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Week 10

This week I was both surprised and proud when I saw my classmates final inventions and posters. It shocked me how different our ways of thinking were, from the topics we gravitated towards, to the actual construction of the posters, everything was so unique and individualized. Then I watched the video from Braun, called Design that Matters. It seemed like most designers are celebrated for their ability to contract something of use that also tells a remarkable story in a beautiful way. The designer in this short film designed an incense holder that showed the passage of time through notched holes. I thought it was so simply beautiful. What’s more, is I realized this idea of unique design is not just up and coming in the United States but in many other countries as well. One Source, from Denmark, mentioned aborter company in Norway, and the list goes on and on. It’s truly incredible.

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Week 9

This week, the sources we looked at were fairly broad. I drew the most inspiration from Frank Chimeros’ book. In chapter 10 he talks a lot about designs as a form of gift. The idea of drawing inspiration from others is like receiving free gifts, no physical object changes hands, but both parties can benefit. Ultimately he argued that giving a gift is only as powerful as the user’s experience with the gift. Of course that is true for design as well. The best designs are things that delight the customer by doing something easily for them that they could have probably done themselves but with more hassle and effort. The rest of the sources showed that not only will thinking in a design state of mind lead to better ideas when you know the formula, but it will also boost your companies profit and overall wellbeing.
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Week 8

This week I learned all about how ideas formulate and change through time. In the long run, technologies such as 3-D printing and prototype development have become increasingly more and more individualized. However, even in the short term design is something that changes with location and project suites often. It’s important when innovating, to travel and to learn as much as you can about different cultures and personal ideas on what’s going on. Gaining insights is important and then It’s important to grow from there and develop something new, and then keep developing.
Moving from place to place is important and having a solid foundation of a spot where you can go to ideate is crucial. We take in so much data as designers, it’s important to reconnect, process, and develop those ideas into products as much as you can.
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Week 7

This week we learned about a diverse set of topics revolving around ideation. In class we made prototypes. At first I felt like I wasn’t sure where to start when it came to building a model of my product. However, Harvard Business Review and the Design Thinking Bootleg helped me understand that prototyping is more about understanding the client experience in one specific aspect of your product. The aspect that I focused on was my brush. When you think about the journey of the customer and what delights them, as mentioned in the Shape of Design, it becomes a simple and fast prototype to build models and let people try it out. The Interaction of Design Foundation was very clear about getting yourself out of the “analysis paralysis” mindset, and begin building instead of thinking. This is a way to move into the flow mind-state and forget about your obsessions with perfection.
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Week 6

This week I learned a lot about creativity and ideation. It’s interesting because while some of the sources were based on original thinking and how to spur more innovative thoughts, the other half of the sources focused on using inspiration and idea stealing as the way to come up with new ideas. After spending time reading through the Harvard Business Review and FastCompanies’ article on Sleep, Ive come to a more rounded idea of what creativity really is.
In one sense, creativity is the ability of your brain to identify patterns between things that aren’t already held in close cognitive reference. This is why, when we sleep our loose neuroplasticity is accentuated, and we can create better ideas. There are other practices, such as meditation that can help improve creativity as well.
On the other hand, sometimes copying ideas is the best way to come up with something creative. Shakespeare, Beyoncé, and Bob Dylan are notorious creative copiers. Taking another person’s ideas and transforming it into something new is an appropriate and honestly successful way to innovate as well.
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Week 5

This week I was really saturated in the ideas of connecting oneself to the costumer or person you are designing for. Kevin Bathune talked about how his team found ways to place themselves in the customer’s jounrney through real life experience or in-depth research. Likewise the Shape of Design talked about how you must totally saturate yourself in your issue and keep moving, keep coming up with ideas no matter how different they are, they are all in route to a solution; “Design can have diversity in its solutions to problems without compromising the success of any of them.”
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Week 4

This week I was able to make a lot of connections between what I read last week to the new information being given. I particularly loved seeing the connection between how Design moves through us to others. Last week, it was important to note that although we are the ones coming up with ideas, our ideas have to answer the issues and problems of the people we are serving. It can not just be to serve ourselves or create something we think is cool. This week, our readings took it a step forward to say that even as storytellers, we are only allowed to do what we do because others are listening. Without them we would be totally lost. And worse than that we would have no reason to do what we are doing.
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Week 3

This week I learned that there are many processes and patterns to design. Just like the experience industry, design takes something in its raw or undeveloped format and changes it into something polished and sellable. We often change and improve what is already in existence in the world. However, humans have the ability to discover original things as well. When we are in our flow and truly enjoying what we are doing, we aren’t inhibited by ego and are free to create what we feel.
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Week 2

My overall impression this week is as follows; humans have been on this planet for a long time. We are constantly designing and changing it. From the dawn of time we have played off each others ideas and developed them further. Some designs are used to tell a story. Some designs put you through a story that the designer is telling. Either way, designs change they way we feel about and relate to our world.
Interior design has the capacity to change someones moods/ thoughts and feelings. Design of products have the same power.
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Week 1

Week 1 Design Thinking Blog

During Week 1 I read and watched a lot of information about what Design Thinking is and what it means to people. There are a lot of different views on Design Thinking and what it is. Mostly it’s agreed that Designers are responsible for seeing issues, or stories with missing pieces. They bridge the gap between how something is done and Why it’s done. By recognizing that, they can create things to tell stories that impact peoples lives for the better. Wether you’re changing a way a sign appears or developing a product you are a human with views on how the world is perceived in a healthy way. A designer keeps things improving and moving forward.