What is a designer / design theory

This Semester is a welcomed relief. And I am saying that because partly it is the truth, and partly it is what I want to believe.

This is the first semester out of what was meant to be a 3 year design course that I will only be studying theory for. Life chucked me a small curve ball and I realised I couldn't have everything I wanted at the time - and that included studying full time. These things happen. But now I am catching up on all of the subjects that I left behind. So this year I am making up for that hiccup in the timing of my degree by taking on 3 theory subjects and one design elective.

First up I am studying a subject on design and culture, with my other subject regarding the critical practice of design. Yawn. 

But actually I really love reading and I'm slowly taking to writing so it can't be all bad. Except that I am terrified of oral presentations - however successfully I manage to hide that from the crowd - and this kind of reading generally isn't fun.

Tonight I was preparing for my first classes of the year tomorrow by doing the readings that were outlined for the week. This week they were questioning what a designer is, and how that role should be described. There were a few comments within the text that made me actually feel excited to be involved in design again, and for that I am grateful. Last year was not my favourite but I'm determined to make this one better. 

From a collection of short essays I have deducted that design is a process of active reflection and analysis that occurs at many different stages of the solution. Design is a process of problem solving, as well as it is a learning journey. This journey becomes a process of narrowing down the precise problem, and then pairing it with the most ideal partner. But these partners need to satisfy a wide range of people and factors including those of financial, technical, ergonomical, aesthetical and so on. This means that design is a process of negotiation, and this negotiation becomes like a game that you play at and put your ideas into and then gamble your time on: it is addictive. While designers should act responsibly and consider any moral conflicts, it is not necessarily fair for a designer to take the brunt of the responsibility for the overall wider implications of the final design. 

Design is a team effort involving negotiation between a wide range of parties that have been considered after an effort to match the problem with a solution that was arrived at after many evolving stages of critical and active reflection.

And yeah. Welcome to Semester One.