Designing Remote

Adapting to social distancing in grad school

I used to work remote, for a year. I had just moved to a new city, and while my partner was supportive, all of my friends were far away. Our neighborhood was a little too industrial to encourage walking around, and I became increasingly isolated. It was what actually spurred me to get rid of all of my social media accounts.

This time, it’s different. My partner is the one that works remote, and I am in school again. I live in a place that is similar to where we first met, close to downtown, and I can walk to the studio where my classes are. My peers have been more than willing to go hiking, rock climbing, skiing, and with spring around the corner, the possibilities increase. My design program is extremely interactive and hands on, and employs frequent group work and collaboration.

And then, everything changed. Covid-19 became something people in this country started really worrying about. Everything started closing, and last week, all of our classes went remote. Our housemate tested positive, and suddenly, we were government mandated to stay in our house, for four weeks total.

It has been an adjustment period. I have three people that I can see face to face. I went from practically living in my design studio, constantly in group meetings, to staring at my bedroom walls, in endless conference calls. As a design student, we had to break up our tasks differently in groups, taking things in phases rather than owning each stage.

In a way, it has made our meetings more efficient, more meaningful. But in the same way that it felt when I transferred from an on-site position to a remote position, you lose some of that ease and mindless banter, that solidifies bonds.

You have to be more pointed about “social” video calls, and be careful of how you read people’s written correspondence. Setting clear timelines, and check-in meetings, become increasingly valuable. The transition from projects that were all done in-person, to entirely remote, has been the most challenging. We are all learning at the same time, and we may even become better designers during this time in our lives.