Christopher Simmons is a designer, writer, educator, design advocate, and principal of the noted San Francisco design office MINE™. MINE™ designs identities, books, consumer products, packaging, and print and interactive collateral for scientific visionaries, educational reformists, best-selling authors, museums, design institutions, entrepreneurs, telecommunications giants, and Hollywood producers. Simmons is an adjunct professor of design at the California College of the Arts, a frequent judge and lecturer on design issues around the country, and the author of four books. His most recent book, Just Design, focuses on designing for social causes. What is your favorite thing about your job? My favorite things about design is that its a job that really makes a difference. I have a client who is starting a new charter school. We designed their identity and their enrollment application. Today he called me to say that his P.O. box was overflowing with applications and they met their target a month early and beat it by 30%. It gave me goosebumps hearing that. Honestly. Which object do you never leave home without? My watch. It's analog and mechanical (not battery powered). If I ever get completely cut off from all civilization it will be the thing that keeps me sane and connected to an ordered world. That's the reason I have it. I'm actually not very punctual. What's your favorite thing about where you live? I love my neighborhood. My kids both go to school within walking distance. We run into their friends and their parents at the store, the park, on the street. The food is excellent and diverse. Our neighborhood has bylaws that prevent chain businesses from coming in, so the grocery store, the cafe, the book store, the toy shop, the butcher, they're all locally owned. There's an online parents group and we borrow and lend things to one another all the time. Last summer we gave our Thule roof box to some total strangers and didn't worry about it for a moment. We get a box of local produce every week from one our neighbors. I guess I love just about everything about it. Which Compostmodern speaker are you most excited to hear from? I expect it will be the person I least expect. That or Bruce Mau. What's the one thing you'd want people to know about sustainability? To me sustainability is about exercising common sense. It's as simple as asking yourself, "Can I, in good conscience, do this thing over and over again, for as long as I can imagine?" That seems like a pretty reasonable requirement.