Doing anything design-related demands a person to shut off the intellectual side of their brain in order to allow the creative side to take over. I took a crash-course on how to think creatively, it was nothing like I have done in a class before. The object was to re-create the “gift giving process.”  It forced me to step out of my comfort zone and think differently all at a fast pace. Using the materials around me, I had to re-invent the last gift my partner gave to someone. I found it to be an odd task, but surely enough it taught me a lot. It showed me that you don’t necessarily need to know what the outcome will be; you just have to take things one-step at a time. By doing this, you are able to drum up all different kinds of ideas along the way; each new thought alters the outcome. As Tim Brown explained in one of his seminars, we as designers should think big. http://www.ted.com/talks/tim_brown_urges_designers_to_think_big. We must learn that design goes far beyond aesthetics and image; it should be useful and innovative. By focusing less on the object and more on design thinking we are then able to achieve far greater things that we had never imagined before. The end goal is re-designing something to be better than ever, possibly sparking an innovative movement.

By applying design thinking to everyday tasks, eventually it will start to come naturally. Our brains will function in this certain way like it never has before. We will utilize the step-by-step process and come up with all different kinds of ideas. We are limited through intellectual reasoning because it is through creativity that we are able to reach beyond what we know and stretch past our comfort zones. Comfort zones are good, but nothing can really grow there, it allows little room for expansion. Thinking in a new and creative way allows us to branch out, learn new things and meet new people. If there is one thing that I learned from my in class crash-course on design thinking, it’s that you can surprise yourself with what you are able to achieve. I would never think that with a brief sixty minutes that I could: learn a lot about my partner, one of their gift-giving experiences, come up with different ideas, and finally re-create with it with some paper and tape. I can only imagine how incredible the outcome would be if I were given an even more challenging task and more interesting materials to build from. This is exactly why Tim Brown urges designers to think BIG. By allowing ourselves to dive head first into a project and just roll with the punches. Growing up as a throughout school and learning that everything has proper structures, rules, and guidelines made me afraid of failure. What I realized in this class experience is that failure is okay, it happens and it’s how we learn and improve as designers. It is a different way of thinking. We have to learn that failure will happen and mistakes will be made, but that is okay because it is how you learn. You can always re-invent and correct mistakes; there is always room for improvement.