Hustle culture is toxic. It has become more prevalent in our generation that we have to be working 24/7 in order to be successful. Prioritizing your career’s success over family, friends and social life can sound impressive to others. But what does that leave you?

If you take a minute and think about your work ethic, which describes you the best? A) Procrastinate until the last minute, or B) Work on a project until 4 in the morning and don’t take any breaks. I feel like most people would answer A, but ultimately still get their work done. The ones who answered B, you gotta respect that. The thing is as long as the work gets done and the product is something that you are ultimately happy with, there is no right answer. Today, there is a lot of pressure to succeed and I’m sure a lot of people have heard that they don’t “work as hard as the previous generation” since we aren’t at the same place that they were at our age. The difference can be attributed to economy, politics, social circumstances and so many other reasons; but it’s created this expectation that we need to work twice as hard in order to be successful.

Working hard will Lead to Results

There is no doubt at all that working hard will lead to success and growth. Being the person that outworks everyone else will create a higher sense of value to an employer and may even lead to some sense of superiority. Hustling all the time will create drive, discipline and a stronger work ethic that encourage growth. I’ve personally worked weekends and all-nighters just to deliver a project to a client. But if I really took the time to think about it, did that put me ahead? Or did it just set the precedent that I was available to work outside business hours and am willing to set aside my own personal life for the sake of the company?

The Toxicity of this Mindset

If you are consistently trying to outdo others or prove that you don’t sleep or eat because you are working so hard, are you really succeeding? Working 10+ hour days can lead to declining mental health and lack the engagement that humans as social creatures need. Employers love to pit candidates against each other to see who is willing to sacrifice more to get the job but that isn’t the practice that we should be feeding into. There’s an air of competitiveness among peers who have entered the working industry and employers will expect entry-level and minimum wage workers to give 110% to a job with little return. Entrepreneurs like Elon Musk, love to glamorize hustle culture. He stated on Twitter that the number of hours required to “change the world” ranged from 80 to over 100 hours per week. Obviously hard work will pay off. But expecting the same level of sacrifice from minimum wage employees or entry-level workers who don’t know any better is a damaging mindset. It is still 100% possible to find success and growth and still have healthy boundaries between our wellness and our work.

Shifting the Mentality

Millennials and Gen Zs need to realize the power and impact that we hold in the world. We have already seen immense changes in political policies, environmental standards and human rights over the past two decades. Millennials have called for pay transparency because we realized that the only people benefitting from that policy are the employers; and standing up to employers and confronting this toxic mindset is the same. It is time to create boundaries and don’t check our work email outside of business hours. We need to learn a healthy work-life balance and not feel ashamed for prioritizing our mental wellness. This will lead to more positive changes in the workforce by making it clear that we won’t stand for outdated policies, harmful practices and toxic mindsets.

Felicite Keng is one of the graduates of the York/Sheridan Program in Design class of 2021. Catch Felicite’s work showcased at the online graduate showcase on April 20–21. Visit ysdn2021.com for more details.

As a designer who frequently works with images, I am often on the search for good quality pictures to use in my work. However, I found that finding free stock images or taking my own photographs was often limiting and didn’t amount to many inspiring visual options. For some, this might not be an issue, but for those who love working with images and struggle to find great high resolution images, I would highly recommend looking into public domain image collections. I have personally been using public domain images in my work for about two years now and have been amazed at the quality of sources and the graphic possibilities that have stemmed from my own exploration and collection of open source content.

What is public domain content?

Public domain content is essentially any creative material that is not protected by intellectual property or copyright laws. To put it simply, public domain content is owned by the public and therefore free to use without restrictions. Although there are a several reasons why content might become public domain, here are a few common reasons outlined by Richard Stim of the Stanford Libraries:

• the copyright has expired
• the copyright owner failed to follow copyright renewal rules
• the copyright owner deliberately places it in the public domain, known as “dedication,” or
• copyright law does not protect this type of work.

