{"id":188,"date":"2016-04-09T12:11:01","date_gmt":"2016-04-09T12:11:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/miekevanderbijl.com\/?p=188"},"modified":"2016-04-10T23:01:03","modified_gmt":"2016-04-10T23:01:03","slug":"designing-really-much-fun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/miekevanderbijl.com\/index.php\/2016\/04\/09\/designing-really-much-fun\/","title":{"rendered":"Is designing really so much fun?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Design and its successors \u201cdesign innovation\u201d and \u201cdesign thinking\u201d are often presented as something that is fun and engaging. And designers and design innovators often have an image of happy-go-clappy-postit-sticking-enthusiasts (using the words<\/a> of Kennisland\u2019s Marlieke Kieboom). But is designing really such an enjoyable and exciting activity?<\/p>\n

As part of a study into design-led social innovation practices I recently interviewed people who have led or participated in design projects in a social innovation context, often for the first time. These people expressed many emotions about their design experiences that did not sound like fun at all, including feelings of frustration, confusion, irritation, fear and despair. And to be honest, this comes as no surprise. I\u2019ve experienced it myself, I\u2019ve seen it with my students, and I\u2019ve seen it with the people I work with. In this blog I will explain where these negative feelings might come from, and why we shouldn\u2019t ignore them.<\/p>\n

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Why designing is NO fun<\/h2>\n

Here are three of the various emotions that people might experience while designing that have very little to do with \u2018fun\u2019:<\/p>\n

Confusion<\/strong> \u2013 The nature of design thinking<\/a> is that design problems are open and designers interpret and re-interpret these problems through framing (Dorst, 2010). Therefore there is usually quite a long phase within any design process in which the problem and solution \u2018co-evolve\u2019. It is not clear what the problem is, nor is the solution. I once heard someone call this the \u2018valley of confusion\u2019. Particularly for first-time designers this is an incredibly uncomfortable place to be. Anyone who has tutored design students knows how hard it is to guide students through this phase. The same goes for facilitators of a co-design process with stakeholders who have not been involved in design processes before.<\/p>\n

Insecurity<\/strong> \u2013 In design projects you very often get to a stage where you just have to make some decisions. The client demands more clarity and\/or the deadline of a project is fast approaching. Sometimes this pressure leads to break through insights and design proposals. And sometimes you just have to force a decision to select a design proposal to present to the client or broader co-design group, even though you probably need to spend more time in that valley of confusion. This might feel like a leap of faith. Some of the participants I interviewed expressed a strong feeling of insecurity about the path that was taken in their project.<\/p>\n

Fear<\/strong> \u2013 Designing something new inevitably leads to change, particularly when design is applied on a strategic level to create systems change. And for many people change can be scary. For example, two years ago I ran a design-led innovation program with my colleague Sam Bucolo for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), many of which were family businesses. Even though the enterprises knew they had to innovate and \u2018disrupt their business\u2019 to gain the needed competitive advantage, they felt bad about changing a business that had often been built by their parents or great parents. The business owners had to overcome this fear to be able to design and implement radically new products and services. Resistance to change, fear of failure and risk aversion are also well-known barriers towards innovation in the public sector.<\/a><\/p>\n

Why people think designing is fun<\/h2>\n

So if there are so many negative emotions associated with the act of designing, why do people think that designing is fun?<\/p>\n

First of all there are of course many reasons why designing does make us happy.<\/p>\n