The Decline of the English Department

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A designer named Stefan Sagmeister gives a talk on the Power of Time Off. Most interesting is his idea of taking sabbaticals (and closing his shop) every 7 years, to enjoy retirement interspersed with a lifetime of work.

Found from Swiss-Miss

Sadly, the North Shore Music Theatre has closed:

Last week, North Shore announced it was $10 million in debt and would close for good.

The loss leaves a vacuum for suburbanites who don’t want to fight the traffic, or pay three-digit ticket prices, to see glossy productions at Boston venues. North Shore delivered fresh young performers, topnotch sets and costumes, and every now and then, a former star getting back into the song-and-dance biz.

At its peak, the theater drew more than 27,500 subscribers and some 300,000 people a year, making it the largest regional theater in New England.

The closing has led to finger-pointing and recriminations, with those loyal to former theater head Jon Kimbell accusing Ivan of poor management and blasting his decision to abandon the organization’s proven holiday-season winner, “A Christmas Carol.’’ But a closer look at the theater’s financial health in its tumultuous final years, which included a devastating 2005 fire and a staff revolt under Ivan, reveals that myriad factors played into the collapse.

More at: Boston Globe: Curtain, then finger-pointing at North Shore

Interesting commentary from a designer who left Google, on the dangers of letting engineers drive design decisions:

Without a person at (or near) the helm who thoroughly understands the principles and elements of Design, a company eventually runs out of reasons for design decisions. With every new design decision, critics cry foul. Without conviction, doubt creeps in. Instincts fail. “Is this the right move?”

When a company is filled with engineers, it turns to engineering to solve problems. Reduce each decision to a simple logic problem. Remove all subjectivity and just look at the data. Data in your favor? Ok, launch it. Data shows negative effects? Back to the drawing board. And that data eventually becomes a crutch for every decision, paralyzing the company and preventing it from making any daring design decisions.

More at: Goodbye Google