Allison Wilson: Design Thinking

I didn't come into the Interior Architecture to paint your living room. Although in my iarc classes we are still discussing the difference between Interior Architecture, Architecture, and Interior Design: What I get from the program is a very broad and deep sense of successful design. Whether it be a 'Place for a leaf' (don't ask.), a chair, a vacuum, or a building. Design thinking is a mentality that all of us have. I was aware of this when I came into this class the first day, but when we all went around and said our majors, the variety of disciplines still threw me off. Since that first day our work in the class has really broaden my sense of design outside of the iarc program. Design doesn't fit into a category, or a box. It doesn't fall under one major. The mentality is in all of us and brought out in a variety of practices. Design is something larger than yourself.

"You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us. And the world will live as one." — John Lennon

One thing I've realized through reflecting on this is that design thinkers are really design do-ers. Designers are inspired by the past and concerned about the future. They,...we , add collaboration and input to our inspiration, insight, dreams and ideas and then take that theory and do. We take risks and put our ideas to work; then we re-work them...and re-work them...and re-work them. The collaborative effort of reworking and refining our ideas make up the design process that is so hard to define. Like I said before design and designers don't fit into a box so I think it is hard to define design thinkers because through all the commonalities design is not concrete: it is ever-changing and always growing which is what makes it so stimulating in the first place.

in the mentality of design thinkers...

There is a lot of things about John Lennon that make him a design thinker. As one of the most controversial members on The Beatles, Lennon certainly doesn't fit into a category. He was not only a musician: He was an activist, a writer, an artist, a record producer and dreamer. Like Charles and Ray Eames', Lennon and his second wife Yoko Ono were quite the power couple. The Beatles was one of the greatest collaborations of the their time...and of all time.

"My role in society, or any artist's or poet's role, is to try and express what we all feel. Not to tell people how to feel. Not as a preacher, not as a leader, but as a reflection of us all."-Lennon