Design Diary Entry - Week Six

I’ve always seen the design process as a whole. Many different gears running one big machine. After a day in Trollhätan consulting for a group of economics students, I now realize I must be able to break up the process into smaller fragments, all the while, keeping a core message in tact. 

The students contacted us in search for help with a project in which they have to start a pseudo-company, bring a product to market, then close the company. All during the course of one school year. Easy enough when you source existing products, like the rest of their classmates. But this group is special, they want to create their own product. An admirable notion. However, they didn’t understand the massive time and cost of what they wanted to achieve. It is a big investment for all parties. So, I took a train to consult with them for a day to bring their vision into realistic realm.

There was a lot to think about that day and it required me to abridge design thinking into a concentrated and focused lesson. It was strange to see so many factors come together all at once, trying to understand how and where the tools of design apply to the world of economics; the overlap. Obviously, products are the focus, but there are only certain strings attached between worlds. What tools could benefit them, and what were irrelevant? There are so many factors in designing a product, it is even more complex with bringing in another area of expertise. It was a matter of discerning what was relevant to them and to focus on that only. I’d always viewed the design process as a whole, so many things coming together to operate a larger beast. But last week, I had to dissect the process; include only a selection of topics yet still tell the whole story. What goes above the surface and what stays below?

It wasn’t a one-off experience. I had done it only a few weeks ago with the entrepreneur, only in a different scenario with different values. And I will do it again. Both occasions were a constant internal struggles for me, continuously searching for right action in an unfamiliar situation. And thus, it was the best kind of practical experience. 
We also visited a business collective in Katrineholm. We will be working with them to develop their projects using the many manufactures located in the city; an awesome opportunity. To have such a diversity of expertise in one place and to use them to help small businesses actualize their ideas will be an exercise in true design consulting. There will be plenty more experiments in communicating, condensing and transmuting to come.

Thanks for checking back. See you next week for more reflection on my experiences at Runius Design.

Codee Adams
Product Designer