J10 Final Thoughts

My thoughts on D200

My personal experiences in design 200 were really helpful to me as I start the design program. First, it was kind of a refresher course to help me remember things I've learned in the past. Touching on design history, design processes and the different disciplines of design, design 200 helped me get a sense of what to expect in further design classes. Second, design 200 gave me the opportunity to get a feel for working in groups. And third, this class gave me the reassurance that visual communications is what I want to major in.

One of the greatest aspects of this class was the hands on way it was taught. Where most lecture classes can become uninteresting after a while, design 200 kept me interested. I learned much more from this class because I was allowed to interpret things on my own instead of sit and take notes which I would then be tested on. The blog, which we all set up at the beginning of class in March, was a great way to reflect on what we learned throughout the quarter plus, gave us the opportunity to see what our classmates were getting from the class.

The message I take away from d200 and the point, I think, of this class as a whole is to not think of design in the sense of creating aesthetically pleasing products or environments but, to think of design as a way to solve problems. In one of our first lectures we were introduced to the concept of design thinking, a way of looking at a problem and solving it using the same process as when designing. Of course design is about making products, visuals and environments but, to apply the design process to other problems, we can start to make possible what was once impossible.