Turn the Page article #001
Source4Design Designers should be able to tell their personal story. That is why, now more then ever, we need to find and be aware of the correct starting point of any design process, before we actually start to DO anything. When a design originates from a contextual need or an emotional longing, we as designers need to be able to formulate those reasons to incorporate them into the validity of our designs. Otherwise what motivates us to solve the problem? Certainly not the a good grade… When we look at the term “User-centred-design” from the story perspective, its meaning exists in being aware of the source of a consumers problem and to being able to tell about this source in such a way that we really understand and believe why this product should be called into existence.” To design is to tell a story. And as a designer you need fuel to make that happen. Being aware of the ‘source-code’ of your design not only enables designers to write the real story, but it gives them the anchor that will embed the product solution into the life of almost any consumer. This is what we might call “a reason to believe”…RTB for marketers and SPD-‐ers…;). One of the problems for designers is that ‘Believe’ is thrown around a bit to freely nowadays, because it has become a marketing tool, something to bargain with. Any industrial product should have a truthful reason for its existence. I write “should” because not many products do, which makes the ones that do have a good story stand out even more. So what does this mean for a student learning about the creation of products from start to finish? I secretly call for a promise (to be made at the beginning of your masters) that