I’ve really come to find myself as a designer that puts focus on the experience, which both comes from my (small) background as an UX designer and through all projects I have done so far in this study. Having started by stumbling around, not really knowing what to do for most of the projects in my first two years. Rejecting my previous knowledge and just wanting to do something just for the sake of it being different. To use the terms I introduced as a cliché; I’m making bigger steps into shifting from being unknowing to being all-knowing about myself as a designer.
While all the things I described in this project are not necessarily groundbreaking, it’s basically the most basic foundation of (communicative) graphic design, it’s something I put a lot of focus on during this term. I think it’s really important to consider what specific role you are giving and which experience you can give your audience. By analyzing my own work and that of others I really came to find out that the narrative you are communicating can be amazing and impactful, but it’s just as important to present it in such a way that will make it even more impactful. Presentation reinforces your narrative.
Especially while designing hybrid installations I’ve come to find that it doesn’t work that well to let your audience just be spectators, I feel like there is a big chance that things will become ‘over-designed’, making it lose spontaneity and engagement. I value interaction in design, even on a really small scale. It can give the extra push for something to be more spontaneous; which will make something more interesting and generally a lot more fun to play with. A big part of our day is already dedicated to being a spectator, just consuming things as they are intended. It’s refreshing to give people the role as a user, which is way more engaging in my eyes. Bringing spontaneity through interaction in design is something that I consider as being vital, and am recommending others to consider it this way as well.