Giorgia Lupi

Giorgia Lupi is an information designer and in her Ted Talk how we can find ourselves in data she discusses how we perceive data and the importance of context. When the context is lost data can be misread and misrepresented. Lupi takes design in relation to data a step further, for Lupi making data more accessible to people (i.e. more readable using graphs rather than number) is not where the role of the designer ends rather Lupi promotes Data Humanism. This is a concept that suggests that data itself should not be held up as the centre of our view of the world and that we now must start designing ways to include empathy, imperfection and human qualities in how we collect process, analyse and display data.

A playful example of this can be seen in the ‘pen pal’ exercise Lupi took part in with London based designer Stefanie Posavec in which they sent visual representations of data like how many times they checked the time for a week with the visual data on one side and the written data on the other. In this exercise, Lupi included additional information such as why she checked the time e.g. was board and what device. This additional information brings context to the data and makes the information being shared so much more interesting and personal by adding the reason why Lupi brings a story to the data while also producing really interesting visual outcomes at the same time. I thought this exercise was pretty ingenious and was amazed how such simple data could be made so engaging.

 

UsTwo

Ustwo is a digital product service founded by best friends Mills and Sinx, see image below, in 2004 in London. One of the primary focus within the studio is around effective collaboration. The studio has developed massively over the last 16 years moving from designing and building digital products to becoming recognised as leading in design, technology, games and venture company.

As a company UsTwo places a strong emphasis on company culture actively working towards the core values they have set out that build the companies culture these are purpose, mission, vision, values, approach and measure.

They have summarised these values into short points:

Purpose- “Purpose explains why we do what we do, founded on friendship with the ethos of enjoying what we do together working collaboratively with clients and investors. Our purpose is to unleash collective genius”

Mission- “We’re on a mission to launch products, services and companies that have a meaningful impact on the world”

Vision- “Our vision is to create a world where digital experiences transform people’s daily lives”

Values- “Be human, learn together, raise the bar, use the freedom and enjoy the journey”

Approach- “Our approach help focus our joint efforts by anticipating emerging needs and trends to understand how technology can transform people’s lives, diversifying and scaling our business model to reduce risk and reap higher rewards and building a company of talented people that can deal with continuous change ”

Measure- “Our measures indicate progress, forward or backward, on the journey towards realising our purpose. We track progress by measuring profit, growth, impact and culture.”

These are great values but what I find the most inspiring is the focus on learning and developing as a company. I think this is a fantastic asset that we should all possess individually (keep learning and developing) and when applied to company is a massive driving force and is essential in keeping any company competitive, relevant and market-leading. I would love to be involved in working with or for a design company like this that actively encourages the development of its team and shared learning experiences.