This is the last paragraph I wrote and I can say that when I started this article I did not think it would become so personal and I will end with more questions than when I started it. The development of this article makes me question my recent practices in design and if I am generating situations for others or just for me. How my perception and language are understood or not, and what do I have to improve to achieve my goals as a designer.
My relationship with design probably started when I was very little, but I still didn't see it that way, presumably, it looked more like a game. I highly identify with the idea of imagining how things might be done to transform my world, and try to develop this idea with the tools I had at that time.
After finishing studying architecture I assumed that everything that came out of my strokes or design experiments were design, and because of that I was a designer, but over the years I discovered that not everything I did was that, moreover not everything I did was architecture, sometimes it was art, sometimes design, and the other times, what were they? what is in between? or what if it was something else? So if I created situations, games, blueprints, or whatever I could think of, what was it? art or design? What about the intention? What if, I'm developing a piece of art with the intention of daily use but too complex to reproduce. Or, what if, I´m designing a complex artifact that only can be used for one person at once? What if it is both at the same time? With these questions in advance, I start the article.
WHEN DESIGN GOES BEYOND CONCEPTS
Design is for me to express through any technique, tool, using any method, an option, or options to a solution in that specific time-lapse that is closely related to me, sometimes it is not that close to me but it became somehow a situation that I love, I like, I live, and that I sense it might work in one context because it works for me due to my perception and in my life context. For me, it couldn't be any other way, if it's not something I like, I'd rather not do it, and if there is a case where I don't like it at the beginning, I convert it to something I like. I don't remember any situation that happened differently, probably because it was unpleasant and I erased it from my mind. However, now that I contemplate these experiences I can see that these events generate pleasure in me because they are part of me. Part of my bibliography, and that these experiences are creating the person and designer that I am today, and that is changing day by day as more experiences appear.
Continuing with the idea that it works for me due to my perception, at some moment in my design process, I question myself about what inputs are facts, in my design process, if everything is related to my perception. And, I guess this is the circumstance that I'm living right now in the master with all the interventions to come and the co-creation processes that are a new experience to me, but at the same time old because of my intuition. And then, questions like, what if these interventions became too personal? if an ethnography design is what I'm looking for? Do I want to share my design process experiences with other people? How can I get more references for what I'm doing if I'm not sure what is the end of the tunnel of this pathway? If I am thinking right now that philosophical concepts are more related to the design process that I'm rediscovering, is it ok to continue getting deeper?, then I require more time.
The truth is, I think that my point of view is what makes the output of the project different from other proposals by other designers; in this manner, what are the boundaries of the design experience that I am generating for me or for the context associated with perceptions and facts?. It seems to me that what I usually do is trust in my intuition and flow with the facts that I have in mind, and, with all this information check what I feel in the gut and then analyze the process to continue to step two. It is like the exercise of trial and error. Very intuitive. Plus. Hack minds, as far as possible. While I'm trying to formulate the next steps.
Nowadays, I'm looking for rational concepts that organize my thoughts and practices in the academic field. I'm not sure if what I'm looking for is justification or validation or just understanding myself and knowing my manners. Nevertheless, every time a philosophical book appears with a spiritual connotation, I get so excited and comfortable with my sense of expression in the design path that I feel on track even though I don't know what the ultimate goal will be.
On the other hand, I´m learning and trying to empathize with other humans or non-humans who are part of the experience that I could create; making an effort to be embodied in them, as well as living all the processes that this involves for them. And more questions emerge, like, what if I just design for non-humans? With everything mentioned above, If I design for non-humans, what would be the position of my perception, would it become imagination or speculation? What is the relationship between imagining and speculating in the field of design? I would like to be able to feel what non-humans feel, what would happen if with a little effort I could? How credible would it be for the scientific and orthodox world? How can I collect data from these senses? How could I reference the ethereal world and physical world?
For me, design is a sensibility of how I recognize my environment and how I am motivated to express a new way of how things can be done. It is part of my biography, it is my emerging subconscious that is looking for new adventures, new games. It is the joyful and amusing expression of my understanding to hack minds, perceptions, beliefs, and events. It is a step further than satisfying my curiosity and subtle look beyond any situation, and showing from my perspective what is not usually shown.
