We’ve been partial to reviewing shorter TED talks recently because we like to see how well a presenter can get across his points in under 6 minutes. We’re firm believers in the shorter the talk, the better, but our honored truism doesn’t quite hold up in John Hodgman’s six minute TED 2012 talk “Design, explained.” Here’s why.
Cast a Smaller Net
Ultimately, the main problem with Hodgman’s talk is the massive scope it attempts to encapsulate. Audacious only begins to describe trying to unpack the complicated, nuanced field of design in less than six minutes. Hodgman begins his talk by saying, “Today I’m going to unpack for you three examples of iconic design.” That’s all well and good, but during the six minutes he spends talking about the three examples (the theme building at LAX, the salif juicer designed by Phillippe Starck and the iPhone) he doesn’t end up saying much about design at all.
Hodgman’s talk doesn’t have a clear focus. He attempts to tackle an entirely too vast topic. The audience was told they would hear design explained, but at the end of the talk, we don’t have a better understanding of design at all. He ought to have narrowed his topic further until it focused on one particular aspect of design.
Languishing Laughter
Hodgman is a comedian, so naturally his presentation garners many laughs from the audience. He describes each of the three examples in a humorous fashion, and speaks very colloquially with words like “space agey-ness.” Hodgman’s humor and quick wit are where much of his presentation’s strength lies.
Perhaps the presumptuous idea of explaining design in less than 6 minutes is the ultimate joke, but considering the hesitant applause after his final sentence, (“My name is John Hodgman and I just explained design.”) it seems like the joke is on him.
