Universal Skills in Design: a Common Language

Happy "Post-Christmas" everybody!

With the book now available in the United States, life is good, and I continue to really think about my role as a designer—from a much broader and expansive height.

When I set out on my “design path” I was young—and honestly: design for me was more a way to make some money drawing and being “creative.” Over the years, I have had numerous opportunities to reflect on growing up, and how I have changed. Then today, I read this post and started thinking about the bigger picture.

While co-writing the book “Stories that Move Mountains,” I started to feel like I was finally seeing first hand, how design is really a mindset—part of an approach that drives collaboration and is not just about “specializing” in design. There is Instructional Design, Graphic design, Interior Design and Industrial Design—to name a few, but it starts with design intention, the common desire to create something useful for client AND consumer.

Design IS about the creative approach towards this end-goal, regardless of your specialty area, and at this time in my career I think I am finally seeing that often our specialties just get in the way. We all need to specialize, but the conversation and collaboration are most exciting when we drop the walls of our own specialized languages and look for common ways to communicate the same goals—regardless of final delivery mechanisms.

Let’s just talk DESIGN.

Perhaps it’s about why I got into this to begin with… I liked to express myself through creative means. I never really cared about being a “graphic designer,” and being an “Instructional Designer” is fine too, but sometimes the role just plain gets in the way, doesn’t it?

I like art, learning and being creative—trying new things every day.

This is how I ended up on the path to trying new things in art, music, teaching, etc.

I just liked the topics… I never really wanted to BE the role. I thought I did… or rather thought I ‘should’ have a role to prove something.

It no longer really matters though, is no longer relevant, and is only a matter of convenience, when titles are needed. I’m a person first… with general communication and consulting skills first. Then there is design… a broad area. Learning happens when people are not so quick to label everything.

Design has become a really big deal for me, and less about what anyone would normally think of as ‘being creative.’ A key premise for my blog, for instance, is design from a life approach perspective. I applied some “life design” over the last few years… shifting career focus from college education to corporate training. I did this through a process of analyzing economic niches and needs, as well as what would capitalize on what I enjoyed and did well. I transferred a great deal of strength into new areas. This is at the core of design-focused thinking: transferring key skills across new areas.

My life turned out to be something much richer than just drawing pictures. I became a designer that was relatively happy, doing what I thought I was supposed to do. I led a life of design education and taught in many colleges for almost 15 years.

It fostered a love for learning—my own learning—as well as helping others learn and achieve their own goals (through teaching, coaching and instructional design). I still love to make music and art, but I also design for learning. From a higher level, it follows similar processes across the board.

Whether it’s math, science, engineering, visual arts, music, psychology, sociology…

We can all benefit from design, and design thinking.

Things are really starting to happen, hitting us in torrents in an increasingly connected world, and fortunately, we’re starting to realize the value in design. Reports are finding that “design schools are not only a major source of new talent for the economy's rapidly growing creative sector, but are critical catalysts for entrepreneurship.”

David writes: “Design, broadly defined, is an interdisciplinary approach to problem-solving that seeks to develop more effective products, environments, and organizations. At its heart, design is about understanding people and how they interact in the larger world.”

This quote ends on a key point: design from a systems perspective, meaning we design our environment—and everything in it, in a much bigger system. The system just keeps expanding, and more sustaining and successful solutions exist when they take the bigger picture into consideration.

NONE of these issues focus explicitly on art, graphic design, architecture, interior design or any of the “creative professions.” They exist across everything, and signify a way of thinking, not a specific way of doing.

Nigel Cross would be proud, as he has a great body of work encompassing what he calls “Designerly Ways of Knowing.” His work over the last 40 years has developed from the basic premise that designers (whether architects, engineers, product designers, etc.) have and use particular ‘designerly’ ways of knowing and thinking. This continues to expand beyond the professions listed above…

And seeing and discovering that human innovation may hinge on a design-thinking approach that crosses all boundaries to true inter-disciplinary kinship…

Here’s to letting go of job titles!

m

Updates and Discoveries

The last few months have really been revealing. I have realized I can’t do it all, imagine that!

“Stories that Move Mountains” is a book in full swing and will be out in the U.S. soon. Sales have been great outside of the U.S, and I look forward to seeing it come to the U.S.  The message is clear… there is a very intentional way to bring the right story to your audience and deliver it in an engaging way that can affect change.