UNDERTANDING MY PURPOSE AND PURSUING IT
It took a while to recognize and feel my purpose in life and it took more time to understand how I can merge it with my professional background, how I want to develop it in the near future, and if I wanted to or not. However, once I identified my purpose, which was not very clear and open to various possibilities, it was more difficult to pursue it and at the same time easy to redirect the path I was already living. At this moment, I have the sensation that whichever option I choose is totally up to me, thanks to my free will, understanding that, I can only trust my instinct and continue doing things that I think they are meant to be for me.
What I feel right now is that this purpose is in constant evolution and movement or probably I am the one that is constantly changing. And, for some reason, both, my purpose and what I do generate links between them, sometimes I have the feeling that they are engaging. And sometimes I feel that there are too many options that I have to pick just one, and then this persecution of my path in life gets diffuse. And then, everything gets on board again. I mean, it is life. In this context, I consider that design gives you tools and methods to expand on what you want to express and convey as an activity you wish to do for any reason; and your purpose is a path more substantial, considerable open, related to your human-life balance and your spiritual goals; besides that, the purpose could be nuanced along the way of our lives which is what enriches our human experience.
Consequently, we can decide to use design, as stated above, to achieve our purpose or not. In my personal experience design helps me to formulate a plan to take action in activities that I want to share with other humans, and recently with non-humans as well. Therefore, my question might be, is design the only study that I can hold to achieve my purpose?
TRANSFORMING MY WORLD THROUGH DESIGN
Design is always transforming my world because it gives me instruments that complement my abilities, and through both, I can create what I sense. I am very related to design, arts, and spiritual practices in my daily life. However I don´t know what the limits are between them in my own context, for this reason, it became more complex to separate them because what I am looking for in my personal environment is not thinking all the time, and just sensing myself. But, what I know is that I'm always generating situations to transmute my world, and I go layer by layer transforming it into super comfortable spaces to be, where all my senses are in the gradient from calm to overstimulated.
I use design to satisfy my mind, always curious and looking for complex situations to go deep into and to bring them to the surface to interact with them. When I step away from the layers of my inner world what I try to achieve is the integration of it with the other humans and non-humans. Because we live together in the same space, we breathe the same air, probably go to the same beach, buy in the same stores, and do many other activities and practices. So they became part of my world, and if I am changing mine, I might change theirs.
And, To achieve the transformation of my world, I have a list of thoughts and concepts related to some books or papers that I am recently applying to or I want to apply to because it seems they are in the same tune as me.
It is fundamental to me to have a meaningful connection with what we do in design contexts, it is important to embody the situation to help. It seems to me that I have better results if I pick situations that are easier for me to interact with depending on my interests.
I have learned a lot with this effort of looking at a community before starting a design and coexisting. In my personal experience, I think it was difficult to start the link and express your thoughts with others, but it helps to speak the same language and have the same understanding related to a situation wit similar goals.
I am in favor of small-scale production because outputs are very associated with the local people, and the local people are part of the manufacture or idealization of the process that empowered them as the main motor of a project, giving more opportunities to be maintained over the time. So, it is fundamental to social engagement.
Everything is political, although it is a subject that I do not address, it is fundamental that designers have to deal with it if we try to generate changes on a collective level, the more changes required, the more politics are inserted into the operations. And understand that political, social, environmental, and economic fields generate an impact on the outputs of design, even though we think It is not related.
The search for hybrid profiles that mix technical and human skills to develop projects articulates the processes in a solid exercise in which you can learn and increase your abilities as you go.
Understanding that community is a group of followers of the same interest instead of the first approach of looking for potential buyers. how the interaction behaviors of adaptive systems might have the ability to engage with the community? What are the boundaries of this behavioral shift?
Figure out what are the necessities of the communities, and get involved with the idea that we are part of it to embody their ways of observing the context. In the process, the network group will increase through participation and eventually, an ecosystem might be generated.
To expand the methodology to maximize the impact, question if it is possible to scale by replication or not, and if we can be interconnected. Perceive if the global scale can be adapted into local acting. What situations might change? For me, local context is unique and I guess that if we want to seize the idea of replication we must first understand where in order to achieve what are going to be the changes to be modified to adapt the system.