Book of the Week: make space
19 Aug 2014
I’ve read about creative confidence and making creative companies, but what happens when you already have an organization. How do you house this organization to make to more creative and collaborative? This book, make space, is about how to create spaces for being creative and making stuff. It came of of ideas developed at the Stanford d.school. The book comes across like a coffee table book, where it is a lot of photos and many sections, so you can pick it up, read a few pages, get some ideas and put it down.
- Campfire seating - how you arrange the seating determines how people will interact
- Modular furniture - put whiteboards on wheels, dual purpose modular items like boxes and convertible tables.
- Concept space - start with an area to test ideas before scaling out
- Signs - when in doubt, make bigger
- Vinyl Cutter - buy one, they pay for themselves
- Employee photos - put them on a wall for everyone to see
- Fixed furnitures - since other things are modular, need to keep some things fixed, so people have a point of reference. Good things to keep fixed are the copier and food.
- Thinking room - rooms have a purpose. The color, furniture and layout should server that purpose
- Non-opaque barriers - best of both words. Can tell what’s going on around, but still have privacy from distractions
- Project Rooms - have everything in one place to look over.
- Hiding Place - to get away
- Escalator Test - “An escalator can never break–it can only become stairs.” - Mitch Hedberg, Better to invest in things that you can use if they break. Try not to buy expensive dedicated equipment.
- Supplies visible and accessible - let people quickly get what they need to make whenever they are inspired
- Don’t make things look too precious - people will be unwilling to mess things up and they keeps them from getting dirty and making things. Raw material look lets people be more willing to play around with things.