John Maeda: My journey in design, from tofu to RISD

[rue2themax]

I love you John Maeda!!!! You have changed my life!!!!!

[bakagajin]

WTF is up with all the haters? Ok it wasn't mindblowing but the guy touches some interesting points I think. I'd like to see him take his conceptual ideas about computers a bit further.

[givemeabreakman]

this is...useles...

[thinkpad20]

wasn't exactly blown away by this guy's speech, or his art. Some of it was kinda cool I guess. The thing with the people acting like computers was kind of neat in concept... but as a whole the talk seemed kinda pointless

[hannahskm]

For some reason I thought he only programmed codes to make funky images. I like him.. he's quirky and not stuck up.

[cornholiobros]

Actually, I can't belive that this guy was succesful in design and as an artist.

Ok, maybe he is an open minded person, but I find him very average in terms of creativity.

What he says and what he shows is not interesting NOR INSPIRING AT ALL.

And the stones thing... Come on, how open-minded men got to be to notice that some things in nature are similar to each other.

[DelayedArt]

As an artist he showed the process. Did you want conclusions? Set answers? Go watch another video. Don't resort to name calling because it wasn't what you wanted.

[lhugueny]

i cant believe this guy is the new president of rhode island school of design, it almost makes me want to drop out

[mediatapwater]

pretty hard to follow what he says.. too many distractions .. but i think he's a great creative mind though

[bd593]

To appreciate this, you have to think like an artist. I'm a graphic designer and I can take a lot away from what he says. The ability to to to free yourself to think imaginatively without being criticized by society is really the gist. He doesn't think up ideas to make money or to make sense he just thinks, without a care whether or not it will be perceived as stupid or childish. If you've created something through that process you know it's quite liberating.

[unkaodya]

i`m a graphic designer myself, but i didn`t get about a half of the stuff he showed. what`s up with blue tape? what`s up with the stones? yeah, it`s nice to just think and make useless stuff that nobody gets, but that kind of gets artists labeled as useless people with dumb ideas. i would understand if he was a crazy painter or something, but he`s not.

[zebede67]

I bought and read his book about Simplicity. Somehow thought it would be interesting.

The only reason I read it though is because

a) it was short

b) I couldn't believe that someone could write such dross and had to keep going in case something good happened.

It didn't. He's a superficial geek of no value.

[LudicrousTachyon]

Not sure what I should've gotten out of that

[matinlawence]

This guy is annoying. I dont care about his life

[egdapo]

this is the shittest presentation ive seen so far on TED, no continuity whatsoever

[martijnenco]

wasted to much time on this thing :( :'(

[SJRNWT]

He sounds like Frank Grimes from the Simpsons.

[emokowsky]

for a second there I thought they wouldn't clap. WTF was that about? I just lost 17 minutes of my life. damn.

I will definately think of becoming a designer, if people like him would be my competition then I am safe. OH THANK YOU JESUS, I'M SAVED.

[emokowsky]

that guy was supposed to be brilliant? what innovation? we must have seen different videos

[markok27]

There goes most boring 17 minutes...

[marsCubed]

Something worth mentioning is that Sony software is awful and usually very poorly written, generally because it is written by uncreative and career structured company, for whom DRM comes before good anything, like their use of Java, slow, buggy and bundled - a kind of con. I am only suggesting that creativity must also be coupled with strong technical knowledge, at the end they come to the same thing, utility is the hallmark of good design. Flabby language ideas and implementation is uncool.

[ikeusa]

I glad I'm not the only one who wears a wrinkled shirt.

[ikeusa]

At least he has an excuse. Now I have none. :(

[reYKCuf]

The truth is out there.

[mikedubya]

I have this overwhelming urge to punch him. The Asian Frasier Crane, ladies and gentlemen.

[ChrisSketch]

Once again, youtube proves that it is a haven for ungrateful, talentless pricks who contribute nothing to society but negativity and hate.

Sometimes, internet, I hate you.

[homerthompsonman]

TED: I am warning you, beef up your content or I will unsub.

[kurleyfries93]

*cough* Idiot *cough*

[doloppost]

I think he's just freestyling, playing around, finding new ways to look at things and following intuition and not logic. Through this, he inspires others and that brings change. Wiki: "In 1999, he was named one of the 21 most important people in the 21st century by Esquire". Or as the Dutch cabaretier Theo Maas joked: "The first fish to walk on land; other fish pointing and shouting: 'Hey! That's not supposed be done! Hey!' In short: progress is not always logical.

