Occupational Hazard

Background

I come from a family of designers. In the sense that both my parents work in the same field, having graduated from the same design school. The way I have been introduced to the field is as a way of living rather than as a profession. To be creative is said to require good observation skills, the ability to think laterally or to be able to connect the dots and a host of other skills that help in the process of realizing unique ideas. To be able to do this well (consistently) requires practice. These practices are incorporated into the life of a designer. 

When we discussed the pitfalls of play-acting a certain role or profession from the perspective of Existentialism, I found it particularly relevant. Similar arguments had come up with batch-mates about having focused versus having diverse interests in life- Does engaging with a very different field take you away from another? Would it be better to view other fields through the lens of the one you choose to be in? Questioning my view further, it becomes important to understand the nature of these roles- does both living a profession and following a way of life lead to the same problem? The problem of being entrapped by an ideal. How does one engage with ideals? Ideals seem to be inevitable to society today. Should they be avoided completely?

Ideals

Ideals are a set of values and beliefs that guide a person’s decisions in life. These ideals are a type of general idea or concept. The validity of such concepts is established by the method of their production. Thinkers like Rousseau and Kant, assume a hypothetical situation in prehistory that finds man in a natural state. Man existed without language, reason and ideas in this initial state. Rousseau attributes man with certain pre-conditional characteristics termed actualities and potentialities. Actualities of self-preservation and compassion guided human behaviour in nature. Potentialities of free-will and self-improvement are inherent qualities latent in every human. These are actualized according to the circumstances an individual is in. Reason is generated with this actualization. Reason is a method of thinking that connects cause and effect. First ideas were experienced directly from physical existence in nature. If a primitive language exists it was said to exist as sounds standing in for entire propositions.

“When a monkey leaves without the least hesitation one nut for another, are we to think he has any general idea of that kind of fruit, and that he compares its archetype with these two individual bodies? No certainly; but the sight of one of these nuts calls back to his memory the sensations which he has received from the other; and his eyes, modified after some certain manner, give notice to his palate of the modification it is in its turn going to receive.”

Rousseau is said to assume a necessity for language in primitive humans that allows for the formation of general concepts. As individuals began to communicate compare experiences through discourse, knowledge was created and ideals were generated.

The generation of ideals can also be understood in terms of the aristocratic paradigm. Aristocrats generated ideals through their actions. These ideals were followed by plebians as a potentiality (an ought to). This ‘entrapment of language’ applied to aristocrats as well.

The question that arose from this study of medieval life was whether the actions of the aristocracy was inherently moral.

Rousseau’s choice of a compassionate man in the natural state was required to establish its goodness. This would have been aligned to ideas of morality at the time. These ideas of morality were established by religion. Kant on the other hand stated that freedom could only emerge from Pure Reason. Instead of religion, existence comprehended through Reason was the basis of these ethics.

Nietzsche called this the Religious Paradigm. In this paradigm the essence of man as willed by God preceded his existence. Freethinkers before Nietzsche needed to show that religion was in conformity with their theories. For Rousseau, religion needed to reflect alinguistic natural instincts. On the other hand, reason which explained some experiences could not cover religion which was to explain all experiences. With time there was a transfer of power from religion to industry.

Professionalism

Why do we choose professions? Modern conventions place value on the output of a person. A person is identified by their actions and the economic value of those actions determines their worth in society. Individuals interact at the marketplace. These transactions are commercial in nature- people identify themselves as buyers and sellers. As they continue to play these roles they begin to identify themselves with the same. Their existence becomes influenced by the economic structures of the time. The ideals held by people are consequently found in professions. 

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The Game of Life +flaws

Gamification is trending this decade... From Super Mario and Donkey Kong, gaming has evolved to a point where gameplay is so immersive that it can barely be told apart from reality. Video game designers simplify the real world: physics and psychology- into rules that create alternate realities for us to explore. As we spend more time in these worlds we learn to play by it's rules. It's led to an idea that we could use the theories of game design to complete our quests in the real world.

Gamification can be applied to almost any task: everyday chores [www.getyedone.com/], busting that beer belly [https://blog.fitbit.com/category/challenges/], planning your finances [www.mint.com] learning maths or science or arts [www.khanacademy.org/] or languages [www.duolingo.com/].

Or finding the cure to AIDS?!

In 2008, University of Washington scientists released the game Foldit, hoping a sort of critical mass of gamers would mess around with proteins and, in the process, uncover some of their intrigue.

In a matter of 10 days from its launch, gamers were able to do what biochemists have been trying to do for a decade: decipher the structure of a protein called retroviral protease, an enzyme that is key to the way HIV multiplies.

This article really sums up the  best gamification has to offer!
http://www.yukaichou.com/gamification-examples/top-10-gamification-examples-human-race/#.VZzo-Pmqqko

Our lives allow gamification, with goals that we must complete ,rewarding us along the way, so that we can start the next challenge,  : this covers everything from frequent flyer miles to even school examinations!

School is a game where you keep completing the challenges set, which improves your skills in taking on the boss level, terminal exam. At the end of the game you could get rewarded for setting a highscore.
Parenting involves a level of gamification.

