Lessons the design student taught the professional in me

As students, we spend a lot of time jumping on a trampoline of experiences we hear from professionals to get a better view of the world beyond our college campus. We create all sorts of notions, expectations and excitement around it. And yet, after three years of working as a product designer at Sideways, I’ve realized that the most important thing as a professional is to keep the student in you alive. That innate curiosity, the willingness to learn and to create things for the joy of creating, becomes even more significant as a professional. Which is why, I believe the journey from being a student to becoming a professional goes backwards. Here are the ten lessons I learnt on my journey from introducing myself to being introduced.

1. ASK QUESTIONS - Even the basic ones. Asking the right questions early on helps explore multiple possibilities which may open doors you never thought existed. Let the questions touch the extremes - Could we...? Why not..? How may we...? What if we...? It enables us to get into a fertile zone of blue sky thinking using the power and speed of our mind to populate many seeds of small ideas. The ones with potential, when nurtured grow into big ideas. Questioning the conventional helps us think differently. Questions kindle curiosity. And curiosity constructs the strong foundation of a project. So, design a question palette before you start designing a product.

2. FOCUS ON THE PROCESS NOT THE PRODUCT - In today’s time, where everything is at our fingertips, we are often tempted to skip right to the end. Very often, the client incites this very behavior. If we outline why we are doing what we are doing, it will guide us to do the right thing. In some cases this may involve educating the client about the process and its importance. Trusting the process and finding your own paths to discovery is very satisfying (even if you weren't the first one to discover it). As students, that is exactly what we did. We didn’t know a lot so we carved a path to know more and do more. Taking those steps, making a few mistakes along the way and learning from them while constructing our own thought patterns, enriches our mind and guides us to a great solution. It isn’t what you do, it's the way you do it.

3. BE A SPONGE - That’s right - a sponge. As we progress, we tend to become rigid in the way we think and begin to follow a one track mind. This, in turn, stymies our creativity. What neurologists call the Einstenllung effect, is our past learning and mechanized methods blocking the way of better solutions. I have struggled to spot solutions which were right under my nose while working on some projects. Creative ideas sprout from cross-pollination of unrelated thoughts and concepts. To make this happen, we must be on a quest to find useful matter (what I call nodes) to experiment with. An easy way to do this is to avoid the obvious. Don’t get married to your field. Explore new avenues. Absorb what you learn. And be ready to squeeze out the inessentials by unlearning some things too. Just like a sponge. The more you learn; the more knowledge vocabulary you build, the more opportunities you get, and the more your creativity flows. It is the diversity of your influences that increase your potential for innovation. Become better at one thing by fueling it with the knowledge of many.

4. COLLABORATE - Effective collaboration is one where we stand on each other’s shoulders in order to see further. In reality, however, we tend to step on each other’s feet in the process! To function better as a team, we must build on each other’s ideas. It is imperative that each member sees themselves as a part of a bigger whole because what matters in the end is the cumulative output. This also helps relieve the pressure of proving your worth individually and your mind gets the creative freedom to genuinely come up with good ideas. The other person’s thoughts become useful nodes for us. Using techniques which collectively deploy each member to contribute and interpret a fact or a sketch, makes the idea collective. Co-create, Co-operate, Co-Liberate. The idea is to coalesce multiple perspectives and have the team bond over a positive sentiment and a productive brainstorm. An African proverb sums it up beautifully,

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

5. COMMUNICATE - I cannot stress enough on the importance of this skill. Whether it's two people or twenty, communication is the key. So if you must communicate, why not do it the best way you can? Communicating your thoughts in a concise and streamlined manner can take you a long way, be it discussing ideas internally or presenting them to a client. Good communication is the bridge that takes you from confusion and clarity. It involves not just talking but active listening and reading between the lines. Most of us listen to reply, when instead we should be listening intently to understand. Listening with curiosity and speaking with honesty is an absolute essential. If something is bothering you, bring it up. If you need more time, say it. Good communication can solve all problems.

