Paul Owen

May you live in interesting times A while ago I tweeted something that I now realise is essentially the main reason why I get out of bed everyday - other than when the kids drag me out. Having played my part in the unbearable level of appreciation for the world according to Apple, I ventured this: "Is it that Apple looks so fantastically attractive because the rest of the world is so fantastically crap?" From 'distracted' at school to 'disruptive' at college to 'provocative' at work, 'Why?' has always been a question I have aimed at the world around me and one at the heart of who I am. Therefore, I find myself at 40 years old as a designer. Not of beatification or decoration, not moulded in a design school, not even a fan of Adobe. I'm a curious mind dissatisfied with, yet optimistic for the world we live in. I believe that design by definition is a critical behaviour resulting in positive change. Something our tumultuous world desperately needs right now. I am currently fascinated by how design can influence business at the highest level and how the industrial age term 'brand' has more recently been as disrupted as Steve Jobs' tech has disrupted our everyday lives. Someone once said, "May you live in interesting times." Indeed we do.