::] Schemas confused by a failure in design thinking [::

Last semester I taught a seminar course at NC State University’s College of Design where I asked the students to identify, as part of a weekly assignment, two instances: one where design thinking had thrived and another where it had failed. Towards the end of the course, students had collected a series moments that proved that only a simple nudge was required, many times at no extra cost to anyone, to set a series of problems right. Recently, I came across one such example.

Last week, due to the birth of my nephew Gonzalo, I got to spend some time in the maternity wing of the Auxilio Mutuo Hospital. It was indeed a short time, yet most of it was spent waiting for the baby to make its appearance. I had time to look around. A few things came to my attention, but this particular emergency door stood out the most out of anything else that caught my eye.

An Emergency Door in the Maternity Wing of the Auxilio Mutuo Hospital in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The subject in question is located on a hallway directly across from the nursery of newborns. As you can imagine, a lot of people congregate in this area. Upon further investigation, four things were of interest to me:

1) The standard, internationally used emergency exit sign;
2) An ink-jet printed sign which informs that this door does not provide access to the ground floor;
3) The familiar red sign that indicates to use this exit in case of an emergency; and
4) A photocopy which explains, in paragraphs, what to do in case of a problem.

Can you imagine what would happen, God forbid, if there was an emergency in this space?
Read the rest of this entry »

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What did I do in graduate school?

Recently, a few people have asked about the work I carried out in graduate school. Part of my time in the last few weeks has been spent formatting the work to share it online. Today I am happy to share:

http://www.estudiointerlinea.com/archives/category/designwork/graduate-school

You can visit and see a selection of some of the larger investigations carried out, many as part of larger collaborative groups. The final project is the only one not up yet. It will be coming soon.

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Strategic and grounded, not at the gut level and arbitrary

In the last few weeks I have been moving from meeting to meeting, introducing myself to new clients and re-connecting with some older ones. Face to face conversation has been at the core of most interactions.

During the time, I have become aware of the many identities others bestow on me: artist, graphic artist, digital artist, the creative, the person who makes logos, sign-maker, event planner, the guy who did that exhibit on the train, the kid who makes things pretty, web-site maker, and I have even been introduced as an architect. Not once in three weeks has anyone (other than in the office space from which I now work) used the term graphic designer, or even the idea of design to refer to me or to what I do.

In the Puerto Rican corporate and academic spheres that I have been exposed to, the practice of design (even if called by other names) is still seen as, talked about, and referred to as an icing on a cake which provides decoration (and an extra boost of sugar) to an already functional product. Designers are not at the decision table, and I have yet encountered one example of design included in a larger strategic process. The techniques, strategies and tools of design thinking are nowhere to be found. The idea of graphic designers having a process and knowledge of specific strategies that might foster innovation is scarce. Inspiration, creativity and talent are still at the core of the generally accepted understanding of how designers work and come up with ideas. Read the rest of this entry »

::] The problem of looking for problems [::

I am a designer. The term, today employed across various contexts and business models to signify different things, is actually not as hard to understand as many people make it out to be. It basically means that I like a few essential things: sexy typography (this is like the one ring made to rule them all), apple equipment, black t-shirts, fancy eyeglasses, ergonomic pencils, reading about the implications of structuring information, funky-colored shoes, colors, markers, anything Italian, and the smell of old books. (among others) This list is easy to assemble since most of these are stereotypical images society can associate easily with this professional path I have chosen to investigate. And yet, there is one aspect of being a designer that is not as obvious (and sad since it is the best part): as a designer I am in the constant search of problems.

Sounds interesting right? Well, in reality, it is. Yet, being on a constant search for problems to solve brings about a series of problems of its own. The best way I can describe it is that sometimes I find myself in an alternate reality; others talking about the color red and me asking why red?

As a more concrete example, Read the rest of this entry »

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::] Playing with representation ][ The photography of Alberto Rigau [::

During the past few days I have been pulling together a small amount of my photography. Today I am happy to share the publishing of http://photo.estudiointerlinea.com/.

I hope you enjoy the glimpse into one of the ways that I look at the world. You can count on updates as my next shooting adventures come along…

::] Lost in translation… [::

I have spent the past few weeks making presentations about who I am and what I do. You know the drill … –Hi, I am a designer… I can help with x, y and z… etc, etc.

This time around, I have been given the opportunities to meet with other designers, museum curators, CEOs, individual decision-markers, and larger groups. At most, I speak for a short 3 mins, quickly showing some of my work while speaking of design thinking and design strategy as core to my way of working. I try to communicate bits that relate to things that I consider myself to be good at and capable of handling.

Recently though, I have realized an issue: I now speak in a language that is not familiar to a non-designerly culture, resulting in me not being understood. I speak of a visual system and I get asked if that’s the logo. I introduce the idea of design strategy and others wonder if that’s the advertising. I propose an interactive online experience and I end up talking about Flash.

I need to find a way to present my approach and ideas to better illustrate what I am trying to offer. In a way, I have to help others, because it will eventually help me, not feel like I did in my first week of graduate school: lost in translation.