Design as Guide in My Life

This semester, through History of Industrial Design, I was able to explore various aspects of deisgn that I did not previously consider nor even heard of.

The first week's assignment "Designing for the Passed" allowed me to widen my designer's eyes for different fields that design can be applied and be open to the unusual fields. "History of Light" assignment inspired me to think a little poetically about how each design metaphorically speaks to me. Form and Functionalism is an important conversation for all designers and by thinking about it, I realised that I had an interesting point of view about Form and Functionalism. Industrial Design is not something that can simply be explained or described to someone who does not know Industrial Design because even though it pursues aesthetics, it considers a wide variety of aspects that may not seem apparent. One of the many aspects that a designer should consider during their creative process is giving meanings to the creations. Whether it is a product, a space or a system, every decision making leads to meanings for each individual with different backgrounds. Designing for a specific user group in mind helps to focus on the most important goals without deviating from the original plan. When it is designing for the other 90% of the less privileged people, this is especially important becayse their actual needs might differ significantly from what the designer imagined. From "A Better World by Design" conference, I learned to appreciate slow, soft and low-tech designs and their structural beauty. What is "Art" and "Design" is an interlaced subject that affects each other. The best "Art" and "Design' are the ones that are well-thought out and executed.

In my personal experience of attending an all-girls private boarding school in a small town in New Zealand for five years exposed me to smaller, quieter and more grounded environments as opposed to a large scale and fast corporate city setting. What I believe in design is fundamental goodness in each design of a certain quality rather than rushed designs with mediocre quality.

There is definitely something fascinating about large corporate styl designs: they reach out to the general public efficiently and they have the ability to influence not only each individual consumer but also politically and globally. Each design has more power to share its intended experience with people that it can really make a significant difference. Because of this reason, the most ideal design world will be that the corporate settings design for honest intentions that are not affected by secondary factors such as profitability. However, in the real world, sometimes profitability speaks before honest good designs because profitability is also part of a good design.

Since I am still a student I understand idealised design process that RISD has taught me. When I graduate, the process will still probably share the same fundamentals but the application may differ depending on the company that I work for. Nancy Austen, the professor for History of Industrial Design class, suggested that I might be interested in starting up a small community-based design firm, possibly run by only women. I agreed that it was a refreshing and interesting idea for me to consider because I have always imagined myself working for bigger companies. I am not quite ready to take up on the leadership role idea and be a responsible figure yet but I will always keep the idea of being responsible and designing to lead a group of people whether it is a small group for women or for a large scale of people in a corporate environment because both settings offer different styles.

Runnign a small design firm would allow me to create my interpretation of good designs for people who respond to similar aesthetics. On the other hand, in bigger companies, I can participate in creating a larger scale design trend that people who are targeted to react. I believe I will make the best decision I can when the right moment comes to me. I do not have to do everything at once because in one way or another, I will be designing for the rest of my life either professionally at a company or unprofessionally at home. The application of what I pursue may differ time to time but it will be the best decision that I could make in that given situation because I believe the design process that designers use to solve problems can also be used to guide me.