Steven M. Johnson
Steven
M. Johnson is a cartoonist-inventor, former urban planner, newspaper
artist, and auto company future trends analyst.
Since the early 1970s, Steve has toiled away quietly in his free time
creating a “line” of alternative products and systems that he hopes will
benefit or at least amuse his fellow consumer-citizens. He has also
ventured into an edgier area, making predictions about the future. His
ideas, and his methods for arriving at ideas, are somewhat unique. He has
perhaps benefitted from having had little formal instruction in art, nor
training in engineering or industrial design. Curious images have filled
his mind during weekends and odd free moments, while he was earning a
living in careers as urban planner, newspaper artist and future trends
analyst at California companies. Only after he turned 36 did he discover
he had an inventor and designer inside himself, wanting to come out.
On long trips or during boring commutes, he has made use of time that
is normally wasted watching scenery by sketching product ideas and
cartoons on his home-made “automobile drafting board” (once featured on a
TV station in Sacramento, California). The board sits at an angle against
the
dashboard and is fitted out in black naugahyde to match the car’s
interior. He is unaware of any California law forbidding drawing while
driving.
His drawings have been featured in newspapers and magazines both
nationally and abroad. A short list of magazines includes Road &
Track,
Harper’s, Utne Reader, Whole Earth Review,
Sierra, Esquire, The Futurist,
Design Mind, Good, Fast Company,
The New York Times, and Bloomberg Businessweek
as well as Box
and Brutus (Japanese
magazines).
His books include:
Patent Depending: A Collection; 2nd edition,
Patent Depending: Vehicles; 2nd Edition,
What the World Needs Now: A Resource Book for Daydreamers, Frustrated
Inventors, Cranks, Efficiency Experts, Utopians, Gadgeteers, Tinkerers and
Just about Everybody Else (Third Edition),
Public Therapy Buses, Information Specialty Bums, Solar Cook-A-Mats and
Other Visions of the 21st Century: Second Edition, and
Have Fun Inventing: Learn to Think Up Products and Imagine Future
Inventions.
Steve was born in 1938 and grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. His
undergraduate studies were at Yale University and U.C. Berkeley. He lives
in Southern California with his wife and son.
Watch
Inventing without a purpose: Steven M. Johnson at
TEDxIndianapolis.
Read
The Accidental Futurist: Steven M. Johnson’s Alternate
Realities.
Read his
LinkedIn profile.
Follow his Twitter feed.