Teaching Design teaches me - November 1, 2005 03:10 PM

My students had a breakthrough the other day. I am glad to have been there for it. I am surprised my it and challenged. I am challenged because I feel like maybe a small part of me didn't believe it would happen. Not because of them, but because I wasn't teaching them properly. I know design, I breath it and live my life by its rules, but can I teach it?

I was a student for a long time and I know it can be hard to understand a lesson. I doubted myself constantly, but the best teachers never let me give up. They kept on my case and I prevailed. I try to look back to those teachers and figure out how they got through to me. What can I do to get through to my students?

It's as if the breakthough happened because it had to, not because I made it happen. I don't beleive it can be planned, but maybe it can be set in motion. I may have set it in motion, but at a certain point lost enough control to allow such an accurance to take place.

I can only point in the direction of the path, but the students must do the walking.

Design Philosophy - July 31, 2005 10:08 PM

My design philosophy is much like my teaching philosophy because design is learning. I cannot ever work on a design project without learning something. I teach the way I design, encouraging students to explore lots of ideas, try something unorthodox, and learn something about the people they are designing for.

Design for me has always been something that I do for others as my way of contributing to society in a positive manner. Ideally I try only to become involved in projects where I am helping a person, organization or group in their quest to develop products or services that are for the greater good. I believe that design is a powerful way to influence society and I strive to use that power for worthy purposes. By teaching what I know to be true about design culture I can contribute to society in a positive and productive way.

I am a designer who is always concerned with the human condition. I become engaged in my audience and believe that the more I learn about them the better the service or product that I create will be. I feel that my ability to think broadly and abstractly is essential to my design process because I push others and myself in directions beyond what is the most obvious solution. This way of designing and concern for my audience directly relates to how I teach in that I am always concerned with the personal progress of my students; working to challenge their ideas about design and themselves.