Becoming …
My Journey in Design
Five years ago, I asked who I am as an individual? And who I ought to be?
Now, I ask who we are as a collective? And who do we want to be?
“Designing is not just something you do, or that you take lightly when you practice it, but rather it helps form your identity. Design becomes a part of one’s being because it involves so much that is personal, like your creativity, way of approaching the world’s problems, your own history, learning style and view of the world”
The Design Way, Lawson & Dorst, 2009, pp 270
My identity and purpose as a designer shifted over the years as I gained a deeper understanding of what is design and the kind of responsibilities designers should take on. When I first started with graphic design and UI design, I thought design is just the digital format of “art”, and it’s all about making appealing artifacts that look nice. However, as I entered UX Design, I realized design lives beyond the screen, and it’s not just about what I want to do, but it’s about what I can bring to others. Design is no longer self-serving, showing off my craft skills, rather it’s other-serving, providing value for others day to day living. Design impacts emotions, and our design actions have a direct impact on users’ experiences, and their experiences impact their mood, thinking, thoughts, and action, or their realities if we think about the ripple effect at large. I feel a strong sense of responsibility as a UX designer to bring joy to people, and it’s a bit nerve-racking but exciting to think about the impact we can make as designers.
My cultural background, experiences, worldview, and spiritual faith are all actively shaping my identity, values, and purpose. Over the years, I have been on the journey of knowing myself as a person and trying to integrate my personal identity with my designer identity. On a personal level, I believe compassion, love, and kindness are the way of living, and I was taught not to compromise my morals in order to get something on my own terms. Sometimes, I feel really sad to see how many businesses sacrifice their morals, ripping people off, just to reach a short-term goal, but often they don’t last. I have many instances I don’t want to be patient anymore, I want to achieve what I want right now, so I have acted out of impulse but these scenarios never turn out well. Now, learning about design, and what it means to reflect often, I become more aware of my intention and motivations behind my thoughts and actions. I check my intentions before I act, in my personal life and in design. I once made a poster on design mindfully, and one of the takeaways is that we struggle to keep up with the fast pace of work and life, and we hardly have time to stop and reflect upon what we are doing.
“We are pulled into design because it allows us to initiate intentional action out of strength, hope, passion, desire and love [...] Design action is distinct from problem action, which is initiated out of need, fear, weakness, hate, pain and other reactive motivations.”
Nelson & Stolterman, 2003, Chapter 1
The world we live in is constantly changing and unpredictable, but what doesn’t change is the world (or the universe) confronts and comforts, always. Whatever we launch into the world, thoughts, actions decisions, words, if it’s out of fear, need, hate and other reactive motivations, it gets revealed at the end. If we act out of active love and kindness, we will get comforting responses eventually, even though sometimes it takes time. So checking our intentions when we choose the design. Is it out of a need? Or is it that our heart and values align with the core of design, and we want to do something with it?
References:
Harold G. Nelson and Erik Stolterman (2012). The design way: Intentional change in an unpredictable world (2nd edition). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.