Great Hall – How consumers view the products they buy is changing in large part due to our cultural obsession with design, a knowledge-based economy and an over-saturated marketplace. This new paradigm requires the designers who create goods and services to change how they work so that they will stand out and attract consumers.

Parsons School of Design professor Steven Faerm argues that designers must also become social scientists if they want to succeed. They must create complex narratives and processes using sophisticated research methods. They must collaborate with other disciplines, and they must understand how global systems are interconnected. This new approach shifts a designer’s focus from ‘what to design’ to ‘how to design.’ Faerm offers a talk based on these concepts with the aim of helping anyone thinking of going to school or entering a professional design field, as well as designers already working.