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Week 9 got me thinking about the design process as a whole. We no longer look at it in a series of events, but rather use all the processes and components in and out of order to create a final product. Design is very broad and open-ended, but design also brings about criticism and controversy. As designers we have to continue to design no matter what push backs or criticisms we receive. We have to keep our clients and consumers in mind rather than worry about the seemingly small group of people against us.

Week 8 was all about prototyping our own designs. We have learned the importance of prototyping, but now we are able to put it into action. This week’s focus of prototyping highlighted the importance of prototyping our designs in a realistic setting the product would be used in. Prototyping is all abut testing ideas; crazy ideas, impossible ideas, boring ideas. Bad ideas are still good ideas to designers. They steer us in the right direction and get us closer to a final product our consumers want and need.

Design thinking is a collection of processes that lead designers to a final product. There is no component of design more important than another, all processes work with one another to get to the final product. Design is the driving force of our lives. Everything around us has a design and was designed by someone. Whether you are a teacher, a doctor, or an electrician, you will use design in one way or another, whether you’re aware of it or not. Design is a major component of our lives and it only continues to advance. I look forward to using design everyday in my life, no matter what it is I’m doing.

There are many sectors to design. Design can do many powerful things, but a designer must possess the superpowers in order to do those things. At its core, design is our most powerful tool.

Design comes from people’s interests, inspirations, and life experiences. This week’s readings touched on the four components of design, personas, and how design bridges the gap because thing one and two. From this week I gathered that personas are a key component to a designer being able to create something that is tailored to a particular population. Aside from personas, the 4 four components of design, are also very important to a designers role.

This weeks content made it very clear that emotions and emotional change is a major component of design. Understanding a clients needs and wants, and the emotional implications behind those things, allows a designer to produce a quality product that meets a client requirements. This ties into the concept of “new ideas.” One design may make someone feel a certain way, positive or negative, and a designer may play off those emotions to improve a design or create a “new” design, based off an already existing design. Emotions are a part of our everyday life and if designers ignored the emotional change design cultivated nothing would be improved or created. 

This week in design thinking we delved deeper into what it means to be a design thinker and the stories as told by design. We also have a better understanding of the impact design thinking and storytelling has on us. Design thinking can be used to help children in need of medical care; it’s used to invent and improve the everyday things we use. Design thinking is a part of our daily lives, whether we realize it or not. All the processes and inventions, and future inventions to come are thanks to design thinking. It’s more important than we realize.

From this week I took away there are many steps a designer must take before even beginning the planning process. Questions, interviews, and emotions play a major role in the design process. Each design tells a different story, and that story is how a design becomes something bigger. Design thinking is also problem solving. For every problem there is a solution , and it’s the designers job to solve those problems. Every design has a different story and that is why each design is so unique.