It is important to note that not all of the content found in public domain collections is copyright free and it is crucial that you verify the copyright restrictions of the content that you wish to use. It is also important to note that collections of public domain images may have slightly different restrictions. For example, a collection of images may have copyright restrictions on the entire group of images, but the individual images may not be restricted (Stim, 2019). However, to make this differentiation easier, many organizations that publicize open source images will have filter options that allow you to search for only copyright free material.

How to use it!

Now, you may be wondering: how can I use it? Although it is legal to publish public domain content as it is and sell it, I personally refrain from doing this. When I use public domain material, I select a section or portion of the material to use it in a way that has little to do with the original format of the content. If you enjoy making zines and using collaged material, public domain content is perfect for finding and combining snippets of material to create original work, without having to worry about breaking copyright laws and running into legal trouble. Also, there are all sorts of image manipulation techniques such as recolouring, texturizing, and image tracing, which can allow you to repurpose and render public domain content in your own style.

Where can you find it?

One way to find public domain content is to simply slap “public domain images” into your preferred search bar and skim over the searches and articles until you find something that you like. Another option, is to look up institutions that have collections of art, film, photography, etc. such as museums, libraries, and other educational institutions and search their websites for public domain content. You’d be surprised to find out just how many institutions publish public domain content. A couple of sources that I personally use frequently are: the Smithsonian’s Open Access collection (https://www.si.edu/openaccess); the New York Public Library’s Digital Collections (https://digitalcollections.nypl.org); the Library of Congress’ Free to Use and Reuse Sets (https://www.loc.gov/free-to-use/); and lastly the Public Domain Review’s content (https://publicdomainreview.org/).

Things to look out for

As previously mentioned, it is extremely crucial that you pay close attention to the copyright restrictions of your images when you are looking through digital collections. I am reiterating this because many collections of public domain images will include images that are restricted by copyright laws, and if you aren’t looking out for these restrictions every step of the way, you might accidentally use an image that is protected by copyright (which is not a good look). Another thing to look out for is image/sample quality. Although there is a lot of wonderful content in the world of open access media, you may run into some files which are either too high quality, or too low quality to be usable. Content that has a very large file size may cause your software to crash while working with it and content that has a small file size, may distort or appear to be low resolution if you have to scale it up. To get around this I would recommend looking out for file sizes and content quality when downloading from public domain collections to save yourself some trouble when you go to use them in your preferred software.

With that, my fellow image enjoyers — good luck on your journey!

References:
Stim, Richard. “Welcome to the Public Domain.” Stanford Copyright and Fair Use Center, 4 Dec. 2019, fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/public-domain/welcome/.

Alan Frenkel-Andrade is one of the graduates of the York/Sheridan Program in Design class of 2021. Catch Alan’s work showcased at the online graduate showcase on April 20–21. Visit ysdn2021.com for more details.

“So, what do you do?”. A question most of us tend to dread, not because we don’t want to answer the question, but because we know that there will be multiple follow up questions usually unrelated to our actual profession or questions which come from a place of ignorance. Especially with design being in or grouped with the fine arts, most follow up questions (whether direct or indirect), revolve around job security or our worth/value in society. As a designer, I find this very interesting because we are taught to see our worth and value as artists, designers, and creatives in society. We know the kind of jobs we can get after graduation based on the market, evolving technology, as well as our fellow alumni who have secured positions at huge tech companies.

The past and future have always relied on designers for almost everything; from advertising, furniture, and books, to websites and everything in between. Despite these arguments we can make about design being an essential part of our lives, we often feel like we are not as valuable as other professions and career paths, even after explaining these points to others. I still find myself having to emphasize that I don’t just “make posters all day for a living”. Even if I was doing that, why is this not seen as a valid or even a sought-after profession?

I grew up with a brother in electrical engineering. He was always asked more questions and had more conversations with others about his profession because people knew what kind of questions to ask and could see the value in the work he was doing. I found the opposite was true for me. People didn’t ask questions (unless they were ignorant ones) because they did not even know what questions to ask besides “what kind of job will you get with that?” or if I was even going to graduate with a bachelor’s degree. These are valid questions and I would always answer them without any hesitation, but it did make me feel like I was not seen as valuable simply because I was not in a STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) program like my brother. Of course, there were exceptions to this, especially when talking to other creatives who knew more about the world of design, but these encounters were much more far and few between.

