Thought You Should See This update for my friends at Doblin:

This week, my time was mostly taken up with the “Design at Scale” conference, of which I was the co-chair. Some highlights:

Local Projects‘ Jake Barton spoke of the importance of prototyping as a collaborative, improvisational process.

Edible Geography blog writer and Foodprint Project co-founder, Nicola Twilley talked of “food as a design tool“, and showed some wonderful projects of people thinking about or using food in interesting or unexpected ways.

General Electric CMO (and event co-chair) Beth Comstock outlined the importance of design to business (and vice versa).

Pentagram partner Michael Bierut entertainingly detailed seven things he loves about design.

Todd Blumenthal and Beverly House, Aeropostale’s head of merchandising and head of design, gave an insight into their relationship–and how they manage a process that sees the production of 15,000 SKUs every year.

Brian Collins gave an informative behind-the-scenes look at his life as a designer behind advertising lines, concluding with a useful set of principles we would all do well to remember.

Also this week on Thought You Should See This:

Analysts are turning on Groupon, even as the coupon giant gears up for a November IPO.

Steve Wozniak wisdom: “Every problem has a better solution when you start thinking about it differently.”

And, Design With the Other 90%: Cities has opened at the United Nations. The New York Times’ new architecture critic, Michael Kimmelman, declared it a hit.

[Photograph of me looking very serious at Design at Scale c/o DMI.]