Your parents must have at some point played the game with you. So the rules are, you score a certain grade and you will get a new mobile phone, for instance. So you work hard and you do win the game. This leads on to another game and another. At what point does your game become about getting that final result rather than learning. Of course this doesn't matter as long as you're learning, right! However, we are becoming increasingly conditioned to expect rewards. We work with our eyes on the prize, which reflects the fact that our society is very materialistic.

How do we make ourselves productive if there isn't a reward? What keeps us motivated?

Motivation theories are split into two categories: Extrinsic motivation and Intrinsic motivation.

Common extrinsic motivations are rewards (for example money or grades) for showing the desired behavior, and the threat of punishment following misbehavior. Competition is an extrinsic motivator because it encourages the performer to win and to beat others, not simply to enjoy the intrinsic rewards of the activity. A cheering crowd and the desire to win a trophy are also extrinsic incentives.

Intrinsic motivation is the self-desire to seek out new things and new challenges, to analyze one's capacity, to observe and to gain knowledge.

Neither are exclusive of the other. However the balance between them shifts towards extrinsic rewards when life is gamified.

Quest to Learn is a school that uses gamification to encourage children to learn what they want. We live in an information rich world, information that's easily accessible. Q2L aims to equip their students with the ability to access the information they want and do something productive with it.
Learning happens through games often created by the students themselves.

http://upperschool.q2l.org/

The biggest glitches appear when real life doesn't play by the rules. What happens when you don't get that gadget you worked for or the promotion you wanted? Real life doesn't have pre-programmed end sequences, unless you believe in Fate.

What do you do when the game of life doesn't reward you?

Uninstall the app?


If you spend your life chasing flyer miles for that exclusive platinum card, you end up like Ryan Bingham (played by George Clooney in Up in the Air), disillusioned by the goals you've been chasing and by the disregard that real life has for rules.

Interestingly enough, as important as the final product is;

Design is all about the process. 

Design ISN'T a Career Choice.

IDC [Industrial Design Center] at IIT Bombay just opened an undergraduate program this year (having had just a PG program till now). This is great for potential d-school students in India. Over 5 thousand students gave the UCEED,the entrance test for IDC.
The big catch is that there are only 30 seats (which I believe is a good number).  Naturally this attracted a lot of students, to many of whom getting into an IIT means a lot. To many of whom, design is something very new.

Many websites began to put up information about this course and answered questions posted by aspirants.. Of course this led to a lot of the wrong questions being asked.. 

These Q-A conversations got so rabid in fervour that trying to reason out with would be pointless..

Anyway so here goes and I hope it helps clear the air around some of the most basic misconceptions about design school..

The syllabus is quite new for a 12th std student.Can you suggest any books for this syllabus?

No, you mook. None whatsoever, this isn't your typical entrance test! Each design school looks for something specific in the people applying. It could be Creativity or Visual Awareness or your Awareness about Arts and Crafts or your Logic and Reasoning skills, the list goes on.

A good suggestion would be to look up previous papers if they exist, not to look for patterns because there are always new ways to test students, but to get familiar with having to put out your best in a limited time span. That's the real challenge.

I will like to suggest you all that don’t get deviated from your jee exam because its very crucial time for it .On the other hand i like to say that for – in a company there is not as many recruitment of designers as that of engineers so opportunity is more of an engineer . Thus i would like to suggest not to deviate from your path ,concentrate on your pre-planned goal.

By looking some famous designers like Dilip Chhabria we should not change our goal .Think about every other designer qualified from an iit ,are every one famous like Dilip Chhabria ?

This takes the cake. Before I dissect this post, I've got to admit that the guy does have a point. Design is not an alternative to Engineering.

Design is a relatively new field and there are a lot of opportunities to build a good career out of it. I'm not the best person to tell you this, but once you start looking you'll find that almost every area can use design. You just have to figure out what matters the most to you.
Then it comes to designers being famous. Some say that car designers are the rockstars of the industry. It is true to an extent because you may know the name of the person (who led the team) that designed your favourite car. Its highly improbable that you'd know the names of the people who designed the biscuits you're dipping into your tea. Yeah, the tea-time snack Aliva was designed by a team!

Your earning potential doesn't always depend on your fame in public and the impact your work can have is definitely not limited by your compensation.
Your work as a designer will have a huge impact on people, on the world we live in.

Every decision you make as a designer has an effect- whether it's a product designer choosing sustainable materials to reduce the cost of manufacturing on the environment or a graphic designer choosing a font that can be read easily by elderly people with poor vision.

Design is meant to help people live their lives. It could be by making something that makes people happier or makes their lives easier or allows them to live without damaging the world.

Beta when do you have exams.
Its taken my grandparents a while to accept that there aren't any exams. Semesters are a string of assignments one after another and you're gauged by these. As a designer, your life becomes a series of assignments. Learning, observing, imagining and creating never stops.

Being a designer isn't just a career path, it is a lifestyle you choose- to constantly question the norms and create new possibilities within the constraints of the real world.  

