installazione, il risultato è una sensazione Andrea Valle
simultanea di ansia ed emozione. Dopo una Machina Logotelica
certa cautela iniziale, l’utente comincia a Due casi a cui sono molto legato: il
percepire l’aspetto funzionale dell’installazione, primo è il concetto di “delega autoriale”
utilizzandone la morbidezza e l’isolamento in Alighiero Boetti. In molte sue opere
acustico per viverlo come una sorta di “divano Boetti allestisce complessi meccanismi
collettivo” rovesciato. che richiedono per la loro riuscita la
Dal sito numen.eu <http://numen.eu> collaborazione di molti altri soggetti. In
Rough, industrial surface of the back side of the assenza di questi ultimi, l’opera non esi-
carpet is deliberately exposed to serve as a coun- ste. Il secondo è il concetto di “sistema
terpoint to the invitingly soft, carnal interior. The in feedback” – spesso usato nella musica
result is a surreal simultaneous feeling of anxiety elettronica – in cui l’output di un siste-
and thrill whilst entering into the installation. ma rientra come input del sistema stesso
After the initial caution, the user starts perceiving (comunicazione emergente).
the functional aspect of the installation, utilizing I’d like to cite two cases which I really like:
the softness and sound isolation of the installation first is the concept of “authorial proxy” in
and using it as an inward facing collective sofa. Alighiero Boetti. In many of his works,
From numen.eu <http://numen.eu> website Boetti designs complex mechanisms which
require the collaboration of many subjects.
Without these people, the work doesn’t
even exist. The second one is the concept
of “feedback system” – usually used in
electronic music – where the output of a
system comes back in as an input for the
system itself (emerging communication).

46
Love Difference
METHODS BARCAMP
Un nuovo pensiero deve ispirare l’economia e
la politica. Il luogo formativo di questo pensie-
ro può essere il laboratorio creativo di un’arte
socialmente impegnata. L’arte, espressione
primaria della creatività, assume responsabi- Leggi lo Storify del Barcamp
lità sociale e diventa la bussola che indica la Love Difference
direzione verso cui dirigere la prospettiva della per Making Together
nuova civiltà a dimensione planetaria. Read the Storify about
Dal Manifesto Love Difference Love Difference’ s Barcamp
Politics and the economy need to be inspired by for Making Together
a new way of thinking. The formative space for
this thinking is the creative laboratory of socially
engaged art. Art, the foremost expression of
creativity, is assuming social responsibility and
becoming a compass bearing for a prospective
new planetary civilization.
From Love Difference Manifesto

47
 LOGOLOFT LOGOTEL, 19 APRILE 2012:
EVENTO SHAPING TOMORROW
LOGOTEL’S LOGOLOFT, 19TH APRIL 2012:
SHAPING TOMORROW EVENT
.

MAKING THE SENSE MAKING THE FUTURE

Stefano Micelli Roberto Battaglia
Viviamo un’illusione ottica: che le nuove tecnologie rendano “facile” la È possibile portare le logiche culturali e operative di ideazione e costruzio-
collaborazione. Vero, in una certa misura; ma esse sono anche una trap- ne di una startup all’interno dell’impresa: la genesi di un nuovo progetto
pola, nel senso che possono indurre le persone a credere che collaborare (organizzativo, di marketing etc.) dentro a un’azienda è in sostanza lo stes-
sia fare un like su Facebook o un retweet su Twitter. Il “fare insieme” più so percorso che, con altre (e forse maggiori) difficoltà, si trova ad affrontare
coinvolgente e innovativo richiede invece fisicità, presenza, stare insieme da principio una startup.
per tempi molto lunghi: un’idea di collaborazione più sofisticata, profonda, You can bring the cultural and operational logics of devising and building a
impegnativa. startup to the inside of the enterprise: the genesis of a new project (organisa-
We are living an illusion: that the new technologies make collaboration”easy”. tional, marketing, etc..) within a company is essentially the same route which
True to an extent, but they are also a trap that can lead people to believe – with different (and probably bigger) challenges and difficulties – a start-up is
that collaborating is essentially posting a “like” on Facebook or a “retweet” on faced with from the very beginning.
Twitter. The most exciting and innovative kind of “working together” in fact
requires physicality, presence, being together for very long periods: this is a more
sophisticated, profound and committed notion of collaboration.
Carlo Maria Medaglia (startupper e membro Ufficio di Gabinetto MIUR)
Antonio Bosio (Product and Solutions Director Samsung Italia) Oggi in Italia esistono tante esperienze che trasmettono imprenditorialità
I grandi risultati sono sempre meno frutto del genio del singolo e sempre ai nostri giovani; e grazie a queste esperienze si è finalmente creata la
più frutto della collaborazione: centinaia di persone distribuite per il necessità da parte delle istituzioni che si occupano di processi formativi di
mondo che lavorano contemporaneamente su un progetto, e collaborano ibridarsi e di portarsi dentro il “virus”, l’energia delle nuove competenze
grazie alle tecnologie oggi disponibili. Tecnologie per superare gli spazi, degli startupper.
per superare il tempo: ed è un valore, questo, che produce intrinsecamente Today in Italy, there are many experiences which transmit entrepreneurship to
nuova ricchezza. our young people; these experiences have finally created the need for institutions
The best results are less the fruit of individual genius and increasingly the fruit involved in educational processes to become more hybrid and to “enter the
of collaboration: hundreds of people throughout the world working simultane- virus” - the energy of the new skills and competences of startuppers.
ously on a project together, collaborating thanks to the available technologies.
Technologies to overcome distance and time: this is a value, which inherently
produces new wealth.

