SHARPEN YOUR BLADE

Your design process should show the world that you've thought of every option possible even the stupid ones.

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On the topic of design thinking: I had a conversation with a friend last week that is attending California College of Arts this Fall for industrial design.

Lets name this friend Bob.

Bob mentioned to me he's struggling with the balance of design thinking and design execution in his work. Bob's dilemma is that his professor thinks he doesn't have much to show come time to hand in assignments. All you newbie students out there this is normal and should happen to you so consider it initiation.

We identify that he's spending more time thinking about his projects without putting them on paper. This is normal behavior because naturally we prefer quality work over the quantity of work. Our design egos expect us to produce the best so we're insecure about mediocre ideas. Why put useless ideas into this world right? Wrong, useless & mediocre ideas may be weak but are still ideas. Your design process should show the world that you've thought of every option possible even the stupid ones.

My best advice for someone like Bob at this stage is to let go of the ego, be very selfless, just pump everything your mind can think of. Drop the whole quality shenanigan and allow your brain to just dump smart, dumb, stupid, clever, innovative ideas. You may not know it but eventually you'll realized this is good practice in speeding up your design process. Think of this as a way to train your brain to commit to an idea quickly whether if the idea is good or bad. Soon you'll be so comfortable that all your commitments are only good ones.