Presented by NextD CoFounders GK VanPatter and Elizabeth Pastor at numerous conferences around the world, the NextD Complexity Scale continues to generate interest and considerable thoughtful dialogue on many blogs and discussion lists.

One of its central ideas, not always popular in the design community: Different design skills are needed for different levels of complexity.

“The NextD framework of D1, D2, D3, D4 is in essence a complexity scale. It is a post-discipline view that is process, not content focused. As a field of knowledge design is an amorphous time warp that exists across several time zones or paradigms simultaneously.”

See more dialogue on Noah Raford’s Blog: “Large Scale Participatory Futures Systems”

Now in rapid adoption across the design industries NextD ideas and their ramifications continue to inspire and influence many design thinking initiatives.

See the virtual book: NextD: Understanding Design Futures That Have Already Arrived! presented most recently at Swinburne University’s Design Thinking Conference in Melbourne Australia.

Download for free: GK VanPatter interviewed by Peter Jones PhD: The Rise of Visual SenseMaking

Watch for the NextD / Strategic Transformation Network launching soon.

To get on the early network subscriber list send an email to: transformation (at) nextd (dot) org

This diagram is utilized in several public workshops and keynote talks that extends ten years of Humantifc work. CoFounders Elizabeth Pastor and GK VanPatter connect the dots and share views into the relationship between rising complexity of human challenges and the significant rise of interest in Visual SenseMaking around the world.

Making the distinction between SenseMaking (making the strange familiar) and StrangeMaking (making the familiar strange), Humantific points out a paradigm shift underway across Design 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0 that has enormous implications for 21st century design education as well as strategic design practice.

In a post consumer society it is a brain and skill shift equivalent to the retooling of the industrial era. Making sense of organizational and social complexity in order to get ready for change is very different from focusing on making cool products to consume. SenseMaking requires a different skill-set than StrangeMaking.

For more info see:

GK VanPatter Interviewed by Peter Jones

Design 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0 / The Rise of Visual Sensemaking

Design 4.0 Rocks the House

SenseMaker Glimpse Wraps in New York

More SenseMaker Dialogs coming soon

You can join the open SenseMaker Dialogs group on facebook.

The free 2-hour Glimpse into Visual SenseMaking workshop wrapped in New York last week with 40+ enthusiastic attendees engaging in the session taught by Humantific CoFounder Elizabeth Pastor. The “Glimpse” program is a series of public workshops designed to introduce participants to basic fundamentals of Visual SenseMaking and to how Humantific applies Visual SenseMaking to real-world organizational and social challenges.

If you would like to get on the attendee list for the upcoming ”Glimpse” sessions in San Francisco, Madrid, or Copenhagen send an email to programs (at) humantific (dot) com with the appropriate city as the subject.

“Glimpse” is an introduction to Humantific’s more advanced Complexity Navigation Program for change driving leaders. The Complexity Navigation Program combines accelerated skill-building in Strategic CoCreation, Design Research and Visual SenseMaking.

If you are a leader tasked with driving change and you would like to have a conversation with Humantific regarding how Complexity Navigation skills can help accelerate your change initiative send an email to programs (at) humantific (dot) com with Complexity Navigation as the subject.

See The Rise of Visual SenseMaking mapped to Design 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0

If you are interested in the Rise of Visual SenseMaking as a subject you can join:

SenseMaker Dialogs on Facebook

Social SenseMaking on Facebook

Also See Here: How is today’s SenseMaking different from Karl Weick’s SenseMaking?

Humantific CoFounder Elizabeth Pastor will be facilitating a session at the upcoming VizThink 09 Conference in San Jose, California on February 22-25.

At Humantific, Visual SenseMaking is a hybrid activity integral to ChangeMaking that combines visual design thinking, challenge framing and advanced strategic problem solving.

Elizabeth teaches Visual SenseMaking in Humantific’s Complexity Navigation Program that combines skill-building in Strategic CoCreation, Design Research and Visual SenseMaking.

In that program business executives learn a five dimensional model of SenseMaking that includes:

1. understanding the opportunity space

2. understanding the humans in the opportunity space

3. understanding the information in the opportunity space

4. understanding the opportunity owners

5. understanding the project team.

It is an incredibly useful innovation toolkit for all 21st century change making leaders.

See:

Visual SenseMaking For Leaders
The Complexity Navigation Program / Health Care Innovation

NOTE: The next Visual SenseMaking Workhops will be held in the spring in New York and Madrid.

To express interest in registering send an email to:
programs (at) humantific (dot) com

Humantific will hold its first OPEN Visual SenseMaking for Leaders Workshop in October, 2008 in New York. Previously only available as part of the Complexity Navigation Program (seen in the photos above) this new condensed Introduction to Visual SenseMaking is designed as a one day session for business leaders who have to explain complex ideas, stories, strategies, products, services, change initiatives, etc, to diverse audiences; investors, partners, employees, customers, etc. Participants are introduced to the power of visual thinking and learn some basic methods for making visual sense of complex situations. This one day workshop is ideally suited to business executives, team leaders, project managers who want to tap into Visual SenseMaking as part of their design thinking toolbox. Space is limited. If you would like more info about this or any Humantific learning program send an email to programs (at) humantific (dot) com.