I have been writing feverishly… but not for my own personal blog, and that’s ok. I have been writing for many other blogs. Look for upcoming posts on the book website, as well as Visual Loop and Visual.ly. I want to ‘get the word out’ on design to many that don’t believe they can do it. No—I know, we all need to have our specialties, but when you’re developing a presentation, we ALL need to have an eye on the overall design.

And when I say design, it doesn’t mean we all need to grab a pencil and start drawing. We just need to think in an organized way, and start making connections that your design “specialist” can relate to, so that your ideas come to life.

I helping to write the book I realized this! Design is a universal concept for everyone… you just need to know when to hand it off to a specialist.  Look for the posts, and we’ll talk more on that soon.

Transitioning…

SO this post is not only about updates, it’s about discoveries. I just wanted to express that a ‘visual discovery’ for me was the fact that I have realized I need a few new outlets for expression—but I have never seemed to have the time, energy or inspiration. With so many interests, it’s often hard to find a way that fits into your day and ‘flows’ in a way that feels natural.

While drawing pictures and painting all day is definitely something I would LOVE to be doing now, I realized that I also had a long-lost love for photography.

I used to do it all with a Pentax manual-adjust camera (thank you Mom and Pop) that I used during my undergraduate work in Graphic Design, and into the 90s. Over the last decade it seems to have fallen away. Working in the dark-room was very cool, but I think my throat feels much better knowing all those dark-room chemicals don’t always need to be breathed anymore—that’s right, I’ve figured out how my love for images and social networking can be combined. No surprise… it’s Instagram!!!

My iPhone 5, Lumia 920 and various other digital resources have become very convenient (and mobile resources) for living my life throughpictures.

Anyway, Instagram has become a bit of an obsession for me. Why? Well apparently because it gives me a convenient outlet to record my world in a way that doesn’t take a lot more time. I enjoy the process, and also have time for all my other commitments. I enjoy the process… sharing as I do things in the midst of my day. It’s very easy with my smartphone, especially since smartphone camera technology has really come a long way in the last decade!

Anyway, an unintended consequence of all this posting on Instagram has been the way in which it has effected how I see the world. I literally SEE the world through images and with a much stronger design orientation—meaning I see much more through the senses—color, lines, shapes, directionals, touch, texture and composition all come together...

And I love it.

Please keep in touch. Whether it’s through Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Stories That Move Mountains, or just plain old-school email or phone calls…

Keep in touch.

m

Remembering to Focus: The Power of Intention

I was just reminded of something quite power (and useful) today.

I was reminded that the more you search for something—the better chance that you will find it. Sounds good, right? It really seems to make sense, as it seems like such a simple, positive and useful thing—depending on what you want to apply it to.

It can be quite useful in conducting quantifiable research:
I’m presently helping to set the groundwork for a focus group in my consulting work. What guides the data has to do with the questions you ask—think about that…

A study can become subjective really quickly, based on the questions you ask, and not only that, what if the question contains biases or assumptions?

For instance, consider the subtle difference between these two questions:

Why is it important for you to use your Learning Management System?

Is it important for you to use your Learning Management System? Why or why not?

In it’s first form, we are fishing or ‘leading’ the person being asked the question. We make an assumption that the Learning Management System is already deemed important to the person being questioned. The second question makes no assumptions, and considers the possibility that it is too closed a question. What is the person questioned simply be answered with a yes or no? Those kinds of questions can be valuable, but being specific, and making sure there is enough depth to the answers can be quite valuable too.

Again, the first question is a ‘leading’ question, and essentially is puts the person answering the question in a place that often leads them to answering it in a certain way (well… not always, as they might take a chance and challenge the question itself!)

Anyway, useful data implies an impartial approach, meaning you’re not leading someone to anything; you just want to get some raw data—that raw data leads to information and lets get really granular here: information and data are not the same thing. Useful data is a pattern that paints a picture or tells a story—it gives you something you can act on, or show to someone, especially when you’re trying to affect change.

Infographics and/or data visualization are at the core of the stories mentioned above. It is indeed true that you will always need to decide how many and exactly what questions to ask. Bias is always a possibility, as even good questions may mean others had to be left out. How many questions you ask, what questions you leave out, and how you ask the questions you DO choose are all very important.

That which you look for, you will always find.

