Incorporating critical perspectives
As a designer, I am inspired by my environment. It confronts me with opportunities for improvement and motivates me to change my perspective. I am critical of my observations and myself. This can sometimes block me but also contrasts my enthusiastic experiments. It supports clear communication, well-argued decision-making, and avoiding problems and risks. It results in a humble attitude towards my work and myself. My critical and philosophical viewpoint helps me to be diplomatic, empathic and collaborative, to think out of the box, and to see people’s strengths.
I strive to work from within society for a more considerate and sustainable design.
These characteristics are valuable for a social designer/entrepreneur, as they allow for discovering value in other’s perspectives and work, supporting and amplifying it (Roundy & Lyons, 2022). Contact with stakeholders enriches the design through new perspectives, besides ensuring a fit with the context and helpingto address the underlying problem. By involving the context in the design process (participatory design), the design’s sustainability can increase due to considering its impact and implementation from the start (EcoSystem Investigation).
collaboration
Whether leading or following, I bring integrity to the team.
I find it important that my work aligns with my values and vision. This supports my intrinsic motivation for the project, increasing my persistence, involvement and feeling of responsibility. In teamwork with other designers, I often take a supportive leading role that attempts to involve and activate the whole team by integrating some structure and getting to know each other’s ambitions to create a common vision and find opportunities to contribute for each member. I find it very important to have a safe and open setting where people can work from integrity to ensure the mind is optimised for generating creative ideas. Deep Democracy inspires me as a method for keeping the whole team together in decision-making by including the wisdom of the minority in the decision of the majority (Kramer, 2019). Furthermore, I am often an endless stream of ideas, a maker, and involved in the social and sustainable aspects of the project. I like to work in a team since it ensures that there are more perspectives and ideas to influence the design, as well as a larger amount of expertise and hands to create something wonderful.
creative Processes
My processes are like weeds, persistently experimental and organically growing.
Experimenting and exploring often play a central role in my creative process. This can be with materials and crafting techniques (E-lement, Grimeoire, UnravelSpin, Droom), and similarly with research methods and design contexts (Sharing Non-Human Appreciation, Dirt Stories). In making I explore new opportunities by creating unusual combinations of existing materials and processing methods. I enjoy analysing my experiments or studies and looking for relevant or unexpected connections. These drive and inspire me, influencing the further process. My processes are often organically growing rather than structured, allowing for learning by doing. This process is visualised by documenting the experiments, which supports making quick design decisions by being able to look back, resulting in an intuitive and artistic approach. It tells a story and invites others to become part of it and learn along. However, the risk is getting lost in your world of experiments, not making choices or discovering you are imagining a connection that does not work. This emphasises the importance of a context that can provide input and urgency to avert indecision. The open-endedness of my process allows for influences from the context, which makes the roles of the designer and involved entities more equal (EcoSystem Investigation).
inspiration
My ideas are often inspired by all different art forms, nature, textures and (human) behaviour. Furthermore, I am inspired by imperfections in life, such as the things we consider trash. I challenge myself by exploring how to turn the unwanted into treasure. The topics of sustainability and inclusivity motivate my work, moreover, I strive for them in my personal life, as I believe it to be hypocritical not to practice what I preach (Figure 1).
Kramer, J. (2019). Deep democracy, de wijsheid van de minderheid (7th ed.). Management Impact. https://www.managementboek.nl/boek/9789462763685/deep-democracy-jitske-kramer
Roundy, P. T., & Lyons, T. S. (2022). Humility in social entrepreneurs and its implications for social impact entrepreneurial ecosystems. Journal of Business Venturing Insights, 17, e00296. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbvi.2021.e00296
Luna Snelder 