I had the pleasure of travelling to Taipei this past week to give a talk
to some students at a design school. It’s always great to discuss design
with people who are really excited about the possibilities of creating
something cool. The presentation was titled “Building a case for
including designers at the beginning of the design process”. So many
companies in Taiwan do not truly understand or fully employ design in
their process when they build product. It is usually only appied as
window dressing at the very end of the development cycle or as a way
later to mask fundamental problems that may not have appeared if they
had actually utilized some design or designer at the outset (this is my
generalised view). An added bonus for me in this class was that they
actually asked questions. So many of the classes and talks I have been
invited to are a one sided affair – me talking and everyone else
listening (or falling asleep!). I certainly enjoyed the interaction that
these designers created as it allowed us to approach far more
interesting topics than I had proposed. It was cool and they were quite
nice. Unfortunately I came away with a bloody bad cold that has had
caused my life to come to almost a complete stand still.

The second day I travelled back to Taipei, sick, and faced the full
force of the Canadian beaurocracy here in Taiwan as I applied for a new
passport. Time has passed. The only highlight to that day was being able
to buy good bread and the sight of so many wonderflly dressed women.
Simple joys which help you through the day.