Thursday, December 4, 2014

Think Like a Designer?



What does it mean to think like a designer?

  • Knowing that the problem can and should be redefined
  • Knowing that there is never a single “best” solution
  • Knowing that abductive reasoning is an acceptable path
  • Understanding that users provide information... not solutions
  • Being able to iterate freely
  • Always returning to and questioning the problem
  • Being able to abandon one line of thinking and take up another
  • Realizing that an abandoned path can always be returned to
  • Understanding that you must make things, many things... quickly and as early as possible
  • Understanding that making things is research
  • Knowing that ideas can come from strange places and looking there
  • Embracing the idea that your design will be picked up by others and adapted for different uses
  • Being comfortable with ambiguity
  • Realizing the need to embrace complexity — simplicity is being replaced by clarity
  • Knowing how to set boundaries — everything is connected but that doesn’t mean your design has to address all the connections
  • Thinking in systems — look for leverage points and design them into the project
  • Understanding that it’s less about the parts and more about the relationships between them

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