A few years back I was hard at work organizing the semester-long schedule for a non-profit program. After roughly laying everything out, I realized there were so many events that simply placing them all on a physical calendar would be overwhelming.
While any calendar app would have been helpful in presenting the schedule, at this point in my career, I knew enough about design software to create a something bespoke and special. And much to my joy, as soon as I began pushing pixels things started to click. I quickly began to see the task in a better light. Although there were other considerations like finding engaging things for students to do, and staying within budget, I quickly learned that the true goal was to somehow make everything fit and to keep everything on track.
This brief experience revealed that some of my best thinking remains untapped until I use design as a means to gain clarity. After the calendar project, I began to see design as a crucial step in the process of discovering and refining thoughts, as opposed to a process in and of itself that occurs after all of the thinking has been done. And now, I fully believe they’re one in same, that designing is thinking.
While it may sound strange, designing as a way to think is fairly easy to understand. For me, it’s as simple as having a better understanding of the research I’ve been given because I’ve worked it into a presentation. Or feeling less stressed about an upcoming trip because I’ve made a personal brochure.
Although you may not be a “designer” designing as a way of thinking can apply to anyone. Any time you intentionally “take the long way ‘round” and make something to gain a better sense of clarity you’re proving that design and thinking can actually be one and the same.