Not only do we as designers feel like we need to prove ourselves to our friends and family, but we need to educate employers and clients about our worth. I have heard countless stories from other designers about being told that they should only charge a certain amount for a logo or that they have just been taken advantage of by clients. There is a lot of gaslighting and manipulation involved with people who want to use us for our work and design skills, but do not want to give us reasonable compensation. For the sake of ourselves and fellow designers, it is our job to educate others about our work, creative process, and the value we provide. It is also important to recognize these red flags, know when to say no and turn down an offer if it is clear that they are not responding well to negotiations.

On the other hand, those who do not know much about design or know the ‘right’ questions to ask should remain curious and listen. Most designers are excited and more than willing to have a conversation about their work and what they have been up to, even if you can’t relate to it in any way.

We are designers, creatives, artists ∴ we are valuable.

Emily Malcolm is one of the graduates of the York/Sheridan Program in Design class of 2021. Catch Emily’s work showcased at the online graduate showcase on April 20–21. Visit ysdn2021.com for more details.

YSDN 2017–2021 ∴ an aesthetic rollercoaster ride

Coming out of a specialized arts high school after a decade of fine arts, I craved new ways to apply my creative skills. This led to an intensive year of interior design at Sheridan College, before starting over and exploring other creative fields. A pivotal moment was when I got accepted into Sheridan Illustration and York-Sheridan Design. It was my fork in the road, having to choose between leaning in to the familiar and going out into the unknown. For this reason and that, perhaps against my better judgement, I took a chance on design. And here I am, four years later — taking a pause at a new crossroads.

These four years were a new kind of rollercoaster. Between two separate school strikes and a pandemic lockdown was a whirlwind of mixed emotions. Early on in YDSN, I came to notice just how talented my peers were. Creative work in all shapes and sizes gave me a sense of awe, and I tried to vocalize my admiration as much as I could. However, somewhere in the stressful middle years of YSDN, some of that admiration morphed into envy, insecurity and even shame — for not being able to make the same great projects that I saw.

Why did that happen? Perhaps designers and creatives in general are prone to the cognitive distortion of seeing others’ work as better, more professional, or more impressive than their own. In 1978, psychologists Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes named the feeling of “phoniness in people who believe that they are not intelligent, capable or creative despite evidence of high achievement” as imposter syndrome (Richards, 2015). Imposter syndrome happens when we get good at something, but then dismiss its value for the same reason that it feels natural to us — that something so “easy” couldn’t be of much worth to the world. Instead, all the diverse talent we see around us fuel the voices of doubt in our heads, seizing every opportunity to tell us that we don’t have much to offer, that we don’t actually deserve to be here. It’s a sad irony that the talents and skills that differentiate us the most can be the same things that make us feel most insignificant.

In my Professional Aspects and Design Management classes this year, we were tasked with writing up professional bios for ourselves: who we are, what we do, and our unique approach to design. As you may imagine, this was not an easy task. But the process of writing two design bios back to back (and reading a few of my peers’ bios) somehow began to shift my perspective. Indeed, I know there are many design-related things I’m not the best at. I put the pain in ad campaigns, and cannot code a nice website (without tears). I don’t know the first thing about 3D modelling, and my motion design chops are elementary at best. But I can dream up compelling concepts and write a killer rationale, and create things that causes you to pause and linger. I can build synergy in a team, refine and polish details, and exceed expectations with a well-thought out creative process leading to a unique solution. Perhaps I will never be a web designer or a 3D designer or an editorial designer, but thanks to YSDN I will always be a design thinker. And the value of all these things will not diminish according to the ease with which I can achieve them.

Truth is, even if we have different or fewer credentials than others, our work will always be just as valid, just as significant (and often just as impressive) as the work we admire. At any point in time, there is most likely someone out there looking up to you and your work — the same way you look up to someone else. I’m still figuring it out, but I think when we step out of the scarcity mindset and make peace with the inner voice of doubt, we can find joy in sincerely celebrating strengths of our own and those around us. By doing so, we become better designers — simply by virtue of being better humans who can embrace themselves and others, with kindness.

