Office.Info
Dear Reader,
Times change, and so do we! Is it all forced upon us, or can we set and follow our own plan? In the end, this question makes all the difference. Simply responding to a situation will rarely result in an outcome that is truly satisfying. So it’s better to follow a plan and set a goal yourself than to have someone else set it for you. Nowadays, people everywhere call the process of getting from where we are to where we want to be "change". Change Management takes control of and organises the important steps involved in change. That is a good reason for us to think about this topic a bit – a topic that has left no corner of our working world untouched.
The star designer and founder of frog design, Hartmut Esslinger, has been handling this issue from a creative point of view with great success for years. "Change is fun", he tells Désirée Schellerer in an interview. He never tires of new ideas and is always thrilled to discover examples of clever design. Most recently he put this enthusiasm to use as the guest curator of the exhibition "Made4you. Design for Change", which can be seen at the MAK in Vienna until 7 October 2012. Our book tip is on the same subject.
On that note, we offer some inspirational reading material in this issue for what we hope will be a wonderful start to your summer!
Your Office.Info Editorial Team
OFFICE TRENDS
“Sorry, I really can’t do anything until you provide me with an official change request.” Simone’s response is calm, but Ron can see his jobs going down the drain already. Hearing that sentence every time just drives him crazy. But he should have learnt by now: nothing goes quickly around here, everything is done very, very thoroughly. Hopefully.
PERSONALITIES
Work and lifestyle on the cutting edge: In our conversations with contemporaries, we examine the claims, clichés and ideals that circulate about our workplaces. This time we ask how and where a person works who claims to make a living from “change”. Design icon Hartmut Esslinger exchanged mails with Désirée Schellerer between California and Vienna, where he was recently seen at the opening of the exhibition “Made 4 you – Design for Change”. Esslinger is guest curator of the exhibition on show at the MAK – Museum of Applied Arts until 7 October 2012.
OFFICE TRENDS
Your job is not to predict the future, but rather to make it possible, the famous writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry once said. This would be a good description of the energy that was in the air at the Future of Work symposium. Conference and event organiser L.S.Z. Consulting invited CEOs, HR managers, IT specialists and others to the Vienna Novomatic Forum on 14 June to discuss how work environments in Europe are changing - and how companies can address the new demands being placed on them.
PLAYLIST
The sub-urban.at Office.Playlist has everything that belongs to (sub)urban life. From hip-hop beats to electrocut, it covers the complete range of a dynamic urban music culture.
BOOKS
Critical and socially, culturally, ecologically and economically relevant issues provide—together with outstanding design examples—the framework of the upcoming programmatic exhibition MADE 4 YOU. Design for Change, on view from 6 June 2012 at the MAK Vienna.