We see through the colored glasses of our own experiences. To some degree we must acknowledge our own shortcomings as human beings: we’re always going to impart our own subjective viewpoint. Keeping that in mind as we attempt to focus on hard data is a useful reminder!

NOW, if we can only create meaning from the data… so that it may cause our stakeholders, managers, clients, etc. to act in a way that considers what’s best for everyone.

Stepping back a few steps…

This whole “that-which-you-look-for, you-will-always-find” approach can pop up all kinds of places in many personal and professional environments ways.

In speaking of personal experience, I have fallen into many traps. I just plain expect people to act a certain way after a while—and they never fail me!

ZING! The subjectivity virus just zapped me!

Ok, subjectivity is what makes us who we are, and I get that. It can be a good thing. Heck, I could make this post really long just by talking about the creative process. But wait… even the creative process lends to being open to anything and everything (at least initially, before you start narrowing down to a more focused approach design).

My personal life has taken a major hit over the last 5-7 years. I focus on the annoyance and frustration of people being a certain way—and not being the way I might want or expect.

What’s THAT about?

OIY!

Anyway, talking about all the layers I have been peeling back, and the very real feelings of vulnerability it creates is yet another topic for another post—LATER!

Validate your feelings, focus on what you want, and look for THAT in the people around you—regardless of whether they are people you have known for a long time that were previously annoying you, or if they are new people in your life. Regardless of the age of their friendship, shifting the focus (and not continuing to hunt for what annoys you) is a much more productive approach…

I guarantee it.

The final thought on this example is: if you continue to focus on the good, but the folks around you still aren’t ‘syncing with your plan,’ or fitting into your life, then perhaps it is the time where you can most ‘objectively’ let them go­—and you can do it with no hard feelings, and no ill-will.

I LOVE IT!

More soon-

m

Creation & Consumption: The Tentative Merger

As someone working around technology everyday, I was excited to read Robert Fritz’s latest post on consuming and creating. He makes excellent points and questions the present ‘consumeristic’ tendencies appearing in culture:  

“One thing that comes with modernity is the bad habit of becoming a consumer of things rather than a maker of things. This difference is profound in the way we approach our lives. Do we think in terms of what we can buy or what we can make?”

This is how I presently tend to break it down from a technology perspective, and I must preface it by saying that these are just tendencies, not absolutes.

Certain types of devices ‘inspire’ different kinds of use, and they are also deeply dependent on the interests, background, and age of the audience.

Smaller mobile devices tend to lean towards a “consumption approach.” These include smartphones and “companion devices.”

Exception example: the iPad is about the same size as a PC slate. The latter is touted as a “creation device,” simply because it’s actually a fully functioning PC with the ability to run everything that’s on a full-size PC. It’s can’t fully be considered a “companion device,” which is never meant to take the place of larger, more capable and expansive devices.

Larger devices like desktop and laptop PCs inspire a “creation approach.”

Exception example: online gaming on various larger devices, including Xbox.

The bottom line: with so many options in communication and technology available today, our awareness of how we use these devices is more important than ever.

I propose that consumption and creating are two intertwined variables that ebb and flow into the very nature of our existence: we need both to achieve our goals—assuming we are in touch with them. However, it also greatly relies on how we define consumption. Fritz mentions the term ‘passive consumer.’ In my opinion, this is the most important moment in his post.

Case in point: I am constantly “consuming” information. Heck, I found his post on Twitter using my smartphone. I was absorbing the information as I consumed it—I believe this is the subtle shift in consciousness that Robert is calling out, and it’s a critical one. I am writing this post on a laptop PC, and would never write it on an iPad, slate or mobile device (although I have written song lyrics on an iPhone and iPod!) I am probably not the greatest example of a passive consumer.

Blindly following the ‘rules’ of what we are given is never really a good course of action—unless maybe it’s pulling the ripcord at a certain number of seconds after jumping from an airplane!

For a long time now I have felt that we have indeed been moving towards a “consumer mentality.” It concerns me. There is a time and place for everything, but what’s predominant? It’s more about the awareness, discipline and wherewithal it takes to not allow it to run rampant and trample our human spirit.

Being a consumer is part of who we are—heck I used to love watching a good Schwarzenegger flick—but it’s not ALL that we are.

