Design Thesis Research || Primary-interests and Goals
IDENTIFYING AND DEFINING
Of the values listed above, the following are the five that I believe are the most essential for me to embody as an individual and as a designer.
Empathy
Justice
Optimism
Initiative
Creativity
Empathy
Empathy is essential to me both as a designer and as an individual. I believe it is necessary in creating useful contributions to society in design as it allows you to best understand your users and audiences. Empathy is also essential to my ability to relate to the world and understand the struggles of other people outside of the communities of which I am apart. As a designer I am designing for other people, not myself, and as such it is necessary that I understand the context that my designs will exist in and the people that will be making use of them.
To me empathy is making the time and effort to understand the circumstances of people around you, in sharing their experiences and feelings. Empathy is necessary in staying informed and in creating meaningful connections with other individuals. I value empathy because I believe that it is necessary to understand the needs and feelings of others in order to properly connect with them, something I believe is essential to being both a good designer and person.
Justice
Justice to me is valuable mostly in the context of social justice. At its simplest, I’d define justice as the fair treatment of individual actions, whether that be punitive treatment for unjust acts or equity for all individuals. Social justice is significant to me in all aspects of my life as an immigrant and woman of color. Feminism, anti-racism, anti-classism and anti-colonialism are at the heart of my values, and they drive the way in which I interact with others and the world. It is essential to me that I live these values in everything I do and that I not do anything to contradict these beliefs, whether that be in my personal life or in the design jobs I take. My work should align with my belief in social justice, and if not, I feel as if I’m doing a disservice to myself and other disenfranchised communities.
Optimism
This might be one of the values that I struggle most, largely directed toward myself. I pride myself on bringing optimism on others and I value the effect optimism has on a team environment. Optimism uplifts others and can often give them the motivation to continue projects they are struggling with. To me optimism, rather than being the unwavering belief that things can and will be accomplished, is the positive notion that you or others around you are doing their best and their efforts are important, necessary, and worth it. Optimism can seem toxic in the context of ignoring the struggles of others in favour of a more positive outlook on a situation, but my view of optimism is solely to encourage positivity in others towards their own work and themselves.
Initiative
Initiative is the ability to accomplish things on your own accord based on your own ambitions and without dependence on outside influence. What strikes me most about this value is my lack thereof, as while I can be plenty ambitious about projects that intrigue me, my lack of initiative stemming from my fear of failure often hinders me. My lack of initiative or hesitancy to complete things unless prompted to do so is something that has greatly interfered with my ability to advance my skills and my career as a designer. I believe in order to make anything of my ambitions and the things I value, I have to be able to take the initiative to actually do those things, regardless of if they place me in uncomfortable situations that I would rather not confront.
Creativity
Creativity, I believe, is one of the most essential and basic values that most designers possess. Creativity to be is the ability to think beyond the obvious and create solutions that go beyond what already exists. Of course, this doesn’t have to mean creating something completely new and original, but rather to create something unexpected but well executed.
I find myself often struggling with creativity, as often times I can default to what immediately looks good. Going beyond the obvious for me can be a struggle, but I believe it is something that is necessary for me to improve upon and strive for as a designer.
RATING EFFICACY
Empathy - 5
Justice - 4
Optimism - 3
Initiative - 2
Creativity - 3
Empathy and justice are essential to me in my personal life and guiding my decisions in that regard so it only makes sense that my ability to applies these skills as a designer are evident. In regards to optimism, I have a tendency to be optimistic towards other, but not with myself which is an area I need to improve upon if I am going to be able to have the confidence in myself as a designer and the motivation to do good work. I am not unaware of my creativity as artist, but I am certain that I am not doing my best in regard to this value, especially when viewing the work of others compared to me. Initiative is where I lack the most, and my hesitancy to go and achieve is something that I strive to overcome.
TAKING CHARGE
Of the above mentioned values, Initiative and Creativity are the two values which I believe are the most essential to my improvement as a designer and which I believe have the most potential for improvement. Both are necessary for improving my work and putting me in a good position for my professional life following graduation.
In regards to initiative, I believe my thesis project can be a great means by which to bring this value into focus. As I’m considering fashion design as a subject for my project, I see potential for me to pursue an area for which I’ve always had an ambition to try out but which I’ve never had the initiative to actually tap into. I want to take the initiative to pursue fashion as a serious possibility for my future rather than a dream job that I’d never achieve by connecting my self with other industry professionals throughout the semester and by getting an internship within the industry. I would hope to be able to achieve this before the end of the fall semester.
List of Actions for Improvement of Initiative
Get in contact with fashion industry professionals
Pursue internships within the fashion industry
Find opportunities on campus and off to gain experience and necessary skills for a career in fashion
In regards to creativity, I believe improving on my skills in iterative design are my opportunity to focus on this value. My struggle in creativity is with creating solutions that are less obvious, and I believe the best way to complete this is through improving my ability to explore a wide variety of solutions. This goal is difficult to quantify, as I’m not sure how I would measure the improvement of my creativity objectively, but in regards to my thesis project, I would like the improvement of my skill to be evident in my final project that will be created in the spring.
List of Actions for Improvement of Creativity
Practice designing as often as possible with design exercises everyday
For each project completed, create as many iterations as possible and consider all options
Look at design and absorb the practices of other designers you admire, look for new designers and things to admire