OPEN Forum by American Express OPEN | | The Inside Scoop on Design: Ten Questions with Hartmut Esslinger
http://blogs.openforum.com/2009/04/14/the-inside-scoop-on-design-hartmut-esslinger/

The Inside Scoop on Design: Ten Questions with Hartmut Esslinger

Nice design interview.

If a young person wants to be a great designer, what should he or she do? “Design” isn’t a clear-cut talent profession, but one of coordination and catalyst between human needs, science and technology, business and economy, as well as sociology and ecology. The artistic talent required is more of an enabler at the end of rational and emotional analysis as well as strategic conceptualization. Therefore, it is vital to learn and study as much as possible about business, technology and human nature. In the end, there are flavors in design which are more esthetic—see New York Times “Style Magazine”—but design is only relevant when it improves human lives by appealing both to the mind and the heart. Finally, a young person with the right talents needs to have infinite desire and never give up. I apply a simple test with young students: smash a teapot into pieces and then hand out the glue. Those who rebuild the teapot won’t make it, those who create phantasy animals will.

Guy Kawasaki interviews Hartmut Esslinger, the founder of Frog Design on his new book "A Fine Line: How Design Strategies Are Shaping the Future of Business."