Re-write ''Is it wise to jump straight to the design making stage?''

The driving question I have chosen to explore in today’s blog post is ‘’Is it wise to jump straight to the design making stage?’’, which is based around the stages of design and the processes involved. The key theme in this driving question is if it is reasonable to jump straight to the creating stage when designing a project. This would be viewed differently for everyone based on their feelings towards the design stage. Personally, before I had any prior knowledge of this topic, I thought that it would not be a wise thing to do. I feel this way as I have been in a design class before where the teacher emphasized the importance of going through the stages and that the design process is overly complex.

Personally, I believe it is not wise to jump straight to the design making stage, this is due to my design experiences where we would go through the different stages that lead up to the making stage. I think it is valuable that designers do this to make sure they build that connection with issue and their clients. Ensuring that they have explored multiple different ideas around their criteria before jumping straight to the making stage. After reading through (Dam, 2017) article it is all about the five stages involved in the design process. These include emphasize, define, ideate, prototype and test. Highlighting the importance of each stage to ensuring you have met the criteria for your client. However, the article does say how these stages are not always sequential, there is no order and can go in any way based on the design issue. I believe this backs up my opinion and how it is important to visit each stage of design. Therefore, my opinions and feelings have not changed towards the question after research was done.

Strengths for my opinion to this question would be that the article I found does state how design is a nonlinear process. Which means you must go through the different stages first before jumping straight to the end products. (Stevens, 2020) supports that with his statement that the stages are flexible and fluid, and how each new discovery makes you rethink and redefine what you have done before. Explaining how one will never be moving in a straight line when designing. However, one could argue against that and find it as a weakness as some designers naturally think of end ideas for a product without needing to follow stages.

As I said earlier in this post my own personal experiences from taking a design class have shaped my opinion towards this question. I believe that designers should go through the different stages of design before the creating stage to ensure they have thought every idea through. The articles I read also helped strengthen my personal opinions. Following on from my research and findings for this question an action plan I would use when designing from now on would be to ensure I am sticking to the process and remembering that design is a nonlinear practice. The articles backed up my original ideas and supported them as well as giving me more knowledge on the topic.

Reference list

Dam, R.F., Siang, TY & Interaction design foundation. (2017). Design thinking: a nonlinear process. https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/5-stages-in-the-design-thinking-process

Stevens, E. (2020). What is deign thinking? A comprehensive beginner’s guide. Career foundry. What Exactly Is Design Thinking? (Updated Guide for 2021) (careerfoundry.com)

Image: Stevens, E. (2020). What is deign thinking? A comprehensive beginner’s guide. Career foundry. What Exactly Is Design Thinking? (Updated Guide for 2021) (careerfoundry.com)

Constructive Feedback