As for me, I believe I will always be a hybrid creative. No matter how far I run, it seems the arts will not stop running through my veins. I know now that I don’t have to give up one for the other, that a designer can be an artist and vice versa — and be equally valid as both. So for as long as I am alive, I will try to exhaust all of my creative energy, interests and abilities to build a kinder and more thoughtful world. Wherever we find ourselves 5 or 50 years from now, my hope is that we as YSDN grads will not constrain ourselves to the job titles on our resumes, but that we will let our creative potential run free — with no regrets.

Goodbye, YSDN. You were a memorable one.

To our graduating class, cheers to making it through these tough years.

The future looks more hopeful with you guys in it.

2021– ∴ stepping in to a new unknown

References:
‌Richards, C. (2015, October 26). Learning to Deal With the Impostor Syndrome. The New York Times.
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/26/your-money/learning-to-deal-with-the-impostor-syndrome.html?auth=-google1tap

Elise Wang is one of the graduates of the York/Sheridan Program in Design class of 2021. Catch Elise’s work showcased at the online graduate showcase on April 20–21. Visit ysdn2021.com for more details.

Think of me as goldilocks, it has taken me three tries at this whole higher education thing to get something that fit just right. It started with business school, then a swing in the opposite direction with art school and landing in the perfectly tepid embrace of graphic design.

My experiences with each institution have been wildly different. I hated business school and felt like a speck in the massive auditorium size classes. Art school was completely different. The classes were smaller, we were urged to share a lot of ourselves in our work– maybe a bit too much. It was art school that led me to graphic design though, I saw graphic design as a creative outlet that didn’t cross the boundaries. I wasn’t creating work that reflected me, I was creating work that reflected the world around me. I didn’t learn a whole lot from my short stint in business school, art school was an amazing place to grow as a creative, but YSDN has helped me develop skills beyond design. These are some of the revelations I have had since I started my bachelors of design:

1. Let’s start with the most nerve-wracking thing for every first-year design student, critiques. An essential learning tool. That first critique is brutal, the professor asks others for feedback and there is just…silence. It’s understandable, I mean what do we know? We just started, we are too worried about our own work. I know now that it is just as important to learn how to give constructive criticism as it is to take criticism. This in itself is a vital skill, the ability to give critique when asked for an honest opinion without leaving someone feeling dejected. Also learning not to push your own tastes, own preferences on someone’s else work. The ability to think beyond what I would have done and give feedback to help further a vision that’s not my own.
2. If there is one thing I never thought I would learn in design school, it is how to conduct research like a (semi) pro. Many of our projects need a solid research base to be successful and this means a lot more academic writing than people may expect. I have spent countless hours researching a wide range of topics and pulling out bits and pieces that can help guide my own projects. In YSDN it is constantly drilled into us that a project needs a stable base to build on, whether that is a research base or a process base or (usually) both.
3. Learning how to communicate ideas better is another skill that comes with experience and time. Over the last few years I have had to explain my thinking process and ideas to peers and professors. It is a valuable skill to learn, how to promote yourself, how to focus on your strengths and speak with confidence about your own work. Confidence comes with practice and each class is an opportunity to hone that skill in front of an audience of peers who want to see you succeed. I spent too much of my first year being nervous about presenting work.
4. Our classes are collaborative, even if the projects are not. We work together to figure out solutions through critiques and presentations, we are a team. In a school setting it is easy to fall into the trap of being competitive, of being the best, of getting the highest grades. Since I started YSDN I have grown a lot as a designer but so has everyone else. It makes me very happy to see others succeed and to see the wonderful work that fellow students produce. Accepting that other people will be better at some things than me and feeling comfortable enough to admit that and even go to them for help is another lesson well learned.
5. Lastly, I have learned the value of having good ideas over perfect execution. Even graduating university in a few weeks, I would not call myself a pro with some of the programs I have come to rely on. But being a good graphic designer is not just being a photoshop wizard, it is coming up with new imaginative ideas for project after project.It all starts with a good idea and then figuring out how to make that idea a reality– well, that’s what Google is for.