[waitingastar]

i totally agree with you!!!

[jasonlajoie]

It's unfortunate that I'm too annoyed by his voice to watch this video. I usually love TED videos.

[prelan]

if any of you think this guy isn't being logical, just remember he studied mathematics at MIT

[ergoiamtoo]

inept speaker, and pointless talk

[ssproutz]

How is it possible to treat a person seriously when they like say like 5 times in like 2 minutes?

[wongathon]

I don't get it, whats his point? These coincidences are completely unconnected. Is he high? Why IS that line moving? He had no conclusion for any of his damn ideas. And how did he bridge any of his ideas? He became interested in machines and then he heard cows so computers don't make sense so he makes art out of some PDAs?

And what the hell is that shirt he's wearing?

[guitarguy93]

Raise your hand if you grew up in a tofu factory in Seattle.

[isegoria1]

Well I guess everyone can't be super interesting.

I think it is about time that TED get with the times and upload these in 16:9 HD - Would certainly give the viewer more of the feeling of being there.

~ There is an idea worth spreading.

[isegoria1]

Good to know that I could provide a momentary distraction from your raging herpes outbreak.

[ratholin]

A lot of fluff no crunch. there's 17 minutes I won't see again.

[fkd247]

he seems like a nice guy but this talk was really bleehh!!

[mrkvamaster]

Boring, full of himself and a total wanker. I hope he dies soon, useless designer piece of shit

LOL

[1trip711]

retard

[waitingastar]

true i didnt understand what he was talking about at first

but if you think about it

its just simplicity vs. complicity

old computers were simple but it was hard to use

cutting tofu looked simple but its actually hard if you really try to do it

think first people

~*~**~*~*~

i dont understand why people just respond immediately without thinking.

or im getting this cuz its just a RISD thing....hummm....

[chikotube]

you hit that right on the button. most of these folks either didn't go to college or didn't take academics seriously.

[LeedansParis]

You're right and it's a valuable point but I'm still leaning towards the "Boring, full of himself and a total wanker" point.

[xilliah]

Worst TED video I've seen so far. The only thing that was okay were his designs, and I don't think that is enough of a reason to be onstage at TED.

[1trip711]

retard

[prelan]

well are yiou one to speak?

[waitingastar]

YAY RISD~~~~~

John's waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay cooler than the president before him!

[peterbriers]

I like it how it left me wondering: "yeah... huh"?

[johnyprestige]

he seemed like an alright guy but like the general consensus seems to be, i don't have a clue what his conclusion or "ideas" were...

i enjoyed it none the less.

[emokowsky]

for a second there I thought they wouldn't clap. WTF was that about? I just lost 17 minutes of my life. damn.

I will definately think of becoming a designer, if people like him would be my competition then I am safe. OH THANK YOU JESUS, I'M SAVED. bugabugabuga

[ArcaneKarma]

It's of subjective value, and I liked it.  It was better then most NPR and BBC segments.

[criggster]

What a whole lot of nothing that was.

[conoba]

I didn't learn anything from this.

[bluesrunthegame]

I was expecting reduced instruction set design. I was expecting quality.

[dutchhaze1]

What

The

HEll

Was

This

About

?

[happosai21]

eh.. is this guy getting paid for that stuff?

[jfsimard79]

One of the worst TED videos I've ever seen. The guy is all over the place and incoherent.

[destinedwind]

How much drugs does this guy do?

[Khamila1]

This entire talk felt like an introduction to some point he was going to talk about after 16:55... but he never got there.

[cierrablue]

I can't say I really understood everything in that, but I still think that on some level it's part of a huge chunk of my life. Thought provoking.

[RoGeorgeRoGeorge]

Maybe this guy is brilliant, i don't know, but in this 17 minutes, what is he talking about? And why all this should worth 17 minutes of my life? Sorry but I didn't get the point...

[zjsword]

surprise buttsecks?

[pookiehohn]

SURPRISE!!

[stuffisgd]

Ouch! Stop that!

[ChaseWatkins]

An excellent video, as always