48
 RILANCIARE IL DOMANI DELL’IMPRESA
SIGNIFICA DARGLI FORMA, OGGI. INSIEME.
KICKSTARTING TOMORROW’S ENTERPRISE
MEANS DESIGNING IT, TODAY. TOGETHER.

MAKING THE PEOPLE

Demian Conrad Silvio Barbero (Vice Presidente Slow Food)
Un elemento che permette di creare vera innovazione d’impresa è la fidu- Prima di tutto dobbiamo tornare ad essere e a considerarci non solo per-
cia. Manager: all’interno delle vostre aziende avete probabilmente designer sone che collaborano tra loro ma una vera e propria comunità di destino:
o altre risorse che cercano di risolvere i problemi con un approccio proget- non è più possibile che ognuno di noi risolva da solo i propri problemi. E
tuale. Avere fiducia, credere nel loro valore aggiunto può fare la differenza. in secondo luogo dobbiamo recuperare un nuovo umanesimo: rimettere
Trust is a factor that facilitates the creation of genuine business innovation. l’uomo al centro dei nostri rapporti per uscire da logiche tecnico-specia-
I say to managers: there are probably designers or other internal resources listiche di cui oggi non abbiamo più bisogno e per imparare a leggere la
inside your company who are seeking to solve problems with a design approach. realtà a 360°.
It can make all the difference to trust and believe in their added value. First of all we have to go back to being and thinking of ourselves not only as
persons who collaborate with one another but also as a genuine community of
destiny: it is no longer possible for each of us to solve our own problems alone.
And we must, secondly, retrieve a new humanism: put man back at the centre
of our relations and relationships in order to escape technical/specialist logics of
Josephine Green which we no longer have any use today, and learn to read reality at 360 °.
Occorre promuovere un nuovo vocabolario per l’impresa, alternativo a
Michelangelo Patron (DG CFMT)
quello tecnocratico di oggi, fatto di “productivity”, “unefficiency” etc.
Abbiamo bisogno di ridare senso al nostro lavoro di manager: il cambia-
Dobbiamo immaginare nuove storie che parlino di collaborazione, di
mento impone di mettere insieme le molte intelligenze delle persone che
condivisione, di amore; un vocabolario ispirazionale e aspirazionale, per
in passato abbiamo trascurato all’interno delle organizzazioni per generare
permettere a noi stessi di essere più creativi.
nuovo valore. Abbiamo bisogno di uscire dagli schemi, di deragliare, di
We must promote a new vocabulary for the enterprise that contrasts with today’s
sperimentare. E, infine, abbiamo bisogno di ritrovare il coraggio e la voglia
technocratic vocabulary of “productivity”, “unefficiency” and so on. We must
di rischiare.
imagine new stories that speak of cooperation, sharing, love; an inspirational
We need to give meaning back to our work as managers: change requires us to
and aspirational vocabulary which enables us to be more creative ourselves.
combine the many varied intelligences of people which have in the past been
neglected inside organisations, in order to generate new value. We need to
escape from schemas and categories, we need to derail, to experiment.
And finally, we need to find the courage and desire to take risks.

49
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