My Instruction Manual
A Personal Design Philosophy
by Jessica Jones
This presentation was given at Senior Symposia 2023 in the South Carolina School of the Arts at Anderson University (SC) on November 30, 2023.
Presentation Transcription
This is my personal design philosophy, My Instruction Manual. And this may not make sense right now, so we’ll come back to that idea later. But for now, let’s continue.
So to start off, I want you to think of yourself. Imagine yourself. Are you someone who goes by the rules, draws outside the lines, or speaks up when you see something? Are you able to be that person full of guidelines, rules, beliefs, and things that you will stand with or against without knowing what they are?
For me, this is what I need to follow — my instruction manual — to make sure I stand firm with what I know about design and who I am.
Now, I grew up in a full house with two parents and four siblings. At times it was hard for me to find out who I was and met so many people and a lot of different personalities. There are so many titles and categories that I could fit into that people saw me as that didn’t necessarily speak to the deeper parts of what I could do and who I am. I was always known for being one of the triplets or the five kids and not the person who I am, Jessica.
I was always asking myself, am I more than the people that surround me? Who am I? Always thinking things like, can I do something with my gifts or my gifts just as important as other people’s gifts? And the answer to the questions now are yes.
Yes, I’m more than just the people that surround me. Yes, I can do many different, many different and good things with my gifts. Yes, my gifts are just as good and useful like other people’s are.
Something my dad always used to say is that “you’re special.” Hearing this made me start to realize that I’m someone who can embrace and be who they are. Having people around you that can speak into your gifts and who you are as a person shows to be really important to who you become.
Along the road to discover myself, I’ve come to notice that designing is a unique gift. I believe that not everyone can design. I also think that designing can go so many different directions and look like so many different things. It’s not labeled just as one thing. Each one of us is given gifts that are uniquely chosen just for us.
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As I continue, and will continue to grow, I’m realizing that having that unique gift is truly a blessing and that I really work hard at growing the gifts that I have and am able to bless myself and others along the way.
Just as design is a unique gift, these types of gifts come with responsibility. Something I learned about responsibility from Ana Melendez is that, “to be inclusive is involving people to understand.”
As a designer, I have a sense of responsibility to include and embrace people for who they are, what they need and what I can do to help them. It’s not my place to harm anyone but to enforce who they are and showcase what is needed to best put forth specific things. This quote is also important because designing is not only to be inclusive and involving people, but also to take the time to understand them.
Growing up, I’ve learned that when you take the time to understand and truly listen to people, you can get so much more out of them in that relationship than if you just moved on and didn’t take the time to understand what they want and who they are.
Just as though I’m gifted with the ability to design and have the responsibility to include others,
I’m not only labeled as a designer.
I’m also someone who serves well, someone who loves their family, someone who takes relationships to heart, someone who loves football, someone who loves shoes, and lastly, someone who loves cars.
All of these images represent things that make up who I am. Just as a designer works behind the scenes for projects, there’s so much more to the person than what they can do for their project. Design for me is not only about designing for projects, but also about other things that produce who you are.
In the end, correlating to my thoughts and feelings about myself and what design is.
All of these things make up what I call my instruction manual. Just as a car model needs to be built, my philosophy takes thoughts in designing, relating to who I am, and it’s all forming everything together in one place and creating a location where all is laid out for me to be built for myself.
Thank you.
Senior Symposia
Senior Symposia is an annual event for the Department of Art+Design in the South Carolina School of the Arts at Anderson University (SC) where BFA Graphic Design Seniors present personal Design Philosophies, synthesizing and summarizing their experiences and perspectives over the course the program. These presentations act as markers in their developmental journey, bringing to light what they believe to be true about design, what design can do, and what they hope to do through design.