I’m in corporate business settings, and not everyone is like me, so it’s important to note that your own consumer-creator approach may vary from mine.

We’re at a pivotal time in our history. This is a time where in some ways, we are losing ourselves—part of who we are. We’re simply not being critical enough and questioning things. Consumerism relies on the ability to manipulate and inspire purchasing, not inspire creating. It’s a slippery slope we’re heading down…

How do YOU define YOUR consumption? What purpose does it serve for you? How does that compare to whatever you call “creating?”

Being a consumer can be about entertainment and enjoyment, but it can also be about taking in all that’s around you as part of a full sensory experience… for me, it can also inspire me to create. I could cite numerous creative examples of this but staying on track and emphasizing again—I absorbed (or consumed) Robert’s blog on my smartphone, and it inspired me to shift to creating on my PC.

Don’t forget to make that shift, as it’s all too easy to live life with the lights off and check out too much.

Cheers!

m

Process and the Next Level: My ‘Infographic Life’

In talking about the creation of my “infographic resumé,” or a visual document of my background and experience, I think it’s important to give a little of the “backstory” of the challenge, prior to talking about specific reasons why I chose the visual devices used in the layout. Please excuse the length, but between details of the story, and the relevant process examples, it was impossible to pair the post down…

This resume (and relevant discussion) is being included in the soon-to-be-released book from Wiley & Sons Publishers: Look for “Stories That Move Mountains” in online and brick-and-mortar locations this fall!

The Story

It seems that as I worked my way through the field of design education and graphic design, I entered the mid-2000’s desiring something new and different that combined my experiences in a new way that would take my professional career to the next level. In 2005 I was working in textiles with Tommy Bahama and ready for something that more fully utilized my skills and talents. I had been teaching for 10 years, and knew I loved numerous aspects of design and design education.

I decided to enter a grad program at Antioch University in Seattle. The “Whole Systems Design” program fine-tuned my context-based problem solving skills, and educated me more fully on systems thinking and analysis – it was holism (or “wholism”) in a whole new way – very heady “big-picture” stuff.  Everyone in the program was responsible for applying learning to their own specific area(s) of interest. Mine was learning/development, design, and creative and effective use of technology. This was reflected in numerous papers and projects, including an internship at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center that had me looking at all the stakeholders involved in the use of a performing arts space that used technology and a wide range of users to harness an amazing opportunity to express people talents. I also wrote a final thesis on leadership and creativity. It was an expansive time for my own learning and considering “the new.”

I also put together numerous career “maps” that connected ‘parts’ of my experience within various careers and various documents methodologies in areas like coaching, management, leadership, learning and consulting. A few examples are included here—essentially, when it came to my background, experience and interests, I was really exploring how all the “pieces could fit” in different ways, since I was really looking to take life to the “next level.” Note I said ‘life,’ not just a career… I have always attempted to integrate the ‘whole person’ whenever possible.

Where was the gap between where I was, and where I wanted to be? You can imagine it was a pretty involved process.

I finished grad school as I continued teaching as full-time faculty. I was very busy with these two things, it’s amazing I had a personal life in the process – I met my wife during this time! Anyway, after I wrapped up my M.A., I considered what was next professionally. I had many leads, but nothing solid yet, and my new challenge…

Has how do I attack an old problem? Yes, the resume – something that never fully represented me, and here’s why: I had worked many amazing short and long-term projects over the years, and I had realized that I needed to be very strategic about how I represented a large quantity of diverse projects and situations. Design education was my greatest area of “regular” experience. When it came to graphic design, it seemed like my skills were never deep enough in any one area for all the ‘specialized’ out there, and I kept hitting this same roadblock with HR people and recruiters again and again.

Well, I am not really a specialist… the challenge: clarifying variety in a way that is not construed as “job hopping.”

I had approached this many times with a “traditional” resume, new a chronological format was definitely not an option for me, and also realized that since I am doing more and more data visualization, that it might only make sense to depict my experience on a resume as visual data – I needed to give different audiences another way to experience my experiences – as a compliment to my traditional (text-based) resumé. Why not give them an option to do that?

