Get Creative! Build Your Own Design Toolkit
Estimated Reading Time: 8-12 minutes
“Creativity is simply the ability to see elements but connect the dots differently.”
Dario Paniagua
As part of our unfolding series on the Power of Design, I’ve been reflecting on what leads each of us—leaders, educators—-to be the best experience designers possible. L+D’s Carla Silver launched our year’s theme with an overview of the human centered design process, and reminded us to get curious, observe closely and make quick prototypes. Isaiah Noriega, our newest L+D partner, followed with an invitation to practice design by taking some time to redesign something we all know well, the Sunday night blahs!
Over the past three years, I’ve been working to build my own design toolkit through some tangible ways. I’ve always loved art and the visual aesthetics of something that is well designed (a table, room, a garden) and I also appreciate a smooth and elegantly designed experience, whether it’s a well run meeting or a spectacular party or event. As a former Head of School, I typically didn’t have the time to dedicate myself to a creative practice–and was perhaps reluctant to call myself “artistic”--but I’ve always been committed to building and shaping culture and experiences in schools. Now that I have more time to dig into art and design, I’ve learned that these are skills that can be taught, practiced and strengthened. Through building your own design toolkit, we can each become attuned to good design and apply those skills to planning a team retreat, designing a special school event or thinking about how you want your workday to feel. You don’t need to have any formal training to be a good designer but there are ways to enhance your creativity, your openness to doing something a little differently and to expand the lens through which you view a design opportunity. Building these skills is also good for your brain–research shows it sends rewards to the pleasure part of your brain. Drexel University professor Dr. Girija Kaimal, says, "Anything that engages your creative mind — the ability to make connections between unrelated things and imagine new ways to communicate — is good for you.”
First, build your hands-on skills:
Find supplies that inspire you! This can be as simple as creating a nice pile of facilitation materials—post its, large paper, stickies—for a brainstorming work session. You don’t need a lot of fancy materials—just ones that allow you and your group to structure a conversation and then to play. I find it rewarding to invest in pens that feel good in your hand (Pigma Microns are fantastic, refillable Neuland markers are good poster writing tools, and a good old Flair Pen always works well, too). Consider using Blackwing pencils to sketch or draw with (they really are better!), as well as a notebook with inviting paper to write, doodle and experiment in. Lately I’ve been loving Romeo notebooks from Japan with the most amazing