I am just learning as I walk through life.
I am just learning as I walk through life.
I am a Hispanic-Latino woman, that since a little girl has been given the opportunity to live in various counties. My life journey began in Rome, where as a little girl I loved walking along the charming monochromatic gray streets lined with tiny colorful stores. Years later, we moved to Washington D.C., where I saw a lot of Roman influence and memorable infrastructure. My final destination was Panama, my home country, which has a unique look that contrasted between an incredible skyline of tall buildings and the old city of small houses full of vibrant colors. Now being in New Orleans, which in a sense is very similar to Panama, has made me appreciate how beautiful every culture is in its own way. The clash of different cultures and geographies has been an inspiration; it has presented me with a unique living experience that has changed my perspective as well as ignited my creativity and curiosity in a variety of ways.
Before I started the Design Thinking for Collective Impact course, I had just one week of previous semester class experience and some insights from my cousin about the Design Thinking process, but it was mostly a hazy picture of the Stanford Hexagon Model process. Students at Stanford focused on other people’s needs rather than their own, resulting in a human-centered problem-solving approach. The process has five non-linear key components which are empathy, define, ideate, prototype, and test that enable them to find a solution.
“Design Thinking is just another method in the tool box. I use many methods, and have a big toolbox. A combination of experiences.” says Mari de Mater O’Neil, a Puerto Rican, creative director.
“Everything that you study and you can put into your toolkit might change the way you approach problems, and the tools you have to produce a solution and understanding different uses and demographics” says Omari Souza, a New York designer and professor.
Throughout the semester, through class lectures and designer interviews, I learned that the Stanford process is not the only design method or tool available, instead, there are many like the IDEO design process, Google Design Sprints, SAP user-centered design, and many more. Good designers and even rookie designers should be able to understand and toggle between these different processes and have a big tool kit of processes and methods that contain the Stanford process as one of the methods but not the only one. Design thinking is a system, within a system, as a designer you will often leave details out that you do not really need for a project. Sometimes one process might not fit some problems, and in that case, you might need to look for another method or for a different issue that might be a major problem within an organization. While the defining terms and the number of phases of the different Human-Centered Design processes vary across disciplines and organizations, location, and environment, the core concepts of empathy, teamwork, and iteration remain constant.
This design thinking process is simple and easy which allows prototyping for new products, there is a huge value in prototyping and experimentation. It is a flexible way of creating a version of a product or concept that allows the designer to experiment, test theories, and iterate on ideas; it also shows the customer the value of the design and allows them to experience it before spending time and resources into a structured creation. With several ways to approach it, it contains many starting points for solving problems and innovating. The method is intended to be non-linear, complex, messy, and to be applicable to every kind of designer’s process, regardless of profession. Personally, I don’t believe it is completely wrong, but instead that there are a lot of things to consider and keep in mind in each step depending on the situation and relevance of its need.
Regardless of the profession, empathy is a valuable asset to have in life. To create my own design thinking process, I used the five steps on the Stanford method and included all the things that I think should happen or be considered on each step depending on its need. However, empathy is fundamental to everything in my design, even though it is non-linear and you can step forward and backward, empathy is the central aspect. Being willing to build empathy with others and making ideas more real so that you can test them out and incorporate them more easily. Being able to recognize whether you are bringing too much of your own perception into play, as well as learning to balance and differentiate what happens from what you believe. Understand that we are shaping our beliefs all the time as we walk through life. And this is important to do, not only for the people you are designing for but also the people you are designing with, which leads to the importance of cohesively working together.
“Make connections between people to be more able to come up with solutions and respond to what is in front of us. Co-create, co-learn, co-develop, co-design” Ann Yoachim, professor at Tulane School of Architecture, and Director of the Small Center for Collaborative Design
As professor Yoachim said, it is very important to work together and make connections with people during the process because it can help ease the process. A continuous sharing of skills, diverse experiences, and what other people can bring to the table can help. Bring as many diverse staff members to the project as possible and it will provide different viewpoints, resulting in a better outcome. Don’t believe you have to do it in a bubble; there is always support available, and don’t dismiss anyone’s imagination. With empathy be able to recognize where people and their ideas are coming from, and encourage diversity for better success.