It has been quite a journey from the nervous first days in the design labs to planning our online graduation show. I have learned a lot, grown a lot, and I am excited to keep growing as a person and as a designer after graduation. It may have taken me three tries to get it right, but I am so glad I kept trying. Third time IS the charm, at least it was for me.

Rachel Cowley is one of the graduates of the York/Sheridan Program in Design class of 2021. Catch Rachel’s work showcased at the online graduate showcase on April 20–21. Visit ysdn2021.com for more details.

This past fall, I was really itching to find a design job that would give me a bit more experience on my resume, while also allowing me to say goodbye to my retail job. Before the pandemic hit, I really enjoyed working retail — I liked interacting with the customers and I didn’t mind working those super long shifts that sometimes dragged on. When things started to open up again forcing me back to work, I was dreading it. Having to tell people 20 times a day to wear a mask over their nose began to take a toll. So, I decided to start my job search, praying that something would come along that would pay my bills for the time being.

The first job that I stumbled upon was an internship for a start-up. Their design work seemed nice enough from looking at their website. The interview went well & all — but during my interview was when they told me that this was not a paid position, but instead a “learning experience that would lead to future opportunities.” I decided to decline in the hopes that a paid opportunity would come along.

The second job that I interviewed for was a remote position in Boston for another start-up company. This time they were attempting to launch an app & website related to online gaming. Since I am a gamer girl myself, I was quite intrigued. What would follow was the most AWKWARD phone interview of my entire life. The interviewer asked me very few questions and I ended up taking the opportunity to clarify things myself since the interviewer was being very vague about what the job entailed. I straight up asked him if this job was a paid one, to which he replied, “At first no, but I promise that if things work out I will make sure that you get paid.” I was confused about his answer and to top it all off the interview ended with lots of unanswered questions. The following day, I received text messages from the guy who interviewed me saying that I got the position and that he wanted me to start straight away. He started sending me screenshots of logos from Google that he wanted me to take inspiration from. I politely declined and in the words of Simon Cowell, I told him that this job was also a ‘no’ from me. I mean, I never even accepted the job in the first place and was not about to work for free.

I was starting to give up hope at this point. I wasn’t hearing back from the other places that I had applied to and the ones that I did hear back from were complete duds. Then one day after I had thought all hope was lost, I got an email from the manager of Lawn Summer Nights, asking for an interview. I had applied to their job posting and their organization really intrigued me. They are a not-for-profit who organize lawn bowling events to raise funds for cystic fibrosis research. I had never designed for social good before, but I had a really good feeling about it; not to mention that in the job description it was stated that it was a paid position! I scheduled my interview with the manager and straight away, things clicked. It was a breath of fresh air having an interview that went so well and felt like a perfect fit. A few hours after the interview I got an official job offer and I could not have been happier.

I was very excited to help them launch their online store, as a large focus of the position was to design merch for them. I was also responsible for creating social media posts and working on graphics for their virtual trivia event, which was super exciting. As for the work experience itself, I really enjoyed designing for social good as it gave my work a greater sense of purpose and it felt fulfilling to me as a designer. I was also working on a team with a few other girls who were responsible for marketing and social media, as well as reaching out to potential sponsors. We all enjoyed the collaborative aspect of our work and bouncing ideas off of each other during our weekly meetings. Sadly, all good things must come to an end, as this was a contracted design position. I truly hope that I have the opportunity to design for them again someday. Either way, I learned a lot about time management and what to do when a creative block strikes during a tight deadline. I was tasked with coming up with new merch concepts each week, and sometimes I would struggle to come up with a design I was confident and proud of. Sometimes, I just had to go back to the drawing board and sketch out a bunch of ideas that came to my mind, even if I felt they would go nowhere. What resulted from this were designs that I ended up being very proud of. As for time-management, I really got into list making and colour coding the different tasks and deadlines that I had based on urgency. This helped me to plan out my weeks and to keep me from stressing too much about my deadlines. Sometimes when facing a creative block, it can feel unmotivating and overwhelming; however, I constantly had that drive to keep on pushing my creative juices forward because my work was for such a great cause.

