What do you do?

I found this image on another blog and thought it was quite apropos. Design is so much more than web design and yet this image identified a reality I am facing in Rwanda as far as the general understanding of the capacity of design. I appreciate my studies at ECU that encourage and seek to develop "design thinking" not just design outputs.

Speaking of output, I read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance this weekend and found myself delighted by its address of the idea of quality. What exactly is quality and how would you know if you saw it? Design constantly touches on this as one determines something they do or don't like. I am reminded of crits where someone thought a particular solution was appropriate while another person felt otherwise.

"...Structured, dualistic subject-object knowledge...isn't enough. You have to have some feeling for the quality of the work. You have to have a sense of what's good. That is what carries you forward...not just something you are born with...it's the direct result of contact with basic reality."

Basic reality? Now that's another story.

I also appreciated its discussion on rhetoric. As one who is investigating this on many levels, I was glad for a layman's lesson in novel format.

I loved this quote as well. It's simplicity moved me beyond the words it presents: Ideas rose in crowds...he felt them collide until pairs interlocked.

In completely unrelated news: I would love to get tees made for the cooperative in Gashora (as a way of profiling themselves at events and as a means of making additional money for those who may want to support their work). If anyone is remotely keen, let me know.

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