Design Monologue 01

Working in a creative field is often coupled with constant anxiety of “not knowing”. Designers learn through a rigorous process how to deal with the many frustrations comprising design as both, a verb and a noun. They practice what to do with their hands and few lucky ones eventually find comfort in the discomfort of making. In this capacity, designers also tend to develop certain parameters of aesthetic and practical standards, against which they learn to evaluate themselves and their work; a loose visual, formal and functional criterion that helps define what a “good” versus a “not-so-good” design(ed) outcome is. This is indeed inevitable (for all practical intents and purposes), yet remains purely subjective. A designer or an artist is therefore prone to falling into the trap of lofty claims when it comes to working with members of a community that may have never engaged in, or been exposed to, a creative process. To approach a group of individuals with a set of expectations, whether formal or conceptual, is to assume that you know someone else’s answer to their own dilemma. Such predisposition of supposed knowledge carries at its essence unbridled arrogance; it dictates a rather hierarchical relationship of “teacher” and “student” rather than a more democratic and parallel alliance of a “collaborator” or “participant”. However unintentional in some cases, this method of “working together” renders itself counter-productive and congests channels of feedback and communication with intimidation, uncertainty and skepticism. Aspiring to be change agents, designers have to therefore invest in the rather spiritual practice of unlearning; ridding oneself of all assumed knowledge, of all illusions of power, bringing them closer to humility and real collaboration.