Discussion topics

Benjamin Hubert, founder of the design company LAYER, believes that design should be for the people, not for galleries. LAYER’s vision is to solve everyday problems in the best way possible. For example, a client approached them about a new wheelchair. This was a company with no relationship to design—they just needed a better wheelchair. According to Hubert, “clients approach us because they want a functional and affordable product that’s also beautiful.” 

Hubert founded the LAYER start-up in 2010 after working for a large agency for a few years. He recommends to all founders of start-up companies that they work for someone else first. That way you learn about all the aspects of a business.

LAYER has an agile design process, based on “open discussion and an exchange of ideas”, both with clients and among the designers. When hiring, Hubert looks for highly motivated, passionate people. As he says, “You can teach someone to do things, but motivation is personal.”

As well as being committed to sustainable design, LAYER devotes 20% of its work to nonprofits. “As designers, we have a responsibility to address problems that are necessities. It’s important to contribute something to society and use our time for projects that improve the world.”

Nathan Sawaya uses ordinary LEGO bricks to create art. He left a career in law to become a full-time LEGO artist. His show, The Art of the Brick, now tours the world.

Watch this short video about Nathan Sawaya's decision to become a LEGO artist. Listen for the answers to these questions: 

1. What kind of law did Nathan used to practice?
2. What city did he live in?
3. What event(s) made him decide to leave his career as a lawyer and become a full-time LEGO artist?
4. How many LEGO bricks does he have in his studio?
5. How long can a life-size human form take to make using LEGO bricks?

Perhaps you've heard of the so-called trolley problem, also known as the train problem. The old philosophical question goes like this:

There is a trolley barreling down the tracks. Ahead, on the tracks, there are five people tied up and unable to move. The trolley is headed straight for them. You are standing next to a lever. If you pull this lever, the trolley will switch to a different set of tracks, therefore saving the five people. However, you notice that there is one person on the side track. You have two options:

1. Do nothing and allow the trolley to kill the five people on the main track.
2. Pull the lever, diverting the trolley onto the side track where it will kill one person.

What is the right thing to do?

Your answer to this question may depend on where you are from. A massive new study indicates that the most important factor is relational mobility.

What is relational mobility, you might ask? Simply put, it's how mobile you are in your society—how easy it is to make new friends or join a new social circle. For instance, the U.S. has relatively high relational mobility.

American people, therefore, were more willing to take a risk and make a choice, most often to divert the trolley and only sacrifice one person instead of five. If their choice ends up being unpopular, they can find new friends!

In places where your social circle is tough to change, like in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, people were reluctant to intervene and just let the trolley keep going towards the five people. 

I once had a dream where the Earth was collapsing and we all had to hurry to get on a rocket ship to take us to another planet. There wasn't very much space on the ship, so we each could only bring 5 things (not including people or animals) with us. I remember choosing Beethoven's music, but I don't remember the other 4 things.

I often think about that dream and try to decide what I would choose now. Beethoven's music still makes the cut! What 5 things would you bring?

Well-known entrepreneurs like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Mark Zuckerberg were in their early twenties when they launched their highly successful companies. The Harvard Business Review (HBR) explores whether these famous cases reflect a general pattern.

The HBR team analyzed the age of all business founders in the United States in recent years and found that the average age of entrepreneurs at the time they founded their companies is 42. In software startups, the average age is 40, and younger founders are common. However, young people are less common in other industries such as oil and gas or biotechnology, where the average age is closer to 47.

HBR discovered that among the top 0.1% of startups based on growth in their first five years, the founders started their companies when they were, on average, 45 years old. Evidence points to entrepreneurial performance rising sharply with age before starting to drop in the late fifties.

HBR concluded that work experience plays a critical role in founding a successful start-up. Those with at least three years of work experience in the same industry as their startup were 85% more likely to launch a highly successful company than those with no prior experience.

Bessie Williamson (1910-1982) was a woman in a man's industry. She ran a whisky distillery in Scotland at a time when women weren't managers in any business, let alone the whisky business. But Williamson worked her way up from a typist to the owner and CEO of the Laphroaig [lah-FROYG] distillery, becoming a well-respected boss and highly successful manager. She brought Laphroaig distillery through difficult times during WWII and began a far-reaching modernization process before retiring.

Williamson was known in the business as the "Islay Labour Exchange" because she found a job for almost everyone who needed one. And if workers didn't have a pension plan, she kept them on well past the usual age of retirement. Her employees were always first in her mind, even in the hard times.

Bessie Williamson's most important legacy, however, is showing that women can be as successful as men, even in the traditionally male whisky business. It was quite an accomplishment in her time, and she remains an inspiration to women today.

Crowdfunding campaigns have been getting more and more popular in recent years. 

They can be great for small groups of people starting a new business, or smaller companies raising money for new products.

A popular crowdfunding website is Kickstarter. You can find all kinds of interesting products and services—who knows, maybe you could discover the next big thing! If you'd like to find something more unusual, I recommend the “Food & Craft” section.

Start by finding a featured product on Kickstarter's homepage.

Next, try to "sell" this product/service to your teacher. What are the positive selling points of this product/service? What's attractive about it?

When the first platypus specimen was sent back to England from Australia in the late 18th century, the scientists who examined it thought that someone was playing a trick on them. The zoologist George Shaw wrote in the first scientific description of the platypus that he thought the specimen was a mix of a few different species.

The platypus is one of the most unusual animals on the planet. It is a mammal that lays eggs. Instead of a stomach, its esophagus connects directly to its intestines. Also, the main function of the platypus's tail is just to store up to almost half of the animal's body fat in case of a food shortage.

A platypus's bill has thousands of cells that give it a sort of sixth sense, allowing it to detect the electric fields generated by all living things. It’s so sensitive that the platypus can hunt with its eyes, ears, and nose all closed.

With a bill like a duck’s, a body like a hamster’s, and a tail like a beaver’s, the platypus truly is a creature like no other.
—
specimen [noun] /SPES-uh-muhn/—something shown or examined as an example

esophagus [noun] /ih-SOF-uh-guhs/—the tube in the body that carries food from the mouth to the stomach

sixth sense [noun]— an ability to know something without using the ordinary five senses of sight, hearing, smell, touch, and taste

The Amsterdam company Respyre has developed concrete and plaster that support the growth of moss. These materials can be used for new construction, as well as on existing buildings. The moss then acts as a respiration system for the city. It takes in water and CO2 from the air and releases oxygen.

Moss has other benefits, too. Watch this short video to find out more.