Designing with People
Constellation- term 2
What do you hope to find out?
I hope that I will discover ways of work with designers and clients that would make the whole design process smoother and agreeable. From what I understand designing with people is all about listening to others’ input and finding a method that is simple and pain-free.
What are your interests in the topic?
Designing with people seems like the kind of topic that seems applicable and appropriate in all aspects of design. Out of all the courses that I looked at it seemed like one that I would use in my future practice/career.
How do you think it will apply to your practice?
I want to go into furniture/interior design. This is a highly client-based discipline that is all about communication; both listening and telling. Any methods that can be picked up through this topic is something that I can implement in those situations.
WEEK 2
‘Experts by experience’, ‘The hybrid designer’: What do you feel about these terms? Do you agree with them?
As the world develops so does design. It is necessary for the all of us to become hybrid designers. Experience of past design failures and their implementations is the reason for this. Careless design has led to the world being in danger of total collapse. The new way of counteracting this is “hybrid”; hybrid cars are the new thing. With new restrictions on fuel emissions the world needed to change; designers needed to change their approach to meet the needs of the people.
By the time we become influential in the world of design? It will become even more imperative to be outward thinking and ethical, people will expect the next big thing to be bigger and better than the last, which in my opinion, pushes us to be the best that we can be.
When it comes to the phrase “experts by experience”, new designers don’t always have a lot of experience, however, they may have the next big idea that could change the world. Obviously, experience counts for a lot in the world of employment, it leads to trust and a committed clientele, but people can get stuck in their ways and this can lead to a stunt in development. New designers grow up in the world of the current, they see where the world has short comings and needs to change. The desire to make change happen has never been more apparent in the world of design. For the last 100 years or so design has been careless and not always sustainably sourced; global warming and climate change are the result of this, growing up we see news articles and documentaries about this horror every day; this had led to us all to believe change needs to happen. Is this a form of experience? Yes, but it isn’t one many employers or influential people consider to be important or even matter at all.
What is your design process?
As a maker my design process is:
Once handed a brief, I start to look at correlated themes and any artist movements that could be considered relevant or justifiable.
After this I tend to brain storm initial ideas that come from the main theme of the project; this is normally influenced by tutorials that I may have had or group discussions.
This is when I start to write down or explore my initial ideas that could be developed; this could be a theme, outcome, product, or style
I then develop one or two of these designs; I take into consideration my time frame, workshop availability, materials and funding, and then whether or not it is an achievable task.
Once I have settled on my design I then start to plan, or design, how I am going to move forward. I ask myself “what workshop space do I need to get into? How and when am I going to source my materials? In what order do I want to make aspects of the design?”
After this I actually start making and developing my idea into a finished article. All the while I am assessing how the process is going and what I would do differently for future projects and other undertakings.
Personally, I find that my design process is still in its infancy. I feel that it is almost narrow mind and unopen to radical change. That being said, I know that this will change and improve as I develop as a designer and experience what actually works best for me.
Thinking about a recent design brief, who, when, why and how might you Include people in your design process?
On the maker course I find that there is a lot of communication and involvement in each other's projects. There are of course the allotted tutorials and group discussions, but there is a strong support network between students. You will often find students help each other develop ideas and adding their own learnt knowledge in a way to help get the most out of what they are going to undertake. There is always room for improvement though. Thinking back to my own designs and responses to briefs, I feel like I could have utilized the people and knowledge around me in a more efficient and beneficial way. Perhaps I could have conducted surveys into the relevance of my designs- this course is one that houses many different people from craftsperson to designer. This could have led to my outcomes potentially being developed in a different way; I may have focused on a different discipline to get the job done or chosen a different material or worked them in a different way. At this point in my design career I am still developing how I work and generally approach a task by using the people around me I can make sure that I have a strong design process that gets the job done efficiently but also means that I have the best work method for me personally, this will only happen by taking the advice of others and trying, testing, and adapting the results for myself.