After reading the course materials for this unit, the first thing that stuck out in my mind was that I forgot to renew my AIGA membership. While feeling like a inadequate design bum, I quickly went back to the AIGA site to cough up my dues. Next, I really started to ponder over 2015 Designer Definition. The six trends section caught my attention the most. It reminded me of elements of design thinking and fourth order design that we learned about last quarter. Fourth order ask the individual design to think beyond themselves and accept the needs of the majority. Instead of business as usually cranking out new versions of the same outdated design solution, one must question the validity of the previous solution in the first place. What is the ecological impact of the product? What is the need for the product? If needed, can it be done more efficiently? What resources are consumed in its production? Is the production of this product sustainable? What waste will be produced? Does it address the needs of the widest range of individuals?
The 2015 Designer Definition also calls for designers to become more flexible by accepting a new design model. The new way is to move away from the specialized ideas of the few based strictly on end production. Most of us creatives would meet with a client, listen to there desires and work to a solution that was intended to be basically permanent. We are now asked to view our design solutions as team efforts that will grow, morph, and mutate with each bit of additional data. Some of us may have looked at the client as lower being there only to purchase high quality designs loosely based upon there shallow product ideas. This is not true. All viewpoint are valuable no matter skill, education, or social level of the source. The wider range of opinions creates a better chance for the product appeal to the most users.
The 2015 Designer will be someone that knows they are only part of the ever-changing solution.
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