holy fuck

must be something like that

hey laurel! st louisan (and fellow design educator) here, sounds like you’re in nyc, happy to grab a coffee and give you the inside scoop if you have time before you bounce. congrats on the gig!

!

possibly, I’ve never heard that!

6. do not present your solution as blocks. most do not look at a pile of bricks and see a home. most do not want blocks. instead, present the fully composed solution —then let its adaptability become clear through use. design for emergence is not a paradigm people come for, it’s one they stay for.

5. build your own solution to each problem from your new blocks. pay close attention to where it feels strange. if you feel the urge to cludge new features on to your blocks, you may have the wrong blocks. think about how to address the need with better block design, not patches.

4. decompose each solution into recursive building blocks until the same building blocks can be conjoined to solve all fundamental problems. size matters. too big a block and you won’t have good fit with the problem, too small and it will no longer be ergonomic in the hand.

3. discern the corresponding shape of a solution to each core problem. what is the platonic ideal of an end user experience for each? map every force tugging on the experience—note where two push against the same spot. fold each pair into one design question and shape until both sit calmly together.

2. soften your gaze, trace the shapes of fundamental problems, abstract them from your experience. what is the thing, really? ignore the tools and tech, they will smuggle artificial lenses into your process.