Recently in Design Reflections Category

Didn't really have time to post anything this past weekend, and don't really have time right now, but this'll be a short one.

Now that the quarter's almost over, things are beginning to pile up and there's a lot to do in pretty much all my classes. I'm mildly concerned that I might not actually finish them all -- which is not really a good thing. Personally, I don't think the primary cause of this is procrastination (I don't know if those around me might say otherwise), but rather, not doing a very good job of estimating scope. As in, "how much can I realistically accomplish within the given time period?" -- whether it's just a 3-day project or one that spans the entire quarter.

With at least one of my classes, I probably picked a project that was a little more involved than what the quarter allowed for. I've already scaled it back from my original idea, but I'm still struggling to finish.

How do you find that balance between pursuing something especially significant and involved, and pursuing something that can assuredly be finished in a short timeframe?

I don't want to simply go through the motions in my projects, because I won't learn as much doing that. But I would like to actually finish them...

I attended a panel on Sustainable Consumer Products tonight at the GSB. There were a couple brand managers from Method, one from Clorox GreenWorks, and the Global Sustainability Lead from IDEO. Interesting discussion, with some surprising overlaps with our recent design projects in ME-313, one having to do with health attitudes and habits, and the other exploring energy efficiency in consumers.

While health, energy efficiency, and environmentally friendly cleaning products have some significant differences, there's an interesting correlation in the attitudes and behaviors of consumers. Much of what the panel discussed were familiar insights observed through our needfinding interviews on both projects.

For example, I was surprised to learn that Method chooses to attract consumers not by touting the environmental friendliness of their products, but rather, with sleek and sexy packaging design that "pops" on the store shelves and just begs a consumer to take a bottle home. Their goal is to design a bottle that looks so good, consumers will feel comfortable leaving it out on the counter all the time. Only over time, as the consumer becomes familiar and comfortable with the product does Method expect them to read the label and learn about how environmentally conscious Method is.

Last week, I realized that with all the time I've been devoting to my classwork and projects, perhaps I've been missing out on some of the other important aspects of life out here. I remembered my forgotten list of goals that I made before departing Chicago, and promised to review them for this week's reflection.

For the most part, I've made some progress in each area, although there's definitely room for improvement, especially on the bigger-picture goals and the others that can't be achieved solely inside the classroom. Something to keep in mind at least, as I navigate the next couple years at the JPD.

1) Become a better prototyper (both rapid and refined) - definitely improving with all my design projects in class

2) Learn to weld - had my first experience welding last week, with surprisingly encouraging results!

3) Improve soldering skills and circuit design

4) Become a better sketcher - getting there, between the sketching sessions and art classes

5) Learn to design/spec a bathroom or kitchen (sketching, colors, textures, etc) - learning a lot about colors and textures in Art so far, although not kitchen/bath specific

6) Go from identifying/appreciating good design to being able to create my own good designs - just a slow, gradual process that'll take practice

7) Figure out where I fit in the whole design world and design cycle - hoping to figure this one out in the next 2 years, we'll see...

8) Figure out my true long-term life and career aspirations - ditto...

9) Be less risk and change-averse - definitely feeling more comfortable getting outside my comfort zone, between the supportive Loft community and all the improv exercises

10) Develop my professional network - haven't done nearly enough with this yet, with professors' office hours, seminars, local design events, etc.

11) Develop a new media profile (website, resume, letterhead, etc)

12) Improve web programming skills

13) Become a better photographer/videographer - find myself "seeing" good photos and wishing I had a camera with me more often

14) Improve computer modelling skills

So here we are, at the start of the 5th week at the JPD (that's the Joint Program in Design for the non-initiated out there). I actually had to check a calendar to figure out just how long I've been doing the design thing out here. Days seem to both fly by and drag on forever at the same time. It was just a couple days ago that I was reflecting on the progress I'd made in just the first 2 weeks... ...and then another 2 weeks just passed.

Lately, I've been trying to be at the Design Loft (my home away from home) by around 9-10am each day, and I come home somewhere between 1-4am, pretty much just to sleep. Getting to bed by 2am now feels like a pretty good early night.

I'm not sure whether I am slow, inefficient or just plain busy. It's probably a mix of all three, although I honestly don't find myself wasting that much time at the Loft (maybe my loft-neighbors would disagree).

Everyone who's been through this before tells me that it's just a matter of figuring out priorities, setting time limits for yourself, and just working faster. So far that hasn't really happened for me. On the one hand, I don't want to work myself to death and make life miserable for the next two years. However, on the other hand, I also want to get as much out of this program as I can, not cutting corners or shortchanging myself. It's going to be a difficult balance, especially for someone as particular and prone to perfectionism as myself.

At the moment, I find myself treading water furiously, and just barely keeping afloat.

There's so much more at the JPD, Stanford, and in the Bay Area than just classwork, and I certainly don't want to miss out on anything. Personal connections and professional networks; interesting seminars, lectures and guest speakers; pursuit of my greater career and life goals; on-campus activities... the list goes on.

Before I moved out to California, I started a list of goals for the next two years. With all the craziness of the last few weeks, I actually hadn't even thought about that list since leaving Chicago, until just now. I'd probably be well-served to take another look, and evaluate whether my efforts thus far have been focused on those goals. Just guessing, I think I've probably gotten a little carried away with all my projects and a little too bogged down in the details, and have been missing the bigger picture of why I'm here.

I'll report back next week with my findings.

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?)

This is the first in a number of reflections on design for the class Human Values and Innovation in Design (ME 313). This assignment entailed creating a mind map exploring the entities and relationships of Design and Designers.