Concept and Words
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By Amey More
Why You should travel as a designer
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I recently crossed my unplanned milestone of wandering through 10 states in India & came to the realization that travelling had influenced my design personality to a greater extent.
Wander often wonder always
2015–16 (Appx), It was 2am at night. I witnessed the beauty of the “Golden Temple” and had a halt at Amritsar, Punjab. I think this visit was the beginning of my addiction to travelling & since then there is no turning back.
Be it hovering through a local market at night, sipping lassi at a local Dhaba, or having dinner at a local restaurant. The experience somehow tapped into my encounter with my inner calling about asking myself, “Forget about Europe, Canada’s winter falls…” “Bro, have you seen the country where you were born?”
In December 2018, I was given an assignment to look after the revamping of the identity of a legacy PAN India product.
As a part of research, we spent four days visiting our user base in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh. After hovering across the local market, doing some sight-seeing of temples post work hours in the evening, we somehow got addicted to the vibrant vibe and decided to pull in some strings into our product. In fact, the colour pallete of our product was inspired by the local colors, which helped us to not only mimic the culture but create an emotional bond within.
What I learned from Traveling as a designer
My design notes after seeing INDIA through 10 different cultures
1. Exploration is crucial
Break your creative block through exposing yourself outside of your comfort zone. You hardly know about people and culture. Never let your experience get you into a false illusion that you have discovered everything. There is so much you don’t know.
2. Fail, Fail again, Fail better
I have a list of trips that didn’t go according to plan. Who cares? Don’t stop just yet.
Keep pushing through.
3. Culture influences people
In design, assumptions hardly make a cut, so make sure to get them validated.
A design is a reflection of the people who are using it. Don’t ignore your users or they will start ignoring your design.
4. You know nothing about places
To make your design connect with people, Step 1: Be a learner, always. Learn about culture. Learn about people. Everything around you evolves, so you never know what new experience you will get from the same place you have visited 10 times.
5. Balance certainty with surprises
Make sure your design has scope for flexibility. With experience, you might master the certainty, but don’t forget to delight the user with new surprises through new experiments. After all, who doesn’t love surprises?
6. Know yourself trough traveling
With each trip, there is a new adventure, new exploration, or new failure waiting for you.
I discovered my skills through traveling, meeting a bunch of strangers during trips, and learning some tricks for planning.
What next?
I am already planning my next road trip. I am confused between some destinations, but I will make it through very soon. A quick note on photos: Due to the inability to track all trips, I used some Google images; I was not carrying a high-resolution camera at the time, nor was I a professional photographer. I think I should buy a new DSLR & keep track more often.
