My Design Process

“The most important questions are not the ones that have answers, but the ones you have to live with.” 

- George Blount

This quote has been a driving force and a compass for my life. It is not about finding the right solutions to every problem, but rather asking questions to discover the right problems to engage with. For me, every obstacle or situation I enter into begins with gathering information through asking questions.

What are the fundamental relationships? How can the form and function be reconciled?

When I look at design problems, I see a web of relationships interwoven between the individual details and the big picture. The majority of the time, the pieces do not operate in harmony with one another, creating gaps or conflicts within the situation. However, when the pieces are constrained and can work together, it becomes something new that is greater than any of the pieces on their own. That is when you know all the factors and variables are reconciled, when the form and the function become one.

I thrive when tackling design problems that require distilling complex and mass quantities of information into a unified solution. Whether applied to creating spaces through interior design or art installations, at my workplace through organizational systems or product development, or interfacing with world around me through visual art and dance expressions, every process has a similar journey.

Design Inputs

ASK: Ask questions and gather information about the problem, variables, factors, surrounding environment, and goal. Who is the user, recipient, or audience involved? What are the conditions of the environment, materials, subjects or constraints? Why is this important and what is the goal or intention of the design? How do all the pieces relate to one another, including any constraints?

Development

TRY IT OUT: Once the information has been gathered, the next step is to try out different ideas. Sketch, prototype, arrange pieces in different ways to demonstrate a possible outcome. Often this results in several options that can be evaluated and compared for pros and cons of each solution.

TEST: Testing these prototypes allows you to see how the idea measures up to actual data. Once a first example is considered, the 2nd and 3rd examples test whether the process can work just once, or multiple times in multiple ways.

ITERATE: Iterating through design and testing allows me to learn from the failures of the prototypes to try new things, test them out, and adjust based on what you learn. This can happen as many times recursively until the design is refined and mature.

Realization

IMPLEMENT: Final implementation involves fleshing out the details and making the solution real. This is the “last mile” of design impact.

IMPROVE: Monitoring and measuring feedback throughout implementation ensures continued improvement. There is always room for improvement as new factors and variables are changed or introduced.