Author: Kalkidan Fikadu

I have observed these thoughtless acts last week :

1. when we copy(type) something from a sheet of paper to our laptop we use different objects to make our paper stand. I guess keeping the paper and our laptop screen at a similar eye level makes the writing process more comfortable.

2. Putting our clothes on the chair and placed our bag next to one of the legs of the table. I noticed as similar to most students that study in the library, I also do this very often without thinking about it. As if the table legs were made just for this purpose. 

3. Sometimes we all prefer to sit on tables without thinking about it. Tables are placed higher than chairs and more comfortable in some situations.

sorry for the poor quality of the picture 🙂

An Evolving Map of Design Practice and Design Research explores the purpose of design research, which is “to drive, inspire and inform the design development process”.  The author categorizes different approaches to design practices and dares every designer to think about which design approach category they belong to. The two major approaches listed on the design map  are expert mindset and participatory mindset. Designers with an expert mindset believe they know what is best for the user, where as ones with participatory mindset likes to engage with users through their design cycle.

I think this two distinctions are very important in the design environment, and they may also assist constructive collaborations. After reading this I’ve got a clear insight how to arrange the design process, in a way that could progress the process to the desired outcome. As someone who’s trying to learn how to become a good designer, it’s very easy to fall into the trap of thinking “I understand the problem.  I will find a good solution.” Without taking into consideration the need to involve people who are being served through the design.

Examples from two categories are discussed. For instance, critical design belongs in expert mindset approaches. This design method can be useful to give a more creative space for a designer in help design whatever they see fit. This way designers can come up with new ideas and explore new territories without worries about the end user. On the article probes are mentioned as “method to provide design inspiration rather than a tool to be used to understand the experience of others.”  On the other hand the generative tools approach, which is an example of participatory design mindset invites users to contributes and focus on the user experience. It empowers and put trust on the user to be creative and a decision maker.

Although critical design approach and generative tools approaches are on opposing side, I think designers can mix the two approaches throughout a design cycle. Additionally the design map gives designers a common ground for communication and co-creation.

Visualization the 4 Essentials of Design thinking involves creating design illustrations of the design process once a design approach is decided. Jasper Liu compares and contrast different types of illustration models  that has been developed by designers. He further critics the models by pointing out their flows and proposing ways to make them more efficient representation systems. He finally succeeded in creating a new diamond shaped model that captures all the essentials of design thinking process. The one line that I found very interesting in this article was “ A project often begins with objectives such as creating a mobile app or boosting conversion rates — these are actually solutions!” Because sometimes the line between problems and objective can be very blurry. It’s interesting the way we phrase the problems and the project aim has an influence on the overall process.

Wicked problems in Design thinking is an essay that starts by exploring the history of design thinking and the relationship between science, art and practice. The  author describes how definitions of a subject can differ based on specific application. For Instance technology John Dewey(mentioned by the author multiple times) defines technology in terms of  knowledge, where as when we think about technology what comes first to mind is the hardware part of a specific device. As a result we overlook its artistic side of products. The four areas of design gives a good insight into the objectivity behind every design project.

All the three reading are concerned with giving designers from different background and disciple common definition of design and design methodology everyone is aware of.  In addition to mutual interest designers need mutual understanding in order to work together.

I took my first programming class when I was a freshman. It was exciting as well as mysterious. The first programming language I learned was python. It’s one of the high-level languages that’s well-known for its simplicity.  I am sure everyone who learned python on any programming language, first learned how to print.  Anyone can understand the print function of python. I think it’s a good design because it makes the mysterious world of coding easily accessible for beginners. It abstracts the complexity of a particular function and only shows what is necessary. It’s neat and doesn’t concern itself with the various details that might worry advanced developers. Similar to any good design,  it coveys its usage very effectively.