The New Idiom

Hi IDers

(yay- first time posting on new idiom!!)

I’m planning to go to pecha kucha this tuesdays, so whoever wants to join let me know. Check out the details at here : http://www.pecha-kucha.org/night/chicago/13

And, for those of you haven’t heard of it YET, check this out : http://www.pecha-kucha.org/ Worth to visit!

A brief article in Fast Company discusses the results of 65 designers taking the Meyers Briggs personality test. When it came to the source of energy (Extroversion-Introversion) and decision-making traits (Feeling-Thinking), designers were pretty evenly split. Interestingly enough, designers tended more toward Intuiting (instead of Sensing) and Judging (instead of Perceiving).

The author of the article purports that this data more closely associates designers to engineers than to artists, further claiming that the combination of Intuiting and Judging provides insight into what “design thinking” is.

He writes, “According to the test, those that ‘intuit’ rather than ‘sense’ tend to focus on context and future developments, rather than simply the data at hand. Meanwhile, those that ‘judge’ rather than ‘perceive’ tend to see the world in terms of discrete problems that can be structured and cracked, rather than as a series of casual, open-ended possibilities.”

Even more interesting is the fact that in the general population INFJs comprise only 1% of people but this study, though not statistically rigorous, indicates that a significant percentage of designers are INFJs. (Maybe it’s only interesting to me because I’m an INFJ.)

I wonder what type of results we would see at ID.

What’s YOUR personality profile?

CMU professor Jesse Schell gives a presentation about how we can design health insurance, public transportation and even Facebook apps that make money - turn them all into games. Plus he gets bonus points for his Mitch Hedberg style delivery.

The chess grandmaster and current political activist is an unrecognizedly great design theorist, with the sharpest connection to our own work at ID coming in this summary of an analysis of a chess tournament with open rules regarding the number and type of players on each team:

“Weak human + machine + better process was superior to a strong computer alone and, more remarkably, superior to a strong human + machine + inferior process.”

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/23592

Design skills for a good cause

EPIC (Engaging Philanthropy Inspiring Creatives) helps creative professionals and nonprofits join forces, making a bigger impact on the world than either could alone. In regular intervals, they  pair select teams of “creatives” from the ad/design industries with select nonprofit clients dedicated to education, children and families. During an “8-week creative rally,” each team creates plans, programs, and materials—on a pro-bono basis—that their nonprofit client needs to positively affect the lives of those they serve.

Are you EPIC?

Whether you are a creative or a nonprofit, we can make a big difference by working together. EPIC is pairing select teams of creative professionals with select nonprofit clients whose missions focus on education, children and families. Deadline is March 1st.

Past/Present ID/EPIC contributors:

Rober Zolna

Tim Miller

Amanda Stewart

Interested?  http://iamepic.org/

or email:  miguelc@id.iit.edu

So, I just happened across this article titled, “So you Wanna be a Design Strategist?” by Luke Wroblewski (http://www.lukew.com/FF/entry.asp?435).

What struck me almost immediately was point #2: Don’t over research. Luke writes, “By its very nature, a designer’s job requires using both left and right brain functions. Sometimes over-thinking a solution makes it hard to get people excited about the emotional content of our work.”

Sometimes, in the midst of all the rigor and methods and organizing principles and frameworks, etc., at ID, I think we get lost in 2x2s and other diagrammatic formulas. At least, I do. But we cannot forget the value of the “emotional content of our work.” Having seen some of the presentations from Kim Erwin’s workshop last semester, it became clear that relatable human stories can make for a very compelling experience. We don’t want to lose sight of the people we are designing for, the nuance of their stories, or the reality of their circumstances.

Luke also argues, “You do need to present research that helps your point, but don’t make the mistake of devaluing your gut instincts or hunches.” This became very apparent to me in recent weeks during the prototyping phase of a project. My team came to a pause and pondered what action to take next. Instead of over-thinking it or desperately trying to find a haphazard test subject, we used our guts and just built something. We quickly learned what worked and what didn’t and moved on. We didn’t have to shadow and interview 20 research participants and analyze pages of data. Sometimes, you just need to “make.”

Obviously, there should be room for the rigor and analysis that ID is known for. Luke writes, “Justify decisions with the right kind (and amount) of research… There comes a time when the emotional side of design needs a good helping of ‘reality.’ Designers need to drive research.” But that stuff we already do pretty well. Ultimately, it’s about striking that balance - finding that sweet spot - between methods and emotion, research and doing, thinking and feeling.

So, next time you are formulating a research plan, prototyping a concept, or preparing a deck (or something else, please!!!) for a final presentation, keep in mind that you as a designer have a unique ability to glean and convey meaning. Don’t just think. Feel.