Design Feast Series: Designer’s Quest(ionnaire)

Lauren Beckwith

User Experience Designer

Primary design concentration:

Interaction Design

Most preferred tools for designing:

Micron .05 pen and Moleskine sketchbook

How and why did you choose to become a designer?

I’ve been filling sketchbooks since I was about seven years old, so I’ve loved drawing for as long as I can remember. When I got to high school, I continued to take art classes but never considered art as a career I wanted to pursue. I loved puzzles, problem-solving, and observing people. Design began to fit those loves pretty well. I decided it could actually be a career path after I took a pre-college course in graphic design. I figured that if I enjoyed designing six hours a day every day for a month, then design was something I was passionate about. After that month, I knew designing would make me happy. So that’s what I do.

What are some of the challenges you encounter as a designer and how do you deal with them?

Deciding when to compromise your design. I often try so hard to take other people’s thoughts into consideration that I forget to push back a bit with my own opinions.

What is your definition of an “elegant solution,” that is, good design?

Good design is invisible. It’s like magic. It fits you and your needs without interfering. It has layers of experience and it uses those layers to build moments of surprise and delight. One of my professors once told me that I should aim to design something that “makes my heart go thump.”

From skills to values, what makes a designer successful?

Notice things. I never know what will inspire me in a given day. And by “inspire,” I mean “trigger an odd train of thought that I’ve never had before.” Most of my inspiration comes from simply wandering around my neighborhood.

Fail beautifully. Sometimes it’s valuable to run down a path that ends up in a dead end.

How do you stay motivated and grow personally and professionally as a designer?

There’s almost always room to make something better. I want to make myself better, and I want to make the world better. That drive to improve keeps me going, so I’m constantly trying to learn new things. It sounds cliché, but I never want to stop learning. That’s the best part about being a designer. Everyday you get to learn something different.

For those aspiring to become a designer, whatever the discipline, what is your advice?

Create a side project. It’s incredibly valuable to define a problem on your own and try to find the solution. In school and professionally, you are often constrained by objectives, project guidelines, and (at least) twenty other opinions. A side project is that breath of fresh air when you can set your own process and goals, and it forces you to apply what you’re learning to a problem you are completely invested in.

What is your quest in design, from a professional practice, education or evolution standpoint?

To exceed expectation. I never want to be jaded or disillusioned by the way the world works. Design can and will change the world, and I would like to be a part of that change.

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