Design Week
07 May 2009
Inspired
Robin Richmond
The accepted backdrop to modern life is a vortex of change dominated by new devices, killer apps and ways of doing things—information overload. It's therefore refreshing to find that the most challenging medium of change, human thinking, is alive, well and flourishing at Ted.com.
The site is the true democratisation of a one-time tight-knit conference that only a privileged few could attend, now enabling millions of browsers access to listen to innovative ideas and discussions on a plethora of issues shaping the world that we are entering into.
Given the site's popularity—and the fact that it's a Design Week Hot 50 entry—it's likely that readers will have had some familiarity with it. If you are new to Ted, try Sir Ken Robinson's talk 'Do schools kill creativity?', an exhortation to reconsider the wider motives determining the way children are classified and processed in the education system. Heavy stuff lightly delivered with wit and verve, and also the site's most downloaded talk.
But I also confess a vested interest—Method designed the Webby award-winning website [case study]. But the real inspiration for me, the content, is still king. It's a true case of the message defining the medium.
Editor's Note:
Robin Richmond is General Manager of Method's London office.