TED Community » Mark Whiting

About Me

View my online profile at: profiles.google.com/mark.whiting

For a little context on my work below is a brief outline of my design ideologies.

My ultimate goal in design is to use contextually aware and honest information in order to improve human happiness and progress through the development of elegant designed-systems and the implementation of appropriate strategies.

First, I believe in the generation of a fundamental knowledge schema derived from investigating the underlying problems that cause the problems we usually set about solving. Essentially, I think a good comprehension of problems and ways to represent them clearly are invaluable but uncommon tools in the design process.

Second, I strongly uphold a sense of “honest” information: quite simply, the clarity, relevance, and truthfulness of data and how it is used to make decisions. I think “honest” information and systems are a key to both good human interaction and truly sustainable design. One aspect of design that exemplifies this idea, to me, are the design principles which drive open formats: they are designed to do just enough and not more in order to maximise transparency, simplicity of interface, and extensibility.

Third, I find great pleasure in approaching problems with all the available resources and information while maintaining a strong willingness to discard traditional methods of finding solutions. I think history is one of our greatest design tools, whether it be used through bio-mimicry or simply studying the Greeks. I do believe that the current level of historical sensitivity and appreciation is low. This is not to say that design should be an archaeological exploration; I simply think that we are not referencing our ancestors' creative solutions and processes.

Fourth, I see it as a goal of humanity to approach life as a potentially meaningful expedition. Having lived and travelled in poorer parts of the world and befriended people from a variety of cultures and of a range of personality types, I feel increasingly that the progress many Western countries uphold comes only at a grave cost to human happiness. I feel that people I have met in almost every other context are happier and more engaged with their own lives than those in many Western countries, despite the differences in medicine, technology, and economy that are often used to make poorer and less "developed" countries seem disadvantaged. My hope is to help normalise the notion of progress globally as a way of improving the life expedition of the world's population - improving the actual quality of life, as opposed to the standard of living as typically measured by GDP, poverty rate, income inequality quotients, etc.

Finally, and in some ways a combination of the previous points, my hope is to use clear, fundamental knowledge with empathetic and honest ideologies to create designed-systems that are globally conscious, to be used realistically and advantageously to improve value.

I know this goal, both generally and with all of the limited specificity I provide, is common among many individuals and largely seen as being unachievable, however, I think with the five elements of methodology I have mentioned and a boundless passion for simply making things better the difficulties can be reduced. I think there is a good model to role out improvement to anything considerable by design or innovation and while I think that model is well represented in the appropriate technology school of thought, I think a complete and brighter future will be facilitated by universally appropriating solutions for their contexts. I believe in working to bring a better future sooner.