Crazy 8’s and thirty-five banjos

I didn’t know what to expect from the trip to Google, only the fact that we were going to be working on a project that was in progress. Naturally, I went in with the intent to work on thesis. When they told us to start creating a journey map however, I felt stuck because I didn’t feel like I was at a point where I could put something up. I tried though. I tried, and it turned out to be somewhat helpful. Creating the journey map led to me having some discussions with my classmates, and I was able to open up my mind a little more to other ideas. The main problem with my thesis at that point in my process was that it was still unclear and I was filled with uncertainty.

Google’s method of brainstorming called Crazy 8’s was actually pretty helpful. The idea is to create 8 sketches, each done in one minute, on a sheet of paper. The time constraint was a little daunting, but I felt a little better about it than I usually would have because I had the experience of doing design charrettes in another class of mine, Creative Founder. It was a good exercise to try and let my mind go while I was doing these sketches and see what sorts of ideas appeared on the paper.

What I found the most interesting however, was the chat I had with one of the Google designers named Zach. When I told him about the ideas I had for thesis, he showed a lot of interest and starting spouting out thoughts and suggestions at lightening speed. I burned through a stack of post-its trying to jot down everything he was saying. His main piece of advice was to just start building and see what problem I can find from there. Zach talked about a show on National Geographic where people were sent out into the wilderness with only a certain number of items and one man just started making instruments. From there, Zach said if I end up making thirty-five banjos for my thesis, then that’s great. We joked a little about how it sounds like a quirky sitcom, but overall he was great to talk to and I was grateful for the time he gave. I’m also grateful to Google for being gracious enough to host us for a whole day.