A highly visual exploration of diagrams and data that helps you understand how "maps" are part of everyday thinking, how they tell stories, and how they can reframe your point of view, from Stanford University's world-renowned d.school.“This book is the ultimate legend to mapping all kinds of data.”—Jessica Hagy, Webby Award-winning blogger of Indexed and author of How to Be Interesting (In Ten Simple Steps) Maps aren’t just geographic, they are also infographic and include all types of frameworks and diagrams. Any figure that sorts data visually and presents it spatially is a map. Maps are ways of organizing information and figuring out what’s important. Even stories can be mapped! The Secret Language of Maps provides a simple framework to deconstruct existing maps and then shows you how to create your own.An embedded mystery story about a woman who investigates the disappearance of an old high school friend illustrates how to use different maps to make sense of all types of information. Colorful illustrations bring the story to life and demonstrate how the fictional character’s collection of data, properly organized and “mapped,” leads her to solve the mystery of her friend’s disappearance.You’ll learn how to gather data, organize it, and present it to an audience. You’ll also learn how to view the many maps that swirl around our daily lives with a critical eye, aware of the forces that are in play for every creator.

A practical, illustrated guide to using the tools of design to create feelings of inclusion, collaboration, and respect in groups of any type or size—a classroom, a work team, an international organization—from Stanford University's d.school.“This is a beautiful book. Wise has applied the gift and imagination and lenses of the d.school to one of our most precious questions: how to create belonging.”—Priya Parker, author of the Art of Gathering and host of the New York Times podcast Together ApartBelonging brings out the best in everyone. Whether you’re a parent, teacher, community organizer, or leader of any sort, your group is unlikely to thrive if the individuals don’t feel welcomed, included, and valued for who they are.The good news is that you can use design to create feelings of inclusion in your organization: rituals that bring people together, spaces that promote calm, roles that create a sense of responsibility, systems that make people feel respected, and more. You can’t force feelings, but in Design for Belonging, author and educator Susie Wise explains how to use simple levers of design to set the stage for belonging to emerge. For example, add moveable furniture to a meeting space to customize for your group size; switch up the role of group leader regularly to increase visibility for everyone; or create a special ritual for people joining or leaving your organization to welcome fresh per­spectives and honor work well done.Inspiration and stories from leaders and scholars are paired with frameworks, tools, and tips, providing an opportunity to try on different approaches. By the end of the book, you’ll be able to spot where a greater sense of belonging is needed and actively shape your world to cultivate it—whether it’s a party, a high-stakes meeting, or a new national organization.

'Packed end to end with ways to see the world in new ways' Mike Krieger, cofounder, Instagram 'Designed to spark creativity, help solve problems, foster connection and make our lives better' Gretchen Rubin'Navigate today's world with agility, resilience and imagination' Lorraine Twohill, CMO, GoogleWhat do they teach you at the most prestigious design school in the world? For the first time, you can find out. This highly-visual guide brings to life the philosophies of some of the d.school's most inventive and unconventional minds, including founder David Kelley, Choreographer Aleta Hayes and Google Chief Innovation Evangelist Frederik Pferdt and more. Creative Acts for Curious People is packed with ideas about the art of learning, discovery and leading through creative problem solving. With exercises including:- 'Expert Eyes' to test your observation skills- 'How to Talk to Strangers' to foster understanding- 'Designing Tools for Teams' to build creative leadershipRevealing the hidden dynamics of design, and delving inside the minds of the profession's most celebrated thought-leaders, this definitive guide will help you live up to your creative potential.

'Packed end to end with ways to see the world in new ways' Mike Krieger, cofounder, Instagram 'Designed to spark creativity, help solve problems, foster connection and make our lives better' Gretchen Rubin'Navigate today's world with agility, resilience and imagination' Lorraine Twohill, CMO, GoogleWhat do they teach you at the most prestigious design school in the world? For the first time, you can find out. This highly-visual guide brings to life the philosophies of some of the d.school's most inventive and unconventional minds, including founder David Kelley, Choreographer Aleta Hayes and Google Chief Innovation Evangelist Frederik Pferdt and more. Creative Acts for Curious People is packed with ideas about the art of learning, discovery and leading through creative problem solving. With exercises including:- 'Expert Eyes' to test your observation skills- 'How to Talk to Strangers' to foster understanding- 'Designing Tools for Teams' to build creative leadershipRevealing the hidden dynamics of design, and delving inside the minds of the profession's most celebrated thought-leaders, this definitive guide will help you live up to your creative potential.

