The Personas of design
Hello there my dear,
Welcome to next week of my Design journey! And on today's episode of being a PDT student may I introduce you to waking up at 5:30 am. Why you might ask? Oh well, that's what happens when you have other creative people visiting and they need to catch a morning flight. And that morning led me to a digital guest lecture with Caoimhe Kelly. Caoimhe is currently a freelance shoe designer and brought my class on a creative journey to the industry. Even though we had only 4 hours for the whole experience I was still able to take notes on the processes involved in the design and manufacturing of footwear. It was very insightful and the london based designer guest shared with us valuable life lessons on her design journey. Even when due to an accident she was stopped from opening her own brand of children’s footwear, she didn’t totally give up but preserved and pushed through to share her creative ideas in collaboration with others. Such an unexpected, but real approach. We might not see the next big corner we need to step around but even if around that corner is a big and deep hole we are, with enough faith equipped to jump over it, even if we are to make it with scratching our hands and bruising our knees, believing and being assured we can do a thing will carry us through.
Now, before the lecture with Caoimhe we were provided with a few digital design research resources. One that caught my interest was “The Tipping Point” by Malcolm Gladwell. So after reading it I wanted to create my own “design personas”. So I'd like you to get introduced to: the creatives, the passionates and the odd-breakers.
Why those three words you might ask? Well, let me have a run down of each one of these for you.
First the creatives. As I wrote last week, they are the creators, they come up with novel ideas, sometimes brilliant ones, other times ones that make you want to run away. But they are not afraid to speak, show and design the unimaginable concepts that many others would heavily reconsider. They are the idea bringers, always trying something new. Flourishing around the ones who are willing to listen when they empty their minds to spill the words for the world. Those are the creators of the new, the creatives.
And yes, even though every one of us has the capability to be creative. These are still unique people within the design community. If you know one of those, you can just see how out of nowhere they'll come up to you saying that they started a new hobby and would want to fill you in on their progress. They will cook food and share it with you, freestyle sing while waiting for something to happen, or even try experiencing life differently by walking, talking or thinking unconventionally. There is a particular, intangible charm to the creatives, you never know their next step.
I'd say however that the passionates are also a big group within the creative and not only field. I'd say that their defining characteristics would be a constant love for one area of interest. You can meet a passionate really anywhere. I've been able to meet one at Dunnes Stores meat ile recently. Elderly man with white hair, thick irish accent and love for headphones. Audiophile in the purest meaning of the word. You could feel his appreciation for the headphones design from a mile away. He just started talking, asking questions and sharing what he knew, sharing what held a big part in his heart. The love for good headphone design.
There are other passionates as well, I know at least a few, rocket passionates, theatre ones, and overall design ones as well. They are brilliant within the area of their curiosity and you know that if you have a project featuring one of their interests they'll be the first ones you'd ask for an opinion. They do their research that can be considered as heavily reliable for the field they decide to nest themselves in. You could say these are the people you imagine when someone mentions a certain topic and you could see them in the places they envision themselves in when looking at the future.
The last group is hard to define, because even when they share some common qualities with the previous ones, they are the ones who actually are not afraid to take risks. They are bold in their opinions. Their paths may be undefined but build on a solid foundation of curiosity, field research and personal beliefs. They are the ones who bring the mind of critique and appreciation together, who know how to work behind the scenes for the improvement of their work, who have the plan for their next steps and seem to always be a step ahead even when being as lost as the others. They are the floating lily pads on the lake of design. Admired when their ideas bloom, but not standing out from the crowd when looked at by an inexperienced eye. They are the salesman of design, knowing their goals and the effort they put into getting where they are now. They take cautious steps into the pool but know as well the right timing to dive deep into it. They are the ones who have the most willpower to stick to their plan and work against all the odds, to one day break the glass ceilings. They are the odd-breakers.
I bet as a designer you could see yourself clearly in at least one of those personas. Or maybe not, maybe while reading this someone else came to your mind. And that’s good as well! There might be many more smaller labels that could be put on each and every one of us. So don’t limit yourself, find your own path and follow it with your designer chin lifted high.
Love,
The one and only Maria