My design philosophy
On the fourth day of my first design sprint, when I worked as an innovation specialist, something clicked. It might be the coffee, but I am working so fast, with all the desktop research results and quotes I heard from the in-home visit the previous day. Meanwhile, my brain is putting a spotlight on the information and transforming it into the paper prototype in my hand. A voice inside was screaming, and I had to try so hard not to shout in front of a dozen colleagues I had just known for a month: This is what I want to do for life!
Art, Science, and Design
Having tried the artistic way to express feelings and views as a literature major, and the scientific method to uncover the link between language and mind, design is something different. It makes me alive. In their 2012 book, The Design Way – Intentional Change in an Unpredictable World, Nelson and Stoltermann proposed that design is the first tradition, and that we must design, because we want to make the world our own.
This is what I had in mind when I applied for grad school in HCI and eventually joined the design-focused program at IU. Even though my primary drive is to help people live the breadth and depth they deserve (my mantra), the design way made me realize that the only way to make that happen is to make intentional change.
“We must design, because we are not perfect. We want to make the world our world.”
— The Design Way, Nelson & Stoltermann
Design as Service
The premise of my design philosophy is service. I believe that by working together, this service relationship will work well for the project. As a design, I would be of service to two groups.
First, the stakeholders. They are the end-users, the producers, the business decision-makers, or even other products in the environment. One of the key activities in this service, is defining the situation. Donald Schön, in his work on the design process, pointed to several key activities, one being representing the situation. The most important task of a designer is to find the problem to be solved. When the client has not come with a clear problem in mind, I, the designer, will examine and define the boundary of the problem with them.
In addition, we serve values. Some values I hold dear are transparency, accessibility, and sustainability. Jonathan Chapman’s 2021 book, Design That Lasts, points to a direction that I want to achieve—apply incremental design moves instead of systematic shifts to create things that are meaningful and adaptable into the future instead of serving a short shelf life.
Designer’s Power:
Epistemic Freedom and Judgement
To serve people and values does not make the designer passive. In fact, there is much power in a designer. Earlier I talked about designer being the bringer of change in the world. That is the result of the power. The power also shoes in how designers do their job.
The design process, something difficult to research as Serraino quoted before, is examined by Rittel (1988). Here, the disorderly nature of design is unveiled. Along with it, the notion of epistemic freedom. There are no algorithms to guide the design process. Designers have to make up their minds. This newly learned liberty shook my belief that there should be a linear process to follow to arrive at the right solution while empowering me to keep working—as a designer, I have to improve my ability to make good judgements to access design wisdom.
Good Design: Design for Life
Design that lasts. Design that matters. Design that has a soul. This is what I want to see in the world, and what I strive to create. I found myself constantly going back to the theme of design for life. After coming to IU, I met the best cohort. Creative, disciplined people who are as keen about life as I am. Seeing these designers and working with them validated my wish. I want to work with people and give them what they desire. What I mean by people is not the generalized population, but rather specific individuals in contexts with pains, gains, and jobs to be done. I want to serve them and fulfill these key missions:
Remove pain. Reduce suffering and barriers to what people desire so that people can feel better and have a happier life.
Spark joy. I want to make things that are interesting and instill energy into life so that among the quotidian tasks, users of my design can be pleasantly surprised, even say "Oh, this product really gets me!"
Create clarity. I believe clarity can help people find identity, hence able to have more profound experience, or have less torn feeling in life. Clarity is usually realized through education. However, the preaching style might be abstract and require much deliberation beyond people’s available time. The alternative is design. Through design, with its details in how life is lived, I would be able to show people things they care about in ways that they can accept.
“Design that lasts. Design that matters. Design that has a soul. This is what I want to see in the world, and what I strive to create.”
— Xinyuan Zhang
Me, the designer.
Knowing what I want to do helps me understand who I am. It’s not easy to think of myself as a designer. In particular, when I was reading Serraino’s discussion of the creative architect (2016), I do not see my traits listed in that of a creative designer, especially solitude. I work best when I work with people, even when I’m developing ideas.
