I’ve learned many things throughout the semester, and while I’ll think back to most of them throughout my career, I found that there were three distinct lessons that I will take with me and use in each and every design endeavor I find myself in. The result of testing and trying things that I wasn’t originally comfortable with or maybe wasn’t the best at executing was realizing the ways in which I can improve. I’ve been able to highlight my weaknesses and strengths and form a collection of thoughts from all of the successes and failures throughout the semester. Please find my thoughts (and their inspirations) below.
Don’t be afraid to fail at writing the first, second, or third time. Drafting is invaluable.
This is a lesson that I’ve often had to reteach myself. Like most people I’ve been a victim of writer’s block. This semester I learned that realistically you aren’t a “victim,” but simply just a writer who may be in denial about their work. I’ve always hated outlining and drafting and revising. It wasn’t until we dove into John McPhee’s work and learned the importance of drafting, and of facing one’s own fear of failure in writing, that it clicked for me. In McPhee’s “Draft No. 4,” he addresses a multitude of writing errors through storytelling and offers advice about simplicity in revision, changing the words in boxes. The words in boxes represent things that could be presented better, or opportunities to elaborate and explain. I’ve started to approach some of my own writing this way, and I feel more in control. I am not a passive reader or writer, but an editor in my own story. Moving forward I’d like to improve my own grammar in my work and I’d like to approach writing as a journey, rather than a grueling means to a destination.
Research, when done well, can fuel each and every design insight.
I could’ve improved greatly in my research this semester. I’m proud of what I was able to offer during Bridge 3 and 4, but didn’t feel that I truly had a grasp on what I wanted to convey about my neighborhood until I had seen the way others approached their research. I’ve understood that this is just part of the process. I was very appreciative for our visit to the Jewish Cultural Center and the lecture we were given about secondary research because I feel that I was able to make the right judgement calls about which sources were most meaningful to my project. However, I would’ve liked to develop a more open-ended research itinerary for interviews. What I mean by saying that good research can fuel every design insight is that it enables you to ask the hard hitting questions. I think one of the hiccups in learning about something and becoming an expert is continuing to think that you are expert. For me, this meant using my own research to occasionally make assumptions about the neighborhood I was researching. Moving forward I want to make sure that I’m looking at situations from every angle, that I’m researching my topic fully and wholeheartedly which will then allow me to make thoughtful decisions about my own concepts and designs.
As a designer, make sure that you are asking the right questions, not simply to your peers, but to yourself.
This insight is fed through my previous thought on well-thought out research. I learned this semester that it is crucial that you are asking the right questions period. Not just to the team you’re working with, or to the people you interview, but to yourself. I noticed my lack in this toward the middle of the semester and really tried to fix the problem from there. I started asking “How might we change …” and “Why is this important to …” and my entire process changed. When you begin to ask yourself questions that will ultimately benefit your projects and feed them the insights you need, everything changes. This also goes hand in hand with trying your best not to make assumptions about the people or the place you may be learning about. You have to approach things from the ground up and actually take into consideration what these people or these places might be telling you underneath the surface. Malgo was able to pose these types of questions for us in class. She would ask us to fill in a statement like “While I was walking I noticed … which made me wonder…” These types of questions don’t just aid in finding a solution, but in also reframing your own perspective and your own observations. I realized that it was normal for me to overlook some of the things I found in my research or observations because my blinders were on, but I now know that I have to consider every angle in order to better equip myself to present the value of an argument.
