Design as a process of self-discovery
At some point in life, one might be triggered by some events to question who they really are. To see in clear pictures of their own characters, ideals, dreams, and other things in regard to the self. To understand the sum of their parts which makes them who they are and which path they should take to walk the earth. Yet, this awakening point is only a part of an endless journey of self-discovery.
We, at AlvinT, have been on this journey since we started our venture. Trying to see where our existence may play a part in the world.
We may want to see a clear picture of who we are, but the self is never static. It is always becoming, in its multifaceted picture, which requires us to repeatedly inquire about many things inward and outward through different times of our life.
The process of self-discovery may look like an epic journey, but it can feel less daunting by the realization that any profession we chose to passionately forge our life on, can be seen as embodiment of self-discovery. Where, in doing the crafts, we inquire repeatedly about the task at hand, along with understanding the stream of thoughts within us that were driven by a cumulative experience of the past. In a sense, to the team, AlvinT itself is a part of the journey.
The process of inquiry may be part of all professions and its crafts. But it’s particularly central to the design endeavors—starting from finding problems, mapping and dealing with assumptions, up to iterations of results—which are rooted in inquiry.
How is it central and what can we learn about self-discovery within the design process?
Finding Problems and Dealing with Assumptions
Design projects often briefed with a problem statement that seemed like the exact problem designers involved had to solve. But in a design process, designers should know that the initial problem statement can’t be trusted. Coming from the beholder, the brief is usually clouded with biases. When we see this through the lens of self-discovery, it’s a similar situation when we stumbled upon a problem within ourselves. Often, clouded with ego producing bias, we are so sure of a problem and its root-cause which we tried to solve to no avail.
For example, there’s a long standing problem statement in the Indonesian furniture industry: Indonesian furniture is unknown because we don’t create as much as needed to dominate the world's market. This problem often dragged Indonesian designers and furniture players to solve it by pursuing a lower end of price and value. Isn’t it the time yet to see it create more problems than it solved?
Solving a problem with design should get the benefit of the doubt. Designers have to relook at it from different angles by consciously producing assumptions. Same goes with the self-discovery process. Assumption is a two-face tool. When we use it to our gain we can find revelations, but when we let it rule over us, it will potentially mislead us. Therefore, our mapped assumptions of a problem need to be proven via inquiries.
Is domination of the market the root cause of this? Is dominating the answers for this? Does producing at a lower price and value is the ultimate answer for it? Is it the market that decides on the value of an object? What can we do about them to direct our collective effort as efficiently and effectively as possible?
In the process of inquiring, whether inward or outward, it’s possible that our assumptions were wrong. In meeting the answers with an open mind, it is potentially eye-opening to the point that we can redefine the problems, or in other words, we find the real ones. In fact, redefining the problem is a common practice in the design process. By successfully redefining problems, it means we are brave enough to look at and do things differently.
Actionable Plan and Iterations of Results
Many designers—and people—are stuck in the research phase. Tempted to prove over and over the same thing (although through different angles). Some might believe too much that lower pricing is the right answer to dominate the furniture market, hence only trying to change the price on the lower bracket or finding ways to create cheaply. But fewer things can happen when we don’t move forward. We learn through stopping and focusing, but we also learn by moving.
After redefining the problems, designers ought to make actionable plans based on answers acquired from the previous inquiry process. After all, what good answers when we don’t use them to serve a purpose? The design itself is a craft that requires tangible outcomes.
When it comes to self-discovery, actionable plans are equal to knowing what to do about a case. But it’s good to understand beforehand that plans should also be approached with open minds. Plans may give us a more educated action compared to doing things without prior understanding of the case, but 100% correctness and readiness in producing outcomes through plans is an unlikely choice of action in modern ventures. By iterating while walking through the plan it will help us, including designers, to find problems where it needs to be solved. Through iteration, designers' imagination can be grounded to new possibilities and solutions to the reality of the situation because it lets us unlearn what we’ve learned.
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Why do problems matter both in design and self-discovery in the first place? Problems trigger unrest and push us to question things. Of what happened, of what could happen, of the best outcome and the worst ones, and many more. Questions open things, including our mind, to help us see in a better picture of the “multifaceted me”, while in parallel making it a fertile ground for new possibilities. As Nietzche has said, “One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star.”