But the most important thing that not necessarily is talked about in the Design Thinking process, is sustainability.
“My thoughts on Social Innovation are that everything needs to be sustainable, if something is going to fall apart as soon as you leave then probably it wasn’t worth doing” Maria Rogal, American, Political Science, and Design
Sustainability in design is critical because it aims to minimize negative environmental impacts as well as the health and comfort of building occupants, thus enhancing building efficiency. The primary goals of sustainability are to eliminate the use of nonrenewable energy, reduce pollution, and build safe, sustainable ecosystems. The idea is that when you leave a project or design at its finishing states, you would have also considered a sustainable plan for it to follow so that it is able to continue working in a correct manner. For example, factories are great innovative designs created to benefit millions of industries and consumerism around the world, but they are not sustainable for the environment. The idea is to not let these things happen, but consider any aspect of it.
In Natasha Jen’s video talk called “ Design Thinking is Bullsh*t” she stressed the value of “crit” or design criticism, in the design process, being able as a practitioner to solicit constructive reviews and critique from different kinds of people, and considering their perspectives. Perspectives on needs, inspiration, aspiration, behavior, culture, influence, and things like these are exactly what make you different; and including more will only make you more successful in creating a better world. These are all things that I have previously, and believe are really valuable and important to consider while going through the design process. Throughout the Design Thinking Course I have been able to learn about the importance of feedback, criticism, and being open-minded.
I am an Architecture Major student, and through the trajectory of my studies by combining it with courses like this one of Design Thinking I have been able to realize how similar they are, and how useful it is to apply the process in different fields. With Michael Lee Poy’s interview, an Architect, I was able to understand that most of the time I was already using the design thinking process in architecture without even realizing it because it is already embedded in my way of working, and it is always an ongoing process of making, feedback, editing, iterating, and re-making until it reaches a sustainable and workable idea. Due to this, I am a person that has always been open to feedback and getting ideas and critiques from different persons, whether I liked it or not. Yet, I still feel that I didn’t fully appreciate feedback the way it deserved it because most of the time in architecture they crumble all the hopes and visions you had for a project. Now, after design thinking, I feel it has given me more appreciation and open-mindedness for feedback because it is a critical element in the success of any initiative or project. It is critical to consider how others think, and how they respond to or see your project, and not be selfish. In the back of my mind, I always knew that when I was going to design it had to be what the owner would like but with my own ideas as well, but throughout this course, I learned that there is way more to it than that. You need to be constantly in touch with the people you are designing for, connect with them, understand them, and do all of this with empathy. There is always a need for making a better version for the intended audience, and a lot of study and analysis that comes before even starting the project.
I believe that the more experiences you have, the better, so other people will help you discover additional or unnoticed information that may make a significant difference in your design. In the end, I am just learning as I walk through life.
References:
Mater O’Neil, M. (2019) “Pluriversal Design Interview for SISE 3010.”
Souza, O. (2019) “Pluriversal Design Interview for SISE 3010.”
Dam, R., & Siang, T. (2020). Design thinking: Getting started with empathy. Retrieved May 01, 2021, from https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/design-thinking-getting-started-with-empathy#:~:text=Empathy%20is%20important%20for%20us,people%20we%20are%20designing%20for.
Yoachim, A. (2019) “Pluriversal Design Interview for SISE 3010.”
Rogal, M. (2019) “Pluriversal Design Interview for SISE 3010.”
Jen, N. (2018). Design Thinking is Bullsh*t. Retrieved May 01, 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_raleGrTdUg
Lee Poy, M. (2019) “Pluriversal Design Interview for SISE 3010.”