A practical, illustrated guide to overcoming the challenges of creative work, including where to start, how to give or get feedback, when to change direction, and how to stand up for what matters, from Stanford University’s world-renowned d.school.“Ashish Goel’s magnificently beautiful book illuminates a powerful new way to think about, discover, and act with your own personal courage.”—Dan Roam, international bestselling author of The Back of the Napkin and Draw to Win The everyday moments of creative work can be rife with fear and fraught with risk. Bringing ideas into reality takes courage! In Drawing on Courage, designer, entrepreneur, and d.school teaching fellow Ashish Goel examines what it takes to be courageous.Using comics to illustrate real-world situations with humor and insight, Goel explains the four stages of every courage journey: fear, values, action, and change. And he helps you develop the skills you need to master each stage (even if it scares you), from embracing fear and defining the values that drive you forward to taking action when you're unsure and adapting to the changes that result from your courage.Each chapter features a series of tools designed to develop a mindset of fearlessness: Open the Tap to generate new ideas; develop A Risky Streak to take the all-important first step; or create an Origin Story to remember your purpose. Whether you're launching a side hustle or trying to convince your company to recycle, creativity takes pluck, nerve, and grit. This indispensable guide will help you develop all of those skills and more.

A practical guide to prototyping as a way to revolutionize your work and creative life, from Stanford University's world-renowned Hasso Plattner Institute of Design, aka the d.school.Prototyping is a way to test an idea to see if it can be successful before investing too much time and too many resources. But it's not only designers who "prototype" as they work. A skateboarder tries a new trick; that's a prototype experience. A chef experiments with a new dish and new ingredients; that's a prototype experience, too. Once a prototype is made, the creator gains knowledge about what worked and what didn't, what should be used again and what should be trimmed from the experience. This is a book about becoming better at prototyping by building things and experiences that will help you learn from your attempts, no matter what you're aiming to achieve. Readers will learn how to not only create prototypes but also how to reflect on the success and failure of those attempts. Scott Witthoft, who teaches courses in design and prototyping to students around the world, introduces a comprehensive number of tools and materials for prototyping, including digital platforms and physical objects. And he breaks down real-life examples of prototype experiments with accompanying photographs for the reader to observe large- and small-scale prototyping in action. With Witthoft as your guide, you'll put the principles of design into practice and bring your vision to life—one prototype at a time.

Notice what matters, sharpen your intuition, and grow personally and professionally by honing your skills of reflection in this illustrated guide from Stanford University's d.school.While we often think of reflection as a way to consider what is or was, it can also be a powerful tool for imagining and shaping what could be. Through activities based on the science, art, and practice of reflection, this book guides you through simple experiments that teach you how to make meaning from your experiences and, as a result, support your goals and values. Stanford professor Leticia Britos Cavagnaro sets up each experiment with a stated hypothesis, a simple method, and direction for gauging your results. With each experiment, you’ll build concrete skills and learn how to shift your mindsets as you strengthen your ability to reflect with purpose. With thought-provoking collage-style illustrations from artist Gabriela Sánchez, Experiments in Reflection helps you tune into your environment, train your intuition, and shape the future you want.

Scheme the impossible! Turn your vision into reality! Transform what if into what’s next! Discover how to make your ideas work for you with this transformative guide from Stanford University’s d.school.“An operator’s manual to design thinking.”—John Maeda, Vice President of Design and Artificial Intelligence at MicrosoftPossibility is the ability to see something in your imagination and materialize it in real life. You already possess (almost) everything you need to make things happen—Make Possibilities Happen helps you find your way.Discover tools and strategies for overcoming the hang-ups that prevent you from getting things done or even starting. Learn exercises for building the creative capacity of your brain. Explore ways to build on the momentum of your work so that you can keep going. Award-winning author Grace Hawthorne shares insights, ideas, and activities from the Stanford University d.school courses she teaches, as well as scientific research and entrepreneurial escapades to get you thinking productively toward making possibilities a reality.It’s hard to begin, uncomfortable to not know, natural to question yourself, easy to be impatient, and challenging to swallow setbacks. This book addresses all of these hurdles and walks you through four main stages of turning your idea into reality: SEE (imagine what’s to come), START (just begin, this is everything), DO (show up and work), and FINISH (follow through).You can positively alter your life—and other people’s lives—by making the inklings of your imagination real. All you need to do is pick up this book and START.

