row and design a really bad poster for hair gel, who’s going to give a damn (other than the client)? If I get up and design a really bad train, though, I’m going to visit a trillion devils on thousands of people for years to come.

History tells us that before great business can happen, it first has to be a mission. And a mission starts with a dream.

As designers, we potentially hold enormous power. And with it comes responsibility. Wield it imaginatively and wisely.

And optimistically.

Or f@#k off and do something less dangerous.

May + June 2008

interactions

tional signposts” along the way. The planet-hopping shuttle rocket in this picture is surrounded by battered leather suitcases with Mars stickers on them. That’s not because the illustra-tor/futurist Frank Hampson lacked the vision to imagine the luggage of the future—it was just his little way of saying: “It’ll be everything you dreamed of, but with all your favourite, familiar stuff still there.”

And that’s what we should be doing: leading the way by visualizing and articulating achievable futures that get us out of this hole.

I’m pretty sure the folks at Apple don’t call themselves optimistic futurists, but that’s exactly what they are. My favorite Steve Jobs one-liner is: “It’s not the consumer’s job to know about the future; that’s my job.” And he’s absolutely right.

Jurassic corporations need to learn from the mammals. The secret of the “next big thing” isn’t lurking inside the consumer’s head, waiting to be liberated by some well-paid focus group. It’s inside the heads of the dreamers, the futurists, the utopians.

You and me.

And sometimes we get despondent and knocked back by the bean counters who tell us we’re wrong and that the consumer is always right. Or by the supply chain, which says it can’t be done. Or by the M.D. who can’t see further than his own Excel spreadsheet.

But the difference is that we’re the ones with the imagination to see beyond what things are, which is why we applied for art college in the first place, rather than accountancy or law.

If I wake up depressed tomor-

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Richard Seymour is one of Europe’s best-known product designers. Trained as a graphic designer and illustrator initially, his career has taken him from book and record-sleeve design, though advertising and film production design to a commanding position on the international stage, with Seymourpowell—created in 1984 with Dick Powell and now regarded as one of the world’s leading product design consultan-cies. Some of his clients include The Ford Motor Company, Virgin, Guinness, Tefal, Casio, Samsung, and Unilever. Seymourpowell has won numerous design awards for its work over the past 20 years, including the D&AD Silver Awards, the D&AD President’s Award for Outstanding Contribution to Design, DBA Design Effectiveness Awards, and two nominations for the Prince Philip Design Prize. Richard is also the consultant global creative director of design to Unilever’s Dove skincare brand. He was educated at the Central School of Art and Design and the Royal College of Art, where he recently served as visiting professor. He is a trustee of the Design Museum in London, past president of D&AD, and consultant design director to Lever Faberge in London and New York. For more information visit www.seymour-powell.com