When Felix asked me if I want to write a blog post for Fragmeister I thought cool opportunity, of course. But another thought that quickly followed this spontaneous acceptance was, what do I have to contribute to a design blog?
As a teacher I learned how to create a supportive learning environment, how to structure lessons or how to translate complex knowledge in a way children can absorb it. I love dancing and digging my hands into the soil of my vegetable garden. I had the opportunity to get to know myself in different roles and settings, but the design field is still new to me. So as a rookie, what can I contribute from my perspective?
Just to start with - this post is about YOU.
The support from you has a big impact on us rookies and encourages us to learn and grow as a designer.
But before I dive in, here’s a quick recap to how I came to write these words. I searched for an education that aligns with my values and gives me methods and tools to be capable to create healthier conditions for our society and environment. One that gives me more creative freedom than I had within the public school system. This led me to the study programme of eco-social design at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. Thank you, Michael. Almost two years ago, over a glass of beer, you said that eco-social design might be the right fit for me. I think you were right. It’s been exciting and sometimes overwhelming. Inspiring and sometimes sobering. My first year of studies challenged me and sparked deep curiosity.
So, the journey began, and I got introduced to design-specific language, such as stakeholders, leverage point and boundary objects. I got to know an incredibly supportive network of humans where I never felt weird mentioning that I've never heard of Figma or Miro boards. No, they patiently introduced me to all kinds of practical tools and now I even feel courageous enough to create InDesign files by myself. Perhaps this will make you smile but these small achievements really allow me to enjoy the process. Thanks to all these smart and creative people who make me feel like I can do pretty much anything. Even as a rookie.
Yes, I like it here. Here I can grow.
And that brings me to the heart of this post – the power of the people that surround us and the magic of collaboration and co-creation.Let me introduce you to a term that recently resonated with me: ‘scenius’. A term which is coined by the multidisciplinary artist Brian Eno.
“As I looked at art more and more, I discovered that that wasn’t really a true picture. What really happened was that there were sometimes very fertile scenes involving lots and lots of people – some of them artists, some of them collectors, some of them curators, thinkers, theorists, people who were fashionable and knew what the hip things were – all sorts of people who created a kind of ecology of talent. And out of that ecology arose some wonderful work.
So I came up with this word ‘scenius’ – the intelligence of a whole operation or group of people. I think that’s a more useful way to think about culture. Let’s forget the idea of ‘genius’ for a little while, let’s think about the whole ecology of ideas that give rise to good new thoughts and good new work.” (Eno, n.d.)
This describes exactly how I experience the design scene I’ve stepped into. There is an abundance of exchange, inspiration, collaboration and community. Beyond working on the tasks of our degree programme. It’s the first time I experience this to such an extent and I think it’s worth highlighting that for a rookie this is an unbelievable empowering asset.
Furthermore, ‘scenius’ mirrors the collaborative and systems-based approach that is part of our role as eco-social designers. We are not isolated creators. We’re participants in systems. Systems we want to design interventions for - whether we’re contributing to make them more inclusive, sustainable or create more appropiate conditions for humans and non-humans to thrive - collaboration is at the core. Sharing our ideas, skills and look at our projects through different lenses. And last but not least, find hope and empowerment in our community, our ‘scenius’, to cultivate good new thoughts and good new work.
References
Eno, B. (n.d.). Scenius. The Creative Life. https://thecreativelife.net/scenius/