How I Watch Videos + Other Tools and Tips

There is a ton of content on the web which is really exciting to watch but we can't exactly spend all of our lives on Youtube. Here are a few tools you may or may not have come across, that make life on the internet a lot easier.

Watch Later

Youtube has a great feature that doesn't need much explanation. It's a great way to stay on track while you're surfing the net. Now don't get distracted from work by videos you're worried you may never find again. Of course this also means that you have to find more time to actually go through everything on your watch later playlist.

Speed Settings

Youtube also lets you play most videos at a higher speed. Imagine getting through a whole season of Breaking Bad in half that time. Intense! Exactly the same with slowly dictated tutorials about something you're dying to know.
Figuring out the gibberish you hear at 2x is another challenge altogether :P

Feedly

For the not so tech savvy, RSS feeds are a quick way of keeping track of updates from your favorite blogs and websites. Feedly is an RSS feed Reader that collects all your favorite feeds in one place. I use it a lot for keeping track on Core 77 and Yanko Designs as well as websites I wouldn't visit ever otherwise. It's available on computers as well as on app stores.

Clearly

Ever felt really intense hatred for a website's look, deep down in your gut? Or if you'd like Wikipedia to look less displeasing, the Clearly plug in is your answer. This product from Evernote makes the web a more beautiful place, because simple can be beautiful.

Pinterest

If you've ever trawled through Google image results for inspiration, you'll release how hit and miss it is. Pinterest is a site that lets you pin images to your own board and find images on other people's boards. The boards could be as specific or random as you like. Its is a great tool for designers especially for curating reference images that you could go through later for inspiration.
Since everything is sorted out, you're basically using somebody else to do your image trawling for you.

What the Heck is Design??? - A Video Comparision

Well nobody really knows what Design is exactly..Being a dynamic area, involving very dynamic people, it doesn't have a static definition! What I understand of design is always changing as I see and understand more. However it does involve a few basic ideas. You've gotta figure it out for yourself.

This is a field with no traditional textbooks!

These videos ought to give you somewhere to start.

I've also put up some tips on how I watch videos

William Burnett, 2007

Yes the graphics are terrible, give it a break! What matters is the idea behind it all. If you thought that design was this, then you will be amazed by how much more it can be. Burnett narrowly focuses on one way that designers work. Designers can work individually but they also work in teams. The briefs they work on range from toasters to train stations. There's no limit to the areas a designer or a team can influence. 

"There is no challenge, big or small, in the world that could not benefit from a healthy dose of cavalier creativity." 

- David Kelley, IDEO

Design Council UK, 2011

The context here is predominantly set in the UK but the examples are internationally famous! It makes a lot more sense..  

Bill Moggridge, 2010

Fair warning, this is an hour long video. I suggest watching it at 1.5x! I don't expect that anyone has an hour to spend listening to a talk but even if you do skip through bits of it you'll find something you've not seen before.. Heard of IDEO? or the Valentine typewriter by Ettorre Sottsass.. Well there's so much for you to discover!

16:09 is an example of an idea gone wrong.. Good design solves problems! 

Designers create SOLUTIONS!

This video is just full of good examples of various aspects of design.. It really puts a lot into perspective.

It is okay if you don't understand everything the first time you see it. Come back and watch it after you've spent some time exploring. You'll always find something new!

Keep up there are a lot more references to follow!

Detour One

Almost a year ago I was slogging it out- writing my board exams like hundreds of students out there... Like a lot of you were doing around now. Everyone tells you to focus on your tenth grade boards, its the final stretch, everything is easier after that.. Well it isn't.

You really start to work hard and make decisions right after that. One of those decisions inevitably is what are YOU going to be? Till now you could get away with being confused but your time runs up as you get closer to college application deadlines.

I never had a concrete idea of what I wanted to do- I could have been a scientist or a software developer or an engineer. Throughout school I always had options. I grew up with a lot of exposure to the field of design at home but until a year back I hadn't seriously considered it as my first choice.
In the middle of the two years I spent aiming to score enough to get into an IIT, I found that I wasn't enjoying what I was doing anymore. Even though I liked learning new things, I felt like I was giving up on something else. Here was my Detour!

I had a vague idea of what design implied but it was only after I started doing a lot of research into this field that I began to really appreciate it.
Background helped put a lot more into context.

There are a lot of students like you possibly, who are excited by this new field that seems so unconventional. Design has always attracted people from very diverse backgrounds. [ I have a friend who was working as a healthcare provider and is now pursuing a post-graduate degree in design. Quite a detour!]

A lot of you are exceptionally creative and will be accepted by design schools. However very few students [and fewer parents] actually know what Design is all about.
Sure it's all there on the internet, but it is quite difficult to decide where to start.

I'd like to share my perspective of design with you by putting up the most interesting things I've found down the road from my detour into design. I'm sure you'll have quite a trip!

I'm currently a design-student at DSK ISD in Poona IDC, IIT Bombay(June 2015), diving into the field of Product Design. I love all things related to tech, alternative rock and canines.