A highly visual exploration of diagrams and data that helps you understand how "maps" are part of everyday thinking, how they tell stories, and how they can reframe your point of view, from Stanford University's world-renowned d.school.“This book is the ultimate legend to mapping all kinds of data.”—Jessica Hagy, Webby Award-winning blogger of Indexed and author of How to Be Interesting (In Ten Simple Steps) Maps aren’t just geographic, they are also infographic and include all types of frameworks and diagrams. Any figure that sorts data visually and presents it spatially is a map. Maps are ways of organizing information and figuring out what’s important. Even stories can be mapped! The Secret Language of Maps provides a simple framework to deconstruct existing maps and then shows you how to create your own.An embedded mystery story about a woman who investigates the disappearance of an old high school friend illustrates how to use different maps to make sense of all types of information. Colorful illustrations bring the story to life and demonstrate how the fictional character’s collection of data, properly organized and “mapped,” leads her to solve the mystery of her friend’s disappearance.You’ll learn how to gather data, organize it, and present it to an audience. You’ll also learn how to view the many maps that swirl around our daily lives with a critical eye, aware of the forces that are in play for every creator.

A practical, illustrated guide to using the tools of design to create feelings of inclusion, collaboration, and respect in groups of any type or size—a classroom, a work team, an international organization—from Stanford University's d.school.“This is a beautiful book. Wise has applied the gift and imagination and lenses of the d.school to one of our most precious questions: how to create belonging.”—Priya Parker, author of the Art of Gathering and host of the New York Times podcast Together ApartBelonging brings out the best in everyone. Whether you’re a parent, teacher, community organizer, or leader of any sort, your group is unlikely to thrive if the individuals don’t feel welcomed, included, and valued for who they are.The good news is that you can use design to create feelings of inclusion in your organization: rituals that bring people together, spaces that promote calm, roles that create a sense of responsibility, systems that make people feel respected, and more. You can’t force feelings, but in Design for Belonging, author and educator Susie Wise explains how to use simple levers of design to set the stage for belonging to emerge. For example, add moveable furniture to a meeting space to customize for your group size; switch up the role of group leader regularly to increase visibility for everyone; or create a special ritual for people joining or leaving your organization to welcome fresh per­spectives and honor work well done.Inspiration and stories from leaders and scholars are paired with frameworks, tools, and tips, providing an opportunity to try on different approaches. By the end of the book, you’ll be able to spot where a greater sense of belonging is needed and actively shape your world to cultivate it—whether it’s a party, a high-stakes meeting, or a new national organization.

'Packed end to end with ways to see the world in new ways' Mike Krieger, cofounder, Instagram 'Designed to spark creativity, help solve problems, foster connection and make our lives better' Gretchen Rubin'Navigate today's world with agility, resilience and imagination' Lorraine Twohill, CMO, GoogleWhat do they teach you at the most prestigious design school in the world? For the first time, you can find out. This highly-visual guide brings to life the philosophies of some of the d.school's most inventive and unconventional minds, including founder David Kelley, Choreographer Aleta Hayes and Google Chief Innovation Evangelist Frederik Pferdt and more. Creative Acts for Curious People is packed with ideas about the art of learning, discovery and leading through creative problem solving. With exercises including:- 'Expert Eyes' to test your observation skills- 'How to Talk to Strangers' to foster understanding- 'Designing Tools for Teams' to build creative leadershipRevealing the hidden dynamics of design, and delving inside the minds of the profession's most celebrated thought-leaders, this definitive guide will help you live up to your creative potential.

'Packed end to end with ways to see the world in new ways' Mike Krieger, cofounder, Instagram 'Designed to spark creativity, help solve problems, foster connection and make our lives better' Gretchen Rubin'Navigate today's world with agility, resilience and imagination' Lorraine Twohill, CMO, GoogleWhat do they teach you at the most prestigious design school in the world? For the first time, you can find out. This highly-visual guide brings to life the philosophies of some of the d.school's most inventive and unconventional minds, including founder David Kelley, Choreographer Aleta Hayes and Google Chief Innovation Evangelist Frederik Pferdt and more. Creative Acts for Curious People is packed with ideas about the art of learning, discovery and leading through creative problem solving. With exercises including:- 'Expert Eyes' to test your observation skills- 'How to Talk to Strangers' to foster understanding- 'Designing Tools for Teams' to build creative leadershipRevealing the hidden dynamics of design, and delving inside the minds of the profession's most celebrated thought-leaders, this definitive guide will help you live up to your creative potential.