According to Serraino, the creative part seems to be the artistic part of design. It’s the unfettered expression of the self, the self-determination to pursue what interests them, and act on their intuition (2016, p. 213). I am not experienced enough in design to trust my intuition yet. This is why I need to work under supervision or motivation. When someone I trust tells me that, yes, your intuition is right, go pursue it, I would be able to deliver better results.
On the other hand, seeing remarks on how creativity is the reassembling of existing knowledge and how creativity is “a progression over time bringing together originality, adaptiveness, and realization” (p. 216) relieves me and reminds me that to gain that trust for myself, I would need to accumulate cases, hone my sensitivity and ability to synthesize through practice.
Among the four narrative types in Björklund, Keipi and Maula (2020), I belong mostly to “succeeding together,” when I relate my work to others to create group dynamics, facilitating and creating flow to move things forward. However, I would like to highlight “loving your work” in the coming years because I enjoy craftsmanship and creativity. It is what I came to the HCI program for.
“I work best when I work with people. I enjoy relating my work to others to create group dynamics, facilitating and creating flow to move things forward.”
— Xinyuan Zhang
My Design Process
To achieve the missions, I start with understanding the desiderata. This is attainable through framing and a series of design moves. Since we often deal with wicked problems, framing is essential. I will examine the design situation with the client, studying the actions, thoughts, and emotions involved through primary and secondary research methods. I often immerse myself in the situation, experience it holistically while dissecting it into workable insights.
The other important move is design. The "Do" part, and to me, the most fascinating and also most frustrating part. The fear of not getting it right can hold me back from creation. At such time, I will follow artist Sol LeWitt's advice to Eva Hesse, “Just stop thinking, worrying, looking over your shoulder wondering, doubting, fearing, hurting, hoping for some easy way out…Stop it and just DO!…"
I believe in quantity over quality. Through making enough bad solutions, I will acquire the judgment to make good ones. In the quantity, I acquire sensibility of design, or in another word, connoisseurship. In Eisner (2004)’s words, connoisseurship is “the ability to recognize differences that are subtle, but significant in particular qualitative display.” This is something I am still working on.
I believe in getting inspired. Not only trying products in the arena I'm designing for, but also appreciating and making things that interest me. Vitruvius, in his argument for architects, discussed how the good designer has to know a bit of everything. It’s the part I love about design. Even though I am not the expert, I am the facilitator and knowing hand to bring relevant elements together and create intentional change. The depth and cutting edge technology are not my priority, but can become food to my thoughts and inspire me towards good solutions.
I believe in taking a rest. That's why I would go for a walk between sessions. Let fresh air and a change of environment sort out the knots in my brain, and probably in my wrist and rotator cuff too. During walks, I take a situation that I am working on, and think about where I am, what resources and insights I have to frame the design problem. Usually I end up having good progress, or even a breakthrough at critical times.
I believe in sharing and getting feedback. I show my work to people, designer or not, to seek different perspectives. The fresh eye would usually give me information that I have ignored before and provide either direction or source for argument in my proposition.
“Just stop thinking, worrying, looking over your shoulder wondering, doubting, fearing, hurting, hoping for some easy way out…Stop it and just DO!…”
— Sol LeWitt
Living the Design Way
Design is a lot of grinding. A lot of building, deconstructing, reshaping, and getting negative feedback. So many times, I have heard people say “it won’t work,” “we don’t have the budget,” “they’re not doing it.” Even the voice in my own head will sometimes doubt my work, and whisper ”You’re not good enough.”
But I like the learning, synthesis and the ideation. I like knowing that what I'm doing serves a purpose. I like zooming in and out, to find solutions that make business sense and ecological sense, and hence we don't need to worry about only serving people temporarily.
Eventually, what I want to become is a designer that can ensoul. This is the splendor of design. Life itself is complicated, paradoxical, and full of compromises. Design is my way to deal with this. To bring something that is desired, but not existed yet, into reality. To create something that is a unity of value and meaning.
I live the design way.
