Cultivating Curiosity 101: The Recursive Why
Observe Daily, and Observe The Daily
I love to question why things are the way they are.
I’m not sure if you noticed it before McDonald’s changed their prices, but a single fillet-o-fish used to cost $2, while a double fillet-o-fish cost $5.75. It made no sense, at least from my perspective, and I made many such observations on a daily basis.
When I came to the realisation that this was a valuable trait to have as a designer, I began to see how it links to everything we do in our daily lives and started to develop a keen interest in design. To me, design is simply a continuous process of noticing, questioning and critiquing. This somewhat habitual process I define as observation is something that we can all practice on a daily basis.
Notice
Being a rather passive action, noticing doesn’t require much cognitive resource. Sometimes, we make these observations even when it was not a conscious decision to do so. You’d notice different things depending on your experiences. For example, if you’re a coffee nerd like me, you’d probably notice completely different aspects of a cup of coffee from the average person. Someone interested in design would probably notice the colour scheme, typography or whitespace in literally every poster or signboard they walk past. And maybe someone with experience in manufacturing would notice how our everyday devices are moulded and fitted together. The list goes on.
Question
The key to understanding just about anything is asking the correct ‘whys’. This doesn’t have to be complex. It starts by questioning yourself on your decision-making. Why is your room arranged the way it is? Why do you wake up at this time? Why do you enjoy doing that? Simple, but curious questions to ask yourself eventually develop into a greater curiosity about why the world is the way it is.
Critique
Only after seeing, then understanding, could we possibly move towards improving. Design crit is a process involving different stakeholders evaluating ideas and sharing their opinions. Simplified to apply to your daily lives, this involves structuring your thoughts and sharing your ideas with others. You’re here, at this very moment, reading an example of a critique: this article is my critique of curiosity.
Observing is the simple answer to cultivating curiosity — Notice what others notice. Question what others question. Critique what others critique.
And feel free to critique my critique of curiosity.