A practical, illustrated guide to overcoming the challenges of creative work, including where to start, how to give or get feedback, when to change direction, and how to stand up for what matters, from Stanford University’s world-renowned d.school.“Ashish Goel’s magnificently beautiful book illuminates a powerful new way to think about, discover, and act with your own personal courage.”—Dan Roam, international bestselling author of The Back of the Napkin and Draw to Win The everyday moments of creative work can be rife with fear and fraught with risk. Bringing ideas into reality takes courage! In Drawing on Courage, designer, entrepreneur, and d.school teaching fellow Ashish Goel examines what it takes to be courageous.Using comics to illustrate real-world situations with humor and insight, Goel explains the four stages of every courage journey: fear, values, action, and change. And he helps you develop the skills you need to master each stage (even if it scares you), from embracing fear and defining the values that drive you forward to taking action when you're unsure and adapting to the changes that result from your courage.Each chapter features a series of tools designed to develop a mindset of fearlessness: Open the Tap to generate new ideas; develop A Risky Streak to take the all-important first step; or create an Origin Story to remember your purpose. Whether you're launching a side hustle or trying to convince your company to recycle, creativity takes pluck, nerve, and grit. This indispensable guide will help you develop all of those skills and more.

A practical guide to prototyping as a way to revolutionize your work and creative life, from Stanford University's world-renowned Hasso Plattner Institute of Design, aka the d.school.Prototyping is a way to test an idea to see if it can be successful before investing too much time and too many resources. But it's not only designers who "prototype" as they work. A skateboarder tries a new trick; that's a prototype experience. A chef experiments with a new dish and new ingredients; that's a prototype experience, too. Once a prototype is made, the creator gains knowledge about what worked and what didn't, what should be used again and what should be trimmed from the experience. This is a book about becoming better at prototyping by building things and experiences that will help you learn from your attempts, no matter what you're aiming to achieve. Readers will learn how to not only create prototypes but also how to reflect on the success and failure of those attempts. Scott Witthoft, who teaches courses in design and prototyping to students around the world, introduces a comprehensive number of tools and materials for prototyping, including digital platforms and physical objects. And he breaks down real-life examples of prototype experiments with accompanying photographs for the reader to observe large- and small-scale prototyping in action. With Witthoft as your guide, you'll put the principles of design into practice and bring your vision to life—one prototype at a time.

Notice what matters, sharpen your intuition, and grow personally and professionally by honing your skills of reflection in this illustrated guide from Stanford University's d.school.While we often think of reflection as a way to consider what is or was, it can also be a powerful tool for imagining and shaping what could be. Through activities based on the science, art, and practice of reflection, this book guides you through simple experiments that teach you how to make meaning from your experiences and, as a result, support your goals and values. Stanford professor Leticia Britos Cavagnaro sets up each experiment with a stated hypothesis, a simple method, and direction for gauging your results. With each experiment, you’ll build concrete skills and learn how to shift your mindsets as you strengthen your ability to reflect with purpose. With thought-provoking collage-style illustrations from artist Gabriela Sánchez, Experiments in Reflection helps you tune into your environment, train your intuition, and shape the future you want.

Scheme the impossible! Turn your vision into reality! Transform what if into what’s next! Discover how to make your ideas work for you with this transformative guide from Stanford University’s d.school.“An operator’s manual to design thinking.”—John Maeda, Vice President of Design and Artificial Intelligence at MicrosoftPossibility is the ability to see something in your imagination and materialize it in real life. You already possess (almost) everything you need to make things happen—Make Possibilities Happen helps you find your way.Discover tools and strategies for overcoming the hang-ups that prevent you from getting things done or even starting. Learn exercises for building the creative capacity of your brain. Explore ways to build on the momentum of your work so that you can keep going. Award-winning author Grace Hawthorne shares insights, ideas, and activities from the Stanford University d.school courses she teaches, as well as scientific research and entrepreneurial escapades to get you thinking productively toward making possibilities a reality.It’s hard to begin, uncomfortable to not know, natural to question yourself, easy to be impatient, and challenging to swallow setbacks. This book addresses all of these hurdles and walks you through four main stages of turning your idea into reality: SEE (imagine what’s to come), START (just begin, this is everything), DO (show up and work), and FINISH (follow through).You can positively alter your life—and other people’s lives—by making the inklings of your imagination real. All you need to do is pick up this book and START.