Designer at the Helm for the First Time at the National Design Museum

As reported by New York Times Digital at 4 am this morning (who sleeps anymore?), Bill Moggridge, a Fellow of IDSA and a co-founder of the product development firm IDEO, has been named director of the Smithsonian Institution’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum in New York City. http://bit.ly/5MtKH3

First Laptop Design: Bill is credited with some amazing design breakthroughs, among them the Grid Compass Computer (1982), the first to put computing (limited but real) on our laps. (Course, those who like to sleep on planes, party at hotels and keep business out of vacations may not be so thrilled that he showed the potential so temptingly.)

The Grid Compass’ shape established a baseline that held for over a decade. It blended computing with personal mobility so well that it opened the door to developments that we take for granted in our business and daily lives today.

User Interface Pioneer: Since then, Bill and his firms (ID Two and later IDEO) have had a tremendous impact on our daily experience. In particular, Bill is considered a pioneer in user interface design, recently publishing Designing Interactions with a follow up book due out soon.

Designing National Systems: I once heard George Nelson speak about the Social Security system, saying that it was really just a gigantic design problem needing the vision of, well, probably Nelson.

Few people get to redesign large-scale institutions and programs with national cultural impact, so Moggridge knows how great the opportunity is:

”I really thought my main goal in life was to design stuff,” he said in an interview on Wednesday. ‘‘To have a national opportunity on a much greater scale is very exciting,” according to the NY Times report.

So, congratulations to Bill! This is a major stride for design. The Cooper-Hewitt is looking for vision and that Bill has in spades.