One of the things that came up in class this week was the idea of perspective… and knowing where you are on the spectrum in relationship to ______ (the project, your audience, your peers, the industry, overall expectations, etc). Knowing where you stand and where you need to get to is one of the most crucial parts of making progress. In the discussions this week, this centered around two things: design process and understanding your audience.
Process: From the process point-of-view, it important to remember that — in week 8 of a 15 week semester — you’re at the bottom of the curve of the process journey.
[The Mood Meter was one of the first things I was introduced to when working at IDEO. It was hand-drawn on a white board during a workshop my first day there... and it was the first time I'd seen such a thing or seen the idea that it was expected as part of the process. This was a bit of a revelation. Too often, we're convinced that everything should be perfect all of the time... and it's nice to know that confusion and frustration are — more often than not — part of the process. The simplified, hand-drawn diagram at the top of the page is far more useful during a meeting or in this context, but you can see from the more "designed" version here (© IDEO) that it can be broken out further and described in depth. You're in the "how might we?" stage of ideation.]
Ideally — and usually — you make some small successes. You focus on the objectives and get the noise out of the way and those small successes become larger successes and you get productive and you end up on an upward swing. How high you swing depends on a good number of things, but, of course, we hope that you end up on the top-side of the median line (passing)… and most do.
But… right now, you’re at that lowest point. It’s important to recognize that. It’s important to know that many, many students and professionals have been here before and many, many have found their way through it to find success. Most have found it by focusing on the objectives; identifying what’s working (and not working); making some quick, strategic decisions; and moving forward quickly by iterating quickly. Some find inspiration to kickstart it by looking at lots and lots of other design work. They do not find progress by procrastinating, looking to lay blame elsewhere, or staring at their computer for extended periods of time.
So, we’re here. You know we’re here… what are you going to do?
Audience: When it comes to perspective and your audience, it’s also important to know your own space on the audience spectrum… and to have an idea of what you don’t know (and hopefully make a plan to fill those gaps).
Demographically, less than 7% of the world has a college degree. Those with a master’s degree is obviously significantly less (and apparently hard to figure, but I’ve seen a less-than-0.1% number … doctorate degrees are 0.002% worldwide). Almost 1 in 4 people in the world are without consistent shelter. 1 out of 8 would not have clean water to drink. 1 in 4 have a computer. Granted, this is at a worldwide scale.
Here in the US, 15% of the population is below the poverty line. 15% have trouble putting food on the table. Roughly 1 in 600 are homeless — about the same rate as worldwide PhD holders. Racially, in the US, we are roughly: White (Non-Hispanic) 63%, Hispanic-Latino 16%, Black (Non-Hispanic) 12%, Asian (Non-Hispanic) 5%, 1% Native-American. 1 in 4 Americans suffer from a diagnosable mental illness. 40% will be diagnosed with cancer at some point in their lifetime. 40% did not take a vacation day (but their Chinese friends took even less). 85% will become parents. 50% are currently married. 70% are Christian. 2% (openly) identify as homosexual. 10% are 18-24 years of age and 13% are 25-34.
You’re chasing down a master’s degree at a private art school in one of the most expensive cities in the United States (behind New York and Honolulu). You likely live in the dorms or in an apartment and are either on some sort of meal plan or have a list of favorites at Trader Joe’s. You’re probably about 25. Most of your friends — and most of the people you see and associate with every day — are very much like you.
Is this bad? Of course not! I’m not far outside of this group myself… however, we should note that this does make us fairly lucky — very luck, actually. The privilege we enjoy is not shared by many… including the many, many people that we may need to communicate with. It’s important to recognize that... (a beautifully simple example can be found here).
It’s also important to try to get to know about our audiences as much as we can. What TV shows do they watch? How do they spend their weekends? What foods do they enjoy? What jobs do they have? What hardships do they face? What successes have they earned? What concerns them? What is their history? How do they differ from us… But how can you do that?
One way it to simply get out of the house and meet people. This can be done through a variety of ways including taking part in more diverse student groups. You could volunteer with many organizations from design-centric ones like the AIGA to more socially-motivated ones. The socially-motivated ones might even give you deeper, more varied perspectives on real-world (non-art school) concerns and introduce you to a wider variety of people. One place to look for volunteer opportunities is www.handsonbayarea.org … some other fun ones might be found through http://bavc.org like this one. habitat for humanity could be a interesting adventure, too.
Many of you are working on a project in service of an outside business or message. Have you gone back to that ___ (cafe, barber shop, book store) to gather a bit more insight? Have you talked to a few folks and learned a bit? Why not? You haven't come this far to stay in your dorm room all semester. Perhaps after you finish the project, you can take it back and show them your work. What's the worst thing that could happen? The best thing is that you could make them smile. We forget that good design can do that, too.
[Here’s the thing to remember, though: You don’t have to like everything, but you should know about it — and to some degree understand their space it occupies within the spectrum of diversity. Many of the issues that are involved here are highly polarizing and divisive. You might thoroughly disagree and in some cases oppose them, but as a communicator, you’ll need to at least be familiar with them enough to know how – or how not — to communicate the issues that surround or intersect their airspace. That was kind of a hard learning for me — that you don’t have to “like” everything… because it’s easy to get the feeling that you should.]
However, the first step is taken outside of your apartment and outside of your comfort zone a bit.
Will you do that?
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