This job opportunity has caused me to see design from a completely different perspective and I am very thankful for that. In the end, this was an experience that I will treasure forever, as it launched my passion to design for social good and allowed me to learn a lot about myself as a designer. The moral of the story is: when going through the interview process, trust your gut. In my experience, all the jobs that have worked out for me gave me great first interview vibes. And please, for your own good, do not take jobs that are unpaid for the ‘experience.’ You are so much better than that and with patience, more opportunities will come along that will treat you with respect and fairness. With graduation approaching, I hope that you all find a rewarding design experience like I did (if you haven’t already) that you will look back on and treasure forever.

Emily Zathey is one of the graduates of the York/Sheridan Program in Design class of 2021. Catch Emily’s work showcased at the online graduate showcase on April 20–21. Visit ysdn2021.com for more details.

Think of a room about 10 feet long and 7 feet wide. Place yourself in the middle of that room with a bed, a computer, your cell phone, and a couple of your favourite things. Now, you have a decision to make between the three following options: work, homework, or leisure. You can do any of the three for however long you want or need to. Now make that same decision about 3 times a day for almost 400 consecutive days. A choice that was once second nature in the midst of busy days in busy weeks, has now become an absolute dread for me within the past year.

Upfront, it may sound easy and mundane. This is what everybody has dealt with since the beginning of industrial times. Work, homework, and leisure– it’s the cycle of life. So what is making it so hard for me now? I have struggled to be productive. The creative blocks I have encountered felt like mountains. My lack of motivation haunts me when I close my eyes at night.

As a graphic designer, my craft is very much reliant on my motivation to be creative and productive. When these avenues are congested, my world feels like it’s caving in. The quarantine has forced many around the world to move back home and spend time with their families. At first, this felt like a much needed breath of air– especially for us students. However, enjoying time in the peace and comfort of our homes can really quickly turn into being trapped in the loudest silence you’ve ever heard.

When my bedroom became my office, my work station, my computer and fabrication lab, my recording studio, my gym, and my dining room– it made it really hard for it to still be my bedroom. Compartmentalization was easier when the different parts of my life could be physically separated. This melding of physical spaces and mental states is psychologically confusing. It became difficult to separate the feelings associated with things I actually love to do with feelings of dread and anxiety.

Taking a step back, once I realized what I was going through mentally, it only made sense to figure out a way to cope with this confusion of feelings and the lack of creativity, productivity, and motivation this confusion was causing. Quarantining has forced emotional associations that I didn’t want. To combat this, I needed to make new associations despite the limitations of space.

My first instinct was to move my entire workstation to my backyard in the dead of Winter– but honestly, it didn’t have to be so drastic. Even something as simple as bringing my sketchbook to the park or doing some quick design work on my laptop in my car was enough to help me to disassociate my bedroom with the existential dread of needing to be productive.

When the motivation comes back organically and creativity starts to flow freely again, productivity is a pleasant by-product of that.

Motivation ∴ Creativity ∴ Productivity

Rachel Wong is one of the graduates of the York/Sheridan Program in Design class of 2021. Catch Rachel’s work showcased at the online graduate showcase on April 20–21. Visit ysdn2021.com for more details.

I remember it so clearly: the feeling of stepping into the open lecture hall–ready for my professor to begin the lecture for our class, Design Placement. The room started filling up as friends got together and awaited that week’s alumni speaker. I also remember the rush of preparing for my internship and sending out emails to different recruiters — sitting down with classmates, just ranting about all the decisions we had to make. This was just over a year ago, pre-covid, pre-global-pandemic, pre-life-changing-event-that-changed-everything.

Earlier that year, I was looking at a lot of different design studios. I even started exploring the idea of going to an environmental design studio or any opportunities that would let me have more unorthodox experiences. At this time, I also wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted to do, but I figured: as long as I get to meet and work alongside some design professionals, it’ll be a great opportunity to learn. However, as soon as the pandemic hit and places started to shut down during the first wave, many of these opportunities and positions had to be delayed or even cancelled. This was a very unsure time — I remember there being a panic among all of us as to what we were going to do. We did need an internship to fulfill the course, if nothing else.

