Last week I gave a talk that seemed, well, notably unsuccessful. It's not the project's fault; the talk just wasn't one of my more shining moments as a communicator. During the question session afterwards, I felt like my head was wrapped in cotton wool. I could not manage to explain the importance of methods and processes that I use and believe in, or even explain the importance of "design" as a response to the world. In the wake of the talk, I've been spending a lot of time reconsidering, rethinking, and re-explaining to myself what it is I do believe in, and how to articulate it.
Via Brian Parkinson comes this quote from "People-centered design: complexities and uncertainties," in Design and the Social Sciences:
"We have to stop thinking of design as the construction of graphics, products, services, systems and environments, and think about those as means for people to act, to realize their wishes and satisfy their needs. It is the needs and the wishes of people that we have to serve: the objects of design must be seen only as means."
Okay. I believe in this.
Another essay in the collection, by Jorge Frascara, can be found here. I haven't read it yet, though.
