Blog7: My Incomplete Manifesto

1. Experience the world.

Be aware of what is going on in the world and appreciate the world. Learn different cultures and find where you stand. Then, you are going to realize what you need to do to improve for yourself.

2. Imagine everyday.

It sounds silly but a lot of people do not imagine. Imagining makes you creative and that is how you get inspired by your imagination.

3. Read books.

Reading makes your brain flexible and fresh. It is not only just to get information but also to think more logically.

4. Don’t be judgmental.

It is not because of others, it is because of yourself. The more you are judgmental, the less you can see.

5. Be a good listener rather than a talker.

What moves people’s mind is not just talking. People follow a good listener, not talkers because everyone wants to talk and needs somebody who listens to them carefully.

6. Don’t make decisions with trend.

Sometime people make decisions with trend, but it is not really wise and sometimes it is dangerous to make decision in that way because trend could change anytime. Also, it doesn’t last long.

7. Be aware of what is your strength rather than weakness.

Being aware of my strength helps me much more to be confident than thinking about weakness. Also, it helps u find what you want and what you like to do. 

8. Get interested in something you are not interested in.

If you try to be interested in what you are not, you are going to experience a new world.

9. Don’t sleep and eat too much.

It makes you lazy, slow, not focus, and not creative. 

10. Make a plan and write it down.

Plan is very important for growth, but just making it is not enough. There is a huge difference between just thinking of a plan and physically writing it down. If you just think about it rather than writing it down on a paper, it will goes away easily. Also, when you achieve the goal, you have to check that you completed the plan. That makes you more organized and helps you not waste of time.

Blog6: My Process

Stefan’s process is relatively similar to my process. One of the key elements of my process is traveling. I get inspired by traveling to new places. When I travel, not necessarily far away like overseas, I always try to experience something that I have not done before, rather than something familiar such as shopping, and try to take pictures or notes of something that seems interesting as many things as I can. That is why I take a lot of pictures even though some of the pictures are silly such as a picture of a huge cockroach on the street when I went to Hong Kong last summer. I believe this type of attitude and habits keep me creative and curious about everything around me. Also, because of that, I try to see different and new things and think differently. Sometimes, it helps me when I am designing something.

In addition, I get many good ideas from brainstorming with other people. I am not a big fan of teamwork but I do think brainstorming is one of the most important things for design process because ideas can get developed further and designers can get more and various ideas. Also, brainstorming sometimes solves problem faster than if I would think by myself sitting on a chair with my laptop. 

So, this is my rough design process.

- Analyzing what the client wants and what I can do to make great result.

- Researching whatever relative information. Researching information does not  necessarily mean researching with a computer. It can be any form such as reading, talking, watching videos, traveling, discussing, brainstorming, etc.

- Recording anything interesting or inspiring with Notes or pictures.

- Doing a lot of sketches until I’m sure what my idea is.

- Starting the actual work with computer, paint, etc.

- Making the final design with appropriate form such as print.

- Presenting and getting feedback from clients and discuss what and how to develop.

-  Completing the design process.