Into the Unknown (and Back Into the Known) - the AC4D Experience

From early childhood, many are asked “What do you want to do/be when you grow up?”. But maybe it’s not as simple as that. For me, it’s figuring out what brings me purpose. Talking to and immersing myself in the presence of vulnerable subject areas immediately fires the engines in my brain. I love diving head first into a problem, brainstorming all of the many ways to “solve”, and even how to make it look good in the process. A little cherry on top.

The AC4D experience is just that and more. By taking part in this 9 month immersive experience, I plan to take my design thinking and skills to the next level.

One thing I loved immediately from this week was meeting new people and the many perspectives/insights my classmates and mentors had to provide. Anxiety around meeting new people and working in groups washed away with the friendly faces I was met with. The instructors were very articulate and knowledgable, and the women I’ll be working with cultivate a friendly challenging environment that gets me excited for the year to come.

The first day was met with friendly faces, fun icebreakers, and then diving right into software and the assignment for the week. We were to interview 4-5 people on the topic of mental health equipped with a dialogue to encourage an organic conversation. I had previously done the 12 week Immersive Design Research Remote Studio after this session of the 9 month Immersive studio got delayed. With that under my belt, I had a little bit more of a sense for what to expect for the design process as a whole.

Returning to design research reminded me how much more I needed to grow, that this was only the beginning if I want to become strong in this field.

Going forward, we used our interview notes and the 15 minute transcription to begin synthesizing our collected data. This is where the fun begins. Gathering utterances to find a collective theme, then asking yourself “Why does this work? What makes these points similar, and why?”, was the beginning of the process. It truly felt like dumping my brain out on Mural and taking a string to each point, creating a Jackson Pollock piece out of the mess. When it came to creating insights, I felt absolutely lost again. This piece of design research was a step I initially struggled with during the shorter experience I had with AC4D. Revisiting this step was just a reminder that this was just the beginning of my journey and I had more time to ask questions and practice this process so I can eventually own my knowledge.

The next day was definitely more hands-on. The first exercise was coming up with design solutions for the prompt provided. We wireframed different screens, highlighted some of the features we wanted to hone in on, and produced two higher fidelity screens. Using Figma helped bring our selected to another level of fidelity and gave us practice using one of the programs current in the world of design and a tool used throughout this curriculum. Chasing the thrill of creating and re-working rapidly over your project is what fuels my love of design.

To wrap up this week of new and revisited Design thinking, we had the privilege to pick the brains of some Alumni. Hearing their different perspectives on the experience as a whole and what to do after the program provided insight on the year ahead of us.

I’m ready to grow as a designer, a teammate, and as a problem solver.