Return on Experience

This book does not naturally fit into a single category. It will be as comfortable on the shelves of designers and artists as it will on those of business leaders and educators. It reflects the fundamental belief that design is integral to everything we do; that all human existence has been a result of a progression of successful design outcomes. Not in the sense that what we have created is exclusively logical and rational, but in that Eight Inc.’s success has been the result of successful human outcomes. The application of creative emotional intelligence. Meaning being infused into new form that has helped us define human progress and create value.

Inspiration and innovation are difficult to process from a purely logical perspective and require a broader view into the way we think and feel. In some cases, they are deeply personal and at the same time shared at a social level. In this sense, we naturally view design as possessing enormous value and as an essential part of culture, with a broad application.

Design is a dialogue. This book is not a treatise on the do’s and don’ts of design or business. It is a reflection on the nature of how to see design. To understand the things we create.

Design is and always has been part of a conversation. As such, this book captures a dialogue I have been engaged in for over 30 years at Eight Inc. This conversation is more than a single path but reflects the dialogue and practice of business leaders, designers, colleagues, and collaborators.

This book would not exist without those on the other side of the conversation and is more than a lens of a single or individual point of view. We have been incredibly fortunate to design with some incredibly sensitive and intelligent people, and to work with some of the world’s most successful people and companies. We have been fortunate to create transformational work, and much of our approach I can attribute to a different way of thinking and doing. I think Steve Jobs would agree.