Our processes determine the quality of our products.
If we wish to improve our products,we must improve our processes;
we must continually redesign not just our products but also the way we design.
That’s why we study the design process. To know what we do and how we do it.
To understand it and improve it. To become better designers.
Dubberly,Hugh. How do you design?, (San Francisco: Dubberly Design Office, 2005)
Two things passed my way today that got me thinking about the process and students. One was a link to a site which had 50 examples of creative brainstorming for logo’s (noupe.com) and the above quote of Dubberly from the intro to his new book, How Do You Design. My own process is undergoing an amazing amount of growth, I am invigorated by expansion of my knowledge and skills. In class or shortly after a few students were hanging around and we were talking about what design education could look like. This was in response to which software to use. In a short span of 62 credits, there is not enough time to evolve and explore further the skills obtained. Too much emphasis is on the teaching of software and not enough on thinking.
Yet as possible small steps can be made – at least for now to get students thinking. Yet the process is lost on most. While many balk at the limitations or assignment perimeters, the hope is one day they will think back to being forced to sketch or brainstorm and illumination will occur.