Nike's Chief of Design Doodles all Day response

Stuart Hunter

2/3/18

I found the article I read about John Hoke, chief design officer of Nike, really intriguing. In the article, John Hoke is interviewed and asked about his first experience with Nike's, his job, how he runs with his imagination and his vision of the future with the company. As a child, John was a decent athlete and used his go-to shoes, the Nike waffle trainer sneakers. When they wore out, he cut them in half, analyzed the two sections and how they were made. Also, when he was floating on a raft in his pool, he wondered if he could make the materials of it into a shoe and cushion the "rear-to-forefoot-transition blow of running" and drew his design of this. This tells me that anyone can have their own style of innovation in terms of manufacturing a product. Today, as chief design officer, John is inspiring and directs over 1,000 creative designers and shares many visions with them about Nike's legacy, likely leading to the many different types of sneakers we have now. Speaking of drawing, that seemed to be Mr.Hoke's biggest talent. Not to mention that he considers it his "first language" due to his dyslexia. Not only does this article tell me that anyone can be creative and innovative with certain things, but also briefly states that they can use their disorders to their advantage. John Hoke's dyslexia gave him a different view of the world and was able to come up with many different designs for sneakers. He saw his disorder as a gift that would help him stay focused with his work and not an overwhelming burden. It goes to show that anyone can do anything with a creative mind, regardless of their flaws.