IDEO

Here are a few of my thoughts on DESIGN. We watched the infamous clip about the design company IDEO and I have recorded here some of my thoughts...

Use science as a tool to help you design – not the other way around. This statement made in class today has stuck with me throughout the day. How often do we try to use science to answer everything? If something doesn’t work, or we need a solution it almost seems easier to turn to science – it’s concrete, it deals with facts, and often we are more comfortable hearing an answer from science.

I like the thought that we are all designers – we simply need to be reminded of it. This struck a note of truth with me – thinking about my day-to-day life it is so true – I am constantly designing – everything from my schedule and how I do things to my future plans and career.

In the movie about IDEO the “boss” figure stated: “We don’t become experts on any one subject; rather we are experts on the process.” I wholeheartedly believe with this statement. I have really applied this as I have been in my major. My major, which requires me to be exposed to and learn a variety of new technologies almost daily, has taught me much about the process of learning a new technology. My experience in learning Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, Dreamweaver, Final-Cut, and a myriad of other technologically based programs has taught me that there is no need to learn a particular program. Rather it is much more useful to learn a set of principles that will allow you to learn a new program when there is a need. One example of this happened this past year – my professor asked me to make a movie advertising a product they were developing using Final Cut. I was not an expert at Final Cut but I do consider myself very good at the process of learning new technologies – the result: it took me about 45 minutes to acquaint myself with the program and then I didn’t have any problems afterward creating the movie. Rather than focusing our energies on learning facts – how much more valuable is it to focus on learning processes and principles and then applying them to different situations?

Another quote from the movie was: “Fail often in order to succeed sooner.” Why do we naturally fear failure? Doesn’t failure just mean that we are that much closer to success? I think it does – to an extent. We have to fail with the intention of learning from the failure process – if we fail and simply become discouraged, frustrated, or angry then it really was just a failure. But, if we fail with the intent of learning a lesson from the failure, of ruling something out, or discovering a new principle – then we haven’t failed at all – we have simply learned in a new way. It is also crucial to not only fail often and learn, but to learn from the frequent failures of others. It’s been said that: “Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery.” Twisting that just a little, I believe that we should build upon the failures of others – improving their ideas and combining them with our own.

Finally I liked the thought that was left with the viewer: “Look all around you. Everything was designed by someone.” We take too many things for granted and we satisfy ourselves with the status quo – how many things could be improved if we just took the time to look around, identify “failures,” and focus on the process of designing?