How to Utilize Design, Outside of Photoshop
“So what career are you looking to go into?” As a senior in college, I should be used to the question, but every time it comes up, I cringe. I never know how I can verbalize the far-reaching and innovative field of design without using an illustrated slideshow or a sample case study in design thinking. Most times, people assume I want make visuals as a graphic designer, but they are working off the wrong assumption of me and the design profession. “How can I put this…”
Critical Thinking
A designer’s purpose is not to create something that is aesthetically pleasing, but a solution to a problem. A web designer, then, does not approach a project just considering what the website will look like, but what it will accomplish and how users will interact with the functions. Critical thinking constitutes a great deal of design. This is one of the aspects that drew me to the discipline. I have always found it fulfilling to analyze a problem and devise an effective solution. The ability to problem-solve is a valuable skill and is even regarded by the National Association of Colleges and Employers as a core competency for career readiness. It is no wonder design thinking is finding a home in many business settings. Innovation is key, and the problem-solving techniques design offers enables businesses to think outside of the box and reach their audience with new solutions.
Empathy
At its essence, design is human centered. The end product is meant to interact with an audience in some way. Because of this, a designer must employ empathy to keep the audience in mind during every point of the design process. Unfortunately, I am not naturally empathetic. Although I cannot easily connect with others’ emotions, I can still practice human centered design by asking questions and being more observant. The same is true for with any project team. Jon Kolko states in Design Thinking Comes of Age, “To build empathy with users, a design centric organization empowers employees to observe behaviors and draw conclusions about what people want and need”. By forming an empathetic connection with the audience, we ensure that the final product is reaching someone.
Teamwork
Designers can’t only rely on skills like critical thinking and empathy, to succeed, they also need to exercise teamwork. When I began taking courses in visual design, I was wary to the concept of peer criticism. Now, I can’t imagine making progress on a project without hearing an outside opinion. Design, as described by Dave Thomsen in Why Human-Centered Design Matters, is a team sport. It is a process by which you can improve your thinking by verbalizing your ideas and receive feedback from peers with new perspectives. Although teamwork is present in most workplaces -as evidenced by its inclusion on the NACE list of career competencies- the team setting remains largely individualistic. Thomsen advocates the use of inclusive possessive pronouns such as “we” and “our” to create shared ownership of projects in a workplace. Critic, then, is not a matter of pride, but doing the job right. Teamwork, when implemented properly, allows workers to collaborate on more innovative and sound solutions.
Communicating
Collaboration does not need to be carried out in the typical verbal and written communication channels. Sometimes the right way to articulate something is not to describe it using language, but to draw a picture or perform an interpretive dance. In the name of design, these actions aren’t too out of place, but those same dance moves would be taboo in other work settings. Frequently, I have difficulties articulating my ideas in conversation. I enjoy having the freedom to express myself multiple ways in a design setting. Perhaps drawing your boss a picture, and trusting her to interpret the same message you intended is a disaster waiting to happen, but if convention remained untested, we may miss out on some amazing solutions.
Right now, I have a passion for design but a year from now I could find myself in entirely different career. Even so, I imagine design principles will continue to work their way into other fields. By then, I won’t need to explain what designers do.
