In this podcast:
Design • Creativity • Teamwork • Design Thinking • Pause Fest 2019
I must admit when I sat down with Stephen at Pause Fest earlier this year I had heard his name but did not know the breadth of his work or his mission to elevate the impact and power of design across the globe. Since then I have become a massive fan of his The Crazy One Podcast and his perspective on the design industry and also what it means to be creative. Stephen is currently the head design evangelist at Invision – a company most of us in the creative fields will have heard of (and love). His role, essentially involves going into companies (they partner with 97% of the worlds Fortune 100 brands) to elevate the business impact of design through education, coaching and thought leadership.
“…lightbulb moments are bullshit! “
Stephen’s talk at Pause Fest was titled ‘Don’t Underestimate the Power of Crazy” and he touched on the state of ‘creativity’ in modern business and what it means to be ‘creative’ and a ‘designer’. We are going through a renaissance in the design world and Stephen is worried that it is ‘just a moment’ – he would like to see the industry mature and embrace its place in the world. He looked at Invision’s Design Maturity Report (which we had the pleasure of discussing on an earlier podcast with Aarron Walter) and how most companies still have a long way to go to design maturity. You can watch the full talk here. Stephen thinks that stupid people are far to successful (amen brother) and that a lot of us are hiding beneath excuses and feeling the wrath of imposter syndrome, which he breaks down into 5 types.
” How about for halloween, we dress as the people we pretend to be on social media “
We touched on some of these themes in our discussion as well some of Stephen’s history and the work he is doing currently with Invision. It was a pleasure having the opportunity to speak with Stephen (thanks Pause Fest), I hope you enjoy.
Mentioned in this podcast
Invision Design Maturity Report | The Distillery
Find Stephen Gates
Twitter | Linkedin | Instagram | Website | The Crazy Ones Podcast
