Mental Whiplash
In the book Citizen Designer by Steven Heller and Veronique Vienne I came across a very interesting article called Mental Whiplash the Subjects of our Affection. I was immediately captivated by the definition of whiplash which is defined as "a wrenching change in direction." I think it describes our job as designers quite well because we are continuously growing as designers and changing how we solve design problems. Not to mention design is always changing every second! In the article it was mentioned how we as designers have the luxury to learn about the world as we work. One day we could be designing an informational poster on how to give CPR and the next we are designing the interior surfaces of a trendy store. Instead of being stuck doing the same old everyday we are designing for a wide range of things from serious information to commerical seduction to science to pop culture. Because of that we learn about everything and are able to broaden our prespectives.
The article also brought up a very important subject. It talked a lot about content development in a design and as we all know it requires a lot of research to develop a responsible voice in design. It is important to teach students what the appropriate amount of research to conduct and how to research effectively. We need to understand the limitations as well as the usefulness of research and translate those findings into responsible, informative communicational elements.