6. CONSTRAINTS ARE YOUR FRIENDS - The sooner you start seeing constraints as your allies, the better. By defining what the product/ solution/ idea can not be, we are firmly marching towards defining what it will be. Constraints push us to think beyond the obvious while providing a framework to work within. I believe nature is the epitome of inspiration and nature itself is guided by constraints and discipline. Often, as designers we feel restricted by constraints. The truth is that we would be quite directionless without them. After all, they form the basis for the creative choices that all of us make at some point. If you try to think of constraints as flexible, then you can pull, push, twist and even test them to your benefit, instead of using them as excuses. While designing the packaging for a rain-wear brand, we were stormed with hurdles in the assembly process of manufacturing. The material and color of each packaging had to be unique to the raincoat inside. And the satisfaction of jumping over all those hurdles with a seamless solution after a long day at the factory was exhilarating!

7. SELL YOUR WORK - There’s no better way to put it. You must sell your work. Selling is an active task which demands an understanding of the buyer’s psyche. To sell an idea to a client, it's important we think from their angle and paint a general picture addressed to them. Answering the why and giving a reason for your actions followed by what was done, leaves less room for questions and confusions. Only designing isn’t enough, you must deliver it such that people understand and connect to it. Help them visualize the idea. Long winded explanations will do no good. Value your audience’s time. The same applies when you share your work in general. Remember, humans love stories. They want to know not just what you did but where it came from and how you did it. Give them a quick behind the scenes tour, a sneak peak into the process. The marketing head of a big TV company is first a human being and would intently watch your presentation if presented as a story. Taking enough efforts to present the idea effectively can be the difference that makes your idea see the light of the day and give your story a happy ending. So take that effort and tell captivating stories.

8. FIND YOUR FLAWS - It’s easy to find flaws in others but when it comes to ourselves, it’s always a task. Hence, it becomes important that we stay open-minded and welcome all kinds of feedback. Only by knowing our defects can we turn them into assets. If we keep doing what we are doing, we’ll keep getting what we are getting. To grow, one must do things differently. And for that, self-evaluation as well as constructive feedback from the right people is a must. Keep an eye out for what’s holding you back and turn it around so you can move forward. Here's a helpful tip: Try to detach and look at yourself objectively from an external lens. Do you panic easily? Do you procrastinate? Whatever it is, find it out and work towards it proactively. In college, you work with friends not colleagues and hence, flaws come into light easily. So, as a professional, you must actively seek situations where you went wrong and be ready to take a few punches positively.

9. DON’T GET COMFORTABLE - Complaining is an insidious habit, one that all of us are guilty of harboring. Sure, some things are a pain and not easy to deal with. But complaining about them doesn’t change anything. Instead being resourceful and making the most of what you have helps. But we seldom do that because we find comfort in complaining. We do things which are easy and less risky. The fear of failure keeps us in a bubble of comfortable decisions. And this is where things start to become boring. As students, we are fearless and everything is an opportunity for us! I used to complain a lot about the long tedious commute to my office. Then I turned it into an official everyday think trip. Not only did it give me a mental escape from the crowded trains but actually sparked some great ideas, sometimes at the cost of missing my station!

10. HAVE FUN - This is perhaps the most significant of all the lessons. As students, this came easily to us. Having fun while doing something elevates the whole experience. When your work shifts from, “I’ve been asked to do this” to “I want to do this”, everything changes! You become more involved, more productive and the journey from discontent to content becomes rewarding. How to have fun? Being in the right place, doing something you really like does half of the job. For the rest of it, try to add excitement to whatever you are working on. Change your viewpoint. Try to look at the problems you are solving with different lenses. Redefine a brief to make it more interesting - ‘Design a trophy’ can become, ‘Re-imagine a trophy’. ‘Reinvent ways to play’, opens more avenues than ‘Design a toy’. When you look at things differently, the things you look at change.

These simple ten precepts excavated from my life as a student have proved to be a beacon for the professional in me. As students, we have nothing to lose. We make the most of whatever is available to us. The more expert we become at something, the less drive we have to do things out of our league. My learning is that the experience of becoming is much more exciting and we must try to be in that space. I hope as we progress to become better in our professional lives, we keep the student in us alive. Learning after all, is a lifelong process.

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