Design Lessons from an Astronaut

I’m not advertising this masterclass but found some gems here that are adaptable to the design process. The best thing about observing other masters, is knowing they’ve consolidated years of experiences into the most effective and efficient way to execute a task. In no way am I comparing design to flying rockets or going to space, but if you’re able to treat every decisions within your process with the same urgency, how much better will your design process be? at what velocity will it go? Here are a couple quotes that stood out to me in this video:

  1. “No astronaut launches for space with their fingers cross, thats not how we deal with risk. The more you know the less you fear. “ - I can’t tell you how many times I’ve saved myself by doing deep research and understanding every aspect of a subject. Become infatuated, fall in love with the project. Trust me, its is no fun coming off ignorant to a client who eats, breathe and sleep the topic.

  2. “Share” - Do not design in a vacuum. Share your ideas. We’re more socially connected than ever now, there is no excuse here. The earlier you get feedback, the faster you improve your work.

  3. “Study every system on a spaceship, then boil it down to a one pager.” - Spaceships are much more complicated systems, but i challenge you to boil your project down to a one page, better yet, one sentence. If you’re not able to succinctly describe what you’re doing in a sentence, try again. Follow the K.I.S.S rule - keep it simple, stupid.

  4. “When you’re no longer earthlings, how do you navigate space?” - Have empathy, be open to experiences you can not fathom. Put yourself in the conditions that will make or break the project, now dream of ways to improve the human condition. At the end of the day, design is to solve problems and make life just a tiny bit more efficient.

How do you find inspiration? Email me your ideas hoang@creativesession.com

CREATIVITY IS CAPTURING SOULS

While listening to the Valentine episode on Planet Money the host's are shouting out their Valentines. What I thought was a peculiar shout out, turned out quite insightful. Ann Wroe the obituary writer for The Economist was one of the admirers. Sometimes she writes about a famous person, sometimes its not. When asked about her process. She explain's she only has 36 hours to turn around a project. She likes to look for autobiographies. She's not interested in what others have to say about the deceased. She only wants to hear what the person she's profiling has to say about themselves. She say's "I'm trying to get the human soul. I really believe in the soul. Therefore what I'm doing is capturing souls." The host  says  "I think that's the reason why she's so memorable when she writes. Because when she writes, she's actually becoming someone else." 

The irony is awesome.  An obituary writer capturing souls. So funny.  

Creativity is capturing souls. Creativity is empathy. To empathize with someone or something is to understand. It is when we fully understand and immersed we can become better, we build greater. 

"Pain is a kind of shortcut to mindfulness, it makes us suddenly aware of everything in the environment. It brutally draws us in, to a virtual sensory of the world, much like meditation."

--Brock Bastian

YOU ARE NOT LIMITED BY YOUR ZIP CODE

A buddy of mine shared this Gary Vaynerchuk video with me. If you don't know Gary. Please get to know him. If you do. You know he's inspirational as fuck. 

This resonates deeply to me:

 "Your country is not the variable of your hustle my friend. Your hustle, your work ethics, your drive. Is not predicated on your zip code. "