I have to admit, being an indecisive person who considered themselves as a ‘multi-disciplinary designer’ definitely helped me out at that point. I had applied to a variety of different internships and was open to anything. Placements were getting cancelled left and right and it started to become a race to secure a position by the summer. I guess by then, nobody could really afford to be too selective. For me, it was mostly about sitting and waiting. I had already reached out to many people about possible internships and there wasn’t much left to do.

As time passed by, I did start to get those dreadful rejection emails except this time, there was the added twist of the pandemic. Even some placements that had considered me before were sending notification emails about their internship cancellations. Thankfully, soon after that, I heard back from one of my earlier applications. After going through the zoom interviewing process, I was offered work with Regenesis’ York University chapter: a non-profit community environmental organization. Working at Regenesis meant that I was able to work on a variety of projects, including both design projects as well as more hands-on activities. I also got to learn what it’s like to communicate mainly through slack messages and e-mails. Although I did not have the chance to meet new designers, I did get the freedom of working independently from the comfort of my own bed. I also got to paint banners that were bigger than my entire body, so who could’ve expected that.

It definitely wasn’t what I expected, but in a way, it allowed me to have the confidence to revise and present my own work as well as make recommendations and changes to previous designs. My opinions were truly valued and I felt important and heard while I was there. Many of the people I met had a much different background than me and I definitely did not work at a design office but I still managed to work on more hands-on projects and create promotional materials. I think before the pandemic, people put too much pressure on where and who you work with for your internship. This huge change allowed me to stress a little bit less on where I went and what kind of work I had to do. I was just happy to have a chance to be working with an environmental organization with a fun and accommodating group of people. Once you are forced into extreme circumstances, you stop worrying about some of the things that seemed so impactful and important before. It honestly changed my entire perspective and overall, I was just glad to meet new people — even if it was through an unstable connection and glitching zoom screen.

Paniz Adiban is one of the graduates of the York/Sheridan Program in Design class of 2021. Catch Paniz’s work showcased at the online graduate showcase on April 20–21. Visit ysdn2021.com for more details.

Design is more than websites and posters, its most useful aspect is the thinking that goes behind it, more commonly known as design thinking. IDEO defines design thinking as “having a human-centered core. It encourages organizations to focus on the people they’re creating for, which leads to better products, services, and internal processes. When you sit down to create a solution for a business need, the first question should always be “what’s the human need behind it?” Design thinking is the research– it’s the human and it’s the empathy that goes into the design. It’s the pre-design before you even touch the Adobe products. Before you cook you need to layout and prep the ingredients first. Design thinking promotes research, methods, and processes. Although you’ll notice that many of these design processes have been branded by every large corporation, like Google, IDEO, and Stanford, etc, they all have the same steps in a similar order; start with research, synthesize that research, use that to come up with a concept, prototype that concept and then move on to the design. My favorite version would be the super simple squiggle sketch by Damien Newman. It’s simple and to the point but also oddly beautiful and relatable (I now have this printed above my desk in my studio as a reminder that design is allowed to be messy).

To take design thinking further, since most of these processes (which are different for each problem and project) start with research and user data the end product could amount to be anything. The problem is when we enter the beginning stages with an idea of the end solution. Design education is universal– it’s not about whether I am a book designer or a UX designer. At the core of it, it’s about creative problem solving and research. I can maybe specialize in one area of design but that shouldn’t limit me to only doing projects from that area. Limiting yourself to the same projects and the same outcomes exercises your skills in those areas for sure, but limits your ability to learn from doing new things and working with new people. Putting yourself in situations where you aren’t the smartest in the room allows you to always have someone and something to learn from.

Bruce Mau explains a similar view in his book MC24. In the book Mau mentions that he was once asked by a student at a conference about what kind of designer he was, Mau was stumped and answered with “I am a designer.” Which ultimately lead to the creation of his book.

