A New Workspace

I could open this blog with some attempt at a profound discussion of what design is, and how it will revolutionize business, and why all those companies who aren't hiring designers really should be (pick me!). However, after reading one too many articles who define design as "intuition" or "creative thinking", I'll leave the definition part to somebody else and turn to a truly important example of design in practice: our student workspace. 

We have a great student office with an individual desk for everyone, a couch, walls covered with write boards, and the supremely important fridge and microwave without which we might never survive those all-nighters. All the elements for a great workspace were there, but our initial setup didn't fit how we would actually work. The couch was along one wall facing the desks, which took up most of the room. Any extra space was taken up by shelves, where we haphazardly stored books, magazines and leftover mockups. Project groups had no space to work, except to crowd around a few desks. Yesterday, after having a chat with our speaker Jodi Forlizzi while awkwardly standing by the fridge, it was clearly time for a change: the office had a clear need for individual and group workspace, as well as some organized storage. We moved the couch away from one wall and pushed one group of desks towards that corner, then found a coffee table-like piece of furniture that had been hiding behind the trashcans and created a group space. We reorganized the shelves to organize magazines by name so we could find them ("We get ID magazine?? Awesome!") and sorted out unnecessary prototypes from the actual learning tools ("What is this piece of cardboard with my name on it...?"). We put our design skills to work to make the room fit us.

While my ramblings about how happy I am with the new office arrangement may seem to have little to do with Jodi Forlizzi's lecture, there are some definite connections. Her talk began with a discussion of design research, and how it is different from scientific research. One of the key points that stood out for me was that scientific research is "true", and should give the same result every time. Design research, however, is about "identifying the real", and is completely subjective. Our initial office arrangement is probably perfect for someone, but didn't satisfy our group's real needs. And maybe further design research into our student habits will prove that our new workspace is still not the best design.

Perhaps design isn't so much about "creative thinking" as "creative doing"... We'll see how the office works out...