What I talk about when I talk about design
My favorite Haruki Murakami has a book with a similar name, about running. It consists of very interesting memoir essays about literature, running, and life. A must-read. The author compares being a writer with participating in a marathon, through his personal experience of both.
So what am I talk about when I talk about design? Being more correct, about life. But it’s a very general definition, we should be more precise.
The most typical and common reaction to my profession is “Cool! Must be interesting. Can you draw well?” But in fact, my drawing skills have a minimal influence on my work.
There can be another reaction, though. Some 5 years ago I chatted with a former classmate at a high school reunion. Basic “what, how, where…” questions, but when I said I was a designer, he replied: “Do you arrange couches in a house? Why would someone need it? I can do it myself.” I had nothing to say against such a convincing argument. But a year passed, and my classmate called me with a project for his new apartment. So eventually he couldn’t “arrange his couches”. I don’t resent such things, just the other way round: they make me smile.
But they clearly illustrate a common situation, when nobody understands what designers do, after all, and that our work is much bigger than selecting wallpaper and curtains, drinking coffee and mingling at fancy events.
So take your seats, I’m ready to dispel a few myths.
60% of designer’s work consists of communication. With clients, engineers, workers, developers, workshops, and suppliers. And of course, with a team that leads a project – supervisors, architects, and visualizers. The good cooperation between all the parts is what results in a good project and a completed object.
30% is for project planning. When we have all information collected, sorted out and processed, there comes the magic moment of project planning, which is being separated again, into calculations, visualizations, measurements, colors, code numbers, and textures. Absolutely everything has to be arranged and selected. So this is where aesthetics and functionality magically combine. Can this be the real art? I don’t know – there’s no time to think about it.
So we are left with 10% – what can it be? To me, it’s everything besides my workplace but still connected with it somehow. These are travels, searching for new ideas, learning new things, reading for a job and for fun.
Now we have full 100% of the profession, in-depth. Early morning calls from customers and workers and during a weekend. Urgent business trips. News, constantly coming from the object. Meeting project schedules and, as a bonus, nights without sleep.
But it is cool and interesting!
So, returning to my classmate’s question…
“Do you arrange couches in a house?”
Yes, my dear classmate, I do. And drink coffee in the rest of the time…