Beginning Perspectives

I'm Alison. I make designs.

I don't prefer referring to myself as "a designer," because I think that people should never be defined by their professions-- we're all more than what we do for a living, and if we ever get to the point where our jobs are the biggest part of our lives, then something is probably out of balance.

Consequently, my goals for this quarter involve things beyond classwork. Yeah, I want to do well in school and get gold stars on my homework assignments and have fun at recess, but if that was all I wanted, my life would be a little sad.

What I really want is to grow as a person, both spiritually and intellectually. I want to learn how to be more selfless, how to serve friends and strangers alike. I want to mature. Sure, it sounds cliché, but that's what I want.

And when it comes to my design work, I want to grow in that area too. I'm still a little timid with my sketching, and Alias/SolidWorks and I aren't always the best of friends. I could stand to do a little work in that arena.

Yet, in some ways, my past experiences have brought me to this point. I never worked heavily with sketching or 3D modeling on my prior co-ops, but the things I did work on helped me to develop other strengths.

At RC2 I learned how to apply research to products. At Kimberly-Clark I learned how to think about design processes, how to communicate my ideas, and how to inspire cross-functional teams. The products I worked on weren’t glamorous, but they were products that are very much a part of people’s lives.

And that's what I think design is (or should be) about. It's not about showing off or getting glory or criticizing consumers for alleged "lack of taste." We're here to serve them. If consumers keep asking for something we "designers" consider lame or tasteless, then (in most cases) it probably means that we have somehow failed to deliver on a need. The fact that consumers would keep asking for something indicates that something is missing.

And those of us who design are also consumers ourselves. So we're in the same boat. And when it comes to mass-market consumer goods, somebody's gotta design it. That's why I don't mind making toys, or Kleenex boxes, or Viva packages. If we really want to bring design to the masses, then what better way to do it than applying it to day-to-day products? I don't need to be famous, I just need to help consumers fulfill their own needs.

That’s my interest. Fulfilling other’s needs, and doing it responsibly. That means keeping their lives and loves in mind, keeping the environment in mind, keeping the economy in mind, and keeping God in mind.