Holistic Design

I'm naturally inquisitive. Anyone who's met me or knows me knows that. I ask a lot of questions, not because I'm trying to interrogate or catch someone in a lie, it's how I show genuine interest. I think if you give people a platform to speak on and communicate, they'll use it to their advantage. 

When it really comes down to it at the end of the day, it's all about communication. People have something to say, something they feel and want to express, something they want to share with the world, and I believe in giving people that platform to work off of. 

All that to say, I ask a lot of questions to contextualize people. In order for me to give them that platform, I want/need to know where they're coming from. That's how I know how they want to be cared for or how they want to be heard. I think it's in those moments of having two people talk over each other, that we lose the ability to empathize and actually hear what the other person is really trying to say. We all have something we want to communicate with the world, but if only we would really listen, we'd hear what's underneath all those layers of trained social norms and really be available to contextualize and approach them with grace and empathy.

I think that the same thing applies to design. Design, more often than not, is communication illustrated visually. And if it's done well, it's methodical and precise; it's intentional. As designers, we need unravel the real problems with communication underneath all the pristine aesthetics and frills. Because if we don't, we don't innovate and we don't challenge the status quo; we become unoriginal and reiterate "solutions" to problems nonexistent to context. 

We need to cut to the heart and kill the disease, not just treat the symptoms. If we don't, if we don't design holistically, we create bandages to wounds that will never heal. So we're forced to do the work and draw that out, even when it's hard, even when it hurts. Because if we do that, in the long run, we'll save ourselves a lot headaches and frustration. 

What all that means to me personally, is seeing things to the end. Creativity without strategy is not a solution; it's creating solutions to problems that don't exist. Strategy, execution, and delivery: they equate to holistic design to me. It's walking with people through every step of the way, showing them how, giving them what they really need, not what they want. And if the goal is the want, they'll never get there without the actual need being met. So, let's be intentional, let's get down to the heart of the matter and have those difficult conversations, create a styling guide for once, ask what the end goal is; let's get our hands dirty and do work. 

But anyways, hell, what do I really know? This is all just my personal philosophy, so take it with a grain of salt. So if we're chatting someday and you're feeling overwhelmed with all the questions, it's because I want to get to the real stuff, the deep stuff, because I want to know where you're coming from.

Let's make things, not excuses. L8r sk8rs.