One of the many things that make Bruce Mau a great designer is that he isn’t restricted by his “practice” or his preference of medium, really what all designers should strive for. Instead of honing in on a certain practice, whether that be designing books, carpets, social programs, typefaces, etc, design should and can teach you the fundamentals of problem-solving. A designer who has those problem-solving skills and isn’t restricted by their medium can thus solve a larger amount of problems with a variety of different solutions. If for example, a designer who specializes in designing apps came across the problem of world poverty in developing countries, how would that designer be able to solve that problem? It can be assumed that people in developing countries don’t have access to the same type of technology that a first-world country would have. It wouldn’t make sense to just build or design an app for that demographic. They would simply be out of practice and be unable to solve the problem because their solutions wouldn’t be viable. Now that’s not to say that the designer at hand couldn’t come up with an amazing solution regardless, using their preferred practice or not. I’m saying that classifying yourself as a certain type of designer can limit you to problems and solutions that only seem to fit within your practice. If you are an app designer you may begin the project with the idea or knowledge that you are going to end up with an app at the end of the day, even though an app wouldn’t be the best solution.

The same could go for design studios; ones that specialize in a certain type of practice would be restricted to this practice and further the clients that approach them would often enter the studio with the idea of an outcome. It should be the designers coming up with the outcome at the end of the day free of a preconceived notion and be able to experiment for the best possible result. I saw an example of this at a web design studio I worked at when a client approached us to update their website for them to improve the wayfinding in their mall. Because we were a web design studio there wasn’t much more to do as we were limiting ourselves to digital solutions. But the client expected nothing more than a website. In reality, a physical wayfinding solution might have been a more viable option.

I believe that design at its core is about how you think, how you can solve problems, and carry out research. The principles that Mau has outlined don’t constitute a certain practice or type of design but can be applied to all forms of design. If you limit yourself to a certain medium or practice you restrict your ability to learn and try new things.

One of Maus’ principles is to “begin with fact-based optimism” which he explains as the need to look at each problem as an opportunity to create a solution for improvement. As designers, we should look for the worst and do our best to improve it. Mau explains that our whole world is a designed one and our quality of life is determined by the quality of design. It is our responsibility to look and seek out the worst problems and to design a solution to fix them for the better. Stresses or problems in our life now are a result of bad or unsustainable design. It is our job now to look into those problems to fix them.

References:
Mau, B., & Ward, J. (2020). Mau — MC24 Bruce Maus 24 principles for designing massive change in your life and work. London: Phaidon.

Alex Blechta is one of the graduates of the York/Sheridan Program in Design class of 2021. Catch Alex’s work showcased at the online graduate showcase on April 20–21. Visit ysdn2021.com for more details.

Sometimes as designers, we create problems, but we also solve them. As creative and innovative thinkers, we listen to our curiosity while observing the issues that arise around us. Without listening and perceiving, how can designers solve problems?

The answer is that we cannot, at least not well.

In design and our everyday lives, listening and observing are crucial skills.

Take the time to listen. Listen to that client who talks a little too much. Listen to the sometimes outdated professor. Listen to the unagreeable feedback or critique. Listening allows you to gain valuable insight into the situation. An understanding of why problems are solved is obtained, as well as perspective. How do those of different opinions and lifestyles view the issue?

So allow the clients, professors, peers, or that random barista at Starbucks to speak, ask them engaging questions and chat some more.

Never forget that everyone has a story to tell and a voice to be heard, including you. Your narratives and perspectives are equally important.

There are some things left unsaid, at least verbally. You can learn a lot from watching, as what human behaviour displays can be more honest than what is said aloud.

Observe the environment and the people around you. How do these people behave? How do you fit into this setting and interact with them? By recognizing your surroundings, you begin to discern various perspectives, body language cues, and how people deal with different situations.

As you continue to observe the world around you, you will meet new people and learn to appreciate diverse outlooks. Take this opportunity to embrace multitudes of perspectives into your design work.

Jenny Tiêu is one of the graduates of the York/Sheridan Program in Design class of 2021. Catch Jenny’s work showcased at the online graduate showcase on April 20–21. Visit ysdn2021.com for more details.