My infographic resume functions for three main reasons, and any results beyond these could be considered positive unintended consequences. A huge realization at this time, was that I was catering to the wrong audiences… they just weren’t getting it, and I was looking in the wrong places. My new approach needed to function as:

1.     A way to connect with a targeted and more appropriate audience (i.e. IT stakeholders and anyone dealing in statistics and data) a way to “experience my experience,” with a subcategory being the connection with anyone interested in organizational learning. Infographics help people not only experience data, but learn from it in their own way. In the case of a resumé, the ultimate goal is to sway the hiring manager (decision-maker) to bring you onboard.

2.     An illustration of my abilities with data visualization (i.e. a portfolio piece).

3.     And to have the opportunity to tell a story of where I have been, and what I have done – inways seldom done (or possible) on a traditional resumé.

The infographic resume has also apparently been able to not only showcase ability and style, but it’s apparently showcased my personality – let’s just say I can be a little silly at times.

The Design Process

Lead by my determination, I was very fortunate to have a few great people (authors on the book presently being co-authored, “Stories that Move Mountains”) available to give me feedback as I drafted several versions of my new visual approach to my CV. Imagine: these people were a great representation of my target audience! Now THAT is fortunate!

The First Design Challenge

I must say I did not start out with too much of a ‘formalized’ plan of attack. Unlike my usual approach, I did not start out in black and white to get a solid overall approach—OOPS. Not sure if that helped or hurt, but color did seem to be important right from the start.

Apparently ‘thinking outside of the box’ also required getting through lots of ‘inside-the-box’ ideas. Let’s just say I started pretty traditionally, meaning it was more like a slightly modified version of a text-only resume.

 

I started out by breaking down my experience into two primary areas: Education and Experience.

The process itself, started to formalize the approach.

During the process of designing, and getting feedback from said audience, I realized I didn’t really know what I wanted to say – or more specifically, what story I wanted to tell. I realized I was trying to tell too many stories, including elements of my personal life, exercise routine, health, education from as far back from as far back as high-school, etc.

I fine-tuned what I was communicating, and how it was being communicated. I used different types of visual representations and timelines for work, tools, skillsets, etc. It was coming along, but just wasn’t there yet.  It got more and more complex, and the information became quite dense from a visual standpoint. I took chances… some failed, some succeeded—ahhh process!

But there just wasn’t a “story that stuck.”

There were too many “side-stories” going on, and too many things I was trying to communicate. It was ‘muddying the message,’ and diluting the water. The layout was also relatively “divisive,” splitting up the content too much, with directions and boundaries that were far too strong. I believe it also limited the experience. I wasn’t able to make the kinds of connections I wanted, or show the relationships between things well enough.

Do over.

Reboot.

New layout.

The Journey

I finally hit upon a story I could build on. My experiential journey was also my physical journey – after all, I was quite a traveler… moving across the country, and traveling whenever possible. This could be something “thematic” that could help tie things together. 

I fine-tuned the content by unifying all experience and education as simple four different kinds of experience: yes, I believe that even education is experience. Color-coding was going to be a key device for breaking down all content.

I broke down the four areas, and explained what came out of each of those areas.

I quickly realized that the four organic circles and their skillsets would not be as specific as some people might like, so I added the timeline back in as a track for the map, color coding them accordingly, based on the colors of the four areas. It was deemed appropriate that broad, specific, professional and personal elements were all needed to represent the whole person: generally, this is a hard thing to represent in a traditional resumé, and I wanted to make every attempt to infuse my approach with as many elements of the whole person as possible, without ‘muddying the message,’ or telling too many stories.

I realized that a big part of representing the whole person was also about drawing relationships: so I made a brief statement about how each area helped to inform the other areas, drawing connective arrows between them.

I also address skillsets, personality style, and a geographical ‘map’ of the United States, to depict the journey. I gently drew dotted lines to where the four areas connected to basic geography. This is what it looks like today; ready to go until the next shifts in life...

The Final Question Mark

So in closing this chapter of sorts, I continue to reflect on the question of “how much data is too much data?” Pieces of my personal life were thrown out of the visual equation along the way, and I now look back upon my finalized solution and still ask: how much should I be highlighting other things? My experiences such as a professional touring and recording musician are relevant for representing the ‘whole person,’ but feel it is a little hard to work into the layout. This whole thing is a work in progress, and to be a true representation of the person, it needs to be able to grow, change, expand and evolve over time. Can that (or should that) be done through the telling of the same story? Maybe, maybe not, but perhaps soon the question may be:

Not a reboot… but perhaps an upgrade?

lol

m