I've come to the end of my second week at Stanford (feels more like second month), and I think I can summarize it so far as being frustratingly inspiring. Perhaps it's a little oxymoronic or grammatically incorrect, but I think it's a pretty accurate description of how things have progressed through the first couple weeks of projects and classes.
For example, take my first design project completed for Human Values and Innovations in Design, which involved developing a concept to bridge the digital-physical divide of one's memories and digital assets (namely photos). We received the assignment on the first day of class, and presented our ideas just two days later.
In two short days, I came up with what I thought was a fantastic idea, along with an even better presentation -- I could hardly wait to tell everyone about it. When it came time to present, I think most of the class thought my idea was pretty solid, and they definitely liked the presentation. They said it was engaging, charming, convincing -- certainly the highlight of my Powerpoint career thus far.
After the whole class had presented, general consensus was that we had done impressive work in an unbelievably short amount of time. I even recall the words "blown away" being used by the professor once or twice.
However, before I even had a chance to bask in my own glory, he said, "That was great, now here's your next project."
Wait a second... what? Don't we get some time off to relax and rest on our laurels? We all had such great ideas -- surely you don't expect us to come up with another one so soon?
Such is life at the Stanford Joint Program in Design. Come up with one great idea, and then do it again. And again. And again.
I suppose that's the point of the whole program - to teach us how to innovate on a regular basis. I guess I'm just not used to innovating on much more than a once-in-a-while basis.
Therein lies the frustrating part of frustratingly inspiring. Frustrating because it's not easy to come up with the best ideas ever in the history of the universe more than once a week. Frustrating because I can think and work for hours on end without seeming to make any progress. Frustrating because there's always room to improve on a design.
However, the inspiring part usually also comes just about then, like a lightbulb switching on in my head, when I am least expecting it and when frustration is at its peak. Inspiring because there might be a glimmer of a good idea and potential for success after all. Inspiring because just maybe I'm on the right path (for project... program... career... life, etc). Inspiring because there are twelve brilliant other designers in my class who all get frustrated and inspired the same way I do.
I'm hoping it might get easier to innovate regularly with practice, but I'm doubtful. I think this is probably how it's going to be for the rest of my life, so I'll just have to get used to being frustratingly inspired (or is it inspiringly frustrated?)
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