This past December I drove my family from Paris to Saint Brieuc, a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department in Brittany in northwestern France. We were staying with friends hosting a small New Year’s Eve party (La Saint-Sylvestre, in French). The drive takes about 4-6 hours depending on traffic. My wife has not been able to drive since her brain injury the week before Thanksgiving 2018.
It’s been five weeks since we went live on BlackBoard Collaborate Ultra at FIT. I was nervous at first, but got through three class sessions with my students, 11 contact hours in total. My biggest fear was just crashing and having to restart my computer, followed by not being able to upload the documents for my lectures, ending with annoyed students signing off in frustration half way through the sessions. It’s the jitters you get when you’re about to go on stage, knowing there are a few critical lines you don’t quite have down 100%.
This past December I drove my family from Paris to Saint Brieuc, a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department in Brittany in northwestern France. We were staying with friends hosting a small New Year’s Eve party (La Saint-Sylvestre, in French). The drive takes about 4-6 hours depending on traffic. My wife has not been able to drive since her brain injury the week before Thanksgiving 2018. A year of driving in Paris has made me an “expert” at driving manually, navigating the treacherous round-abouts full of towering trucks, weaving motorbikes and speeding cars. My wife, on the other hand, was dealing with the fact that she was no longer in control of her ability to gauge distances quickly enough.
The first crisis I ever had to confront as a young adult was when I graduated from Pratt Institute School of Architecture at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic. I was working for Butler Rogers Baskett on 27th Street and Park Avenue South at the time, in their healthcare division on an NYU Medical Center project on 3rd Avenue. One day I was assigned the task of surveying a space that was going to be redesigned into their first AIDS patient care unit.
Monday, we began our first FIT college-wide tutorial session on BlackBoard Collaborate Ultra. About 110 FIT faculty members logged on to learn from Juan, our tutor. It took an hour exactly, which pleased everyone who logged on for the long haul. In a way, this crisis has developed a new community I had never experienced before, deciding years ago to maintain my six feet of social media and technology distancing.
My family has been homeschooling for the last five years. Our two kids were used to seeing the school bus make the morning rounds to collect their friends and the quiet that followed as the neighborhood emptied and became entirely theirs, well almost theirs. A few blocks away, another family is homeschooling their five children. Last week school came home for everyone which resulted in a new reality for parents; managing the home education. For many, this change elevates anxiety as they question the effectiveness of learning within the home.
I’ve got great news for you! Learning happens everywhere!
At the end of PBS NewsHour on Friday night March 13th, anchor Judy Woodruff signed off with a personal statement to viewers asking them to refrain from hoarding basic items like toilet paper and to look out for the most vulnerable in our communities, our elderly neighbors, during this time of crisis. Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, where I am a long-time member and volunteer in the homeless shelter as an overnight host to 12 men of varying ethnic backgrounds, college degrees and professions, has had to temporarily suspend worship service and all related activities. I decided reached out to my Pastor.
Luca was beautiful, athletic and affectionate, but had bad genes. He was a young Ocicat, owned by a friend of mine living in San Diego. He had an ultrasound that showed mild inflammation of the liver, kidneys, spleen and enlarged abdominal lymph nodes. These are all typical of the cat version of the Coronavirus, so I’m told, that killed his brother Bruno and sister Dylan, several months ago.
It’s difficult to consider a design thinking workshop when you are in a crisis mode like trying to prepare for a pandemic, which is where we all find ourselves at the moment. If the direction from the top seems confusing, due to misinformation, conflicting information, over reaction, impossible asks or bad advice, how can we come together to chart a path, when experts say to stay home and self-quarantine for 14 days?
I recently had brunch with a friend who was lamenting over the fact that his favorite bartender wasn’t working that day. As bartenders go, this was a tragedy, as I was told for the next two hours how they really relate to one another and share common stories and interests, in between glasses of “free” wine. I was starting to worry. My friend would reward this particular bartender’s generosity and comradery with a very large tip at the end of the afternoon. So, when we arrived to find him MIA, my friend couldn’t stop raving about him, ad nauseum. I finally asked, “Why don’t you solve the problem and find out what his schedule is?”
Designers are trained problem solvers. Regardless of our area of focus (environments, product, UX, web, service, etc) we are taught that to effectively solve a problem, you have to go to the source to understand it. Design thinking is a human centered process that designers use to understand and solve complex problems. What is human centered? Human centered means that this process recognizes the end user as a valued partner in creating solutions. When the end user is included in each step of development, testing, and refinement, it dramatically increases your confidence that the solution is right. And when you are investing resources into an action plan, this confidence is critical.
At thinkshift we believe that the power of design thinking is in empathy. It relies on developing an authentic connection with the experience of those who know the challenge best, and from this point, starting a new conversation about what is possible. Design thinking strategies can be applied to so many different user experiences from retail establishments recognizing your frustration with waiting on line, to assessing new academic curriculum, to even solving the serious problem of knowing which night your favorite bartender is behind the counter.
Our blog is meant to offer perspective; from daily life observations to discoveries in our collaborations with clients; and cultivate awareness of better solutions for us all. Look for these blogs and more in the coming weeks.
