Design cannot operate in a vacuum.
Too often, great design interventions fall flat because they fail to pursue adequate buy-in from wider company stakeholders, including management, finance and strategy. It is imperative that designers learn to work collaboratively with more business-oriented parts of an organisation. Conversely, strategy teams gain innovative outlooks from designers, who are best positioned to help them truly understand the customer perspective.
As someone who has worked on both sides, I have learned to "bridge the gap," speaking the languages of both design and management to pursue better collaboration and more effective results.
As someone who has worked on both sides, I have learned to "bridge the gap," speaking the languages of both design and management to pursue better collaboration and more effective results.
InnovationConsistently using the same methodologies can have predictable outcomes. I love to learn about the latest design theories to bring fresh ideas to my team. This helps me constructively disrupt projects in order to achieve unique solutions.
FlexibilityDesign should not be a one-size-fits-all process and sometimes, the first approach is not necessarily the best. Across my various roles, I have learnt the value of continually challenging the process and occasionally pivoting to refocus your approach. Staying flexible and open to new ideas allows for radical, innovative results.
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EmpathyMy favourite part of any project is connecting with potential users. I love interviews and user research during discovery, but I believe it is of paramount importance to bring stakeholders along for the rest of the journey, through defining, developing and prototyping. This kind of co-creation ensures that the final product is closely aligned to its target user's needs.
MultidisciplinaryThe design thinking approach can be applied to solve problems in virtually every field. Similarly, incorporating skills from more traditional disciplines like strategy can bring a more real-world focus to design work. I enjoy connecting with and learning from people with differing expertises, because I believe that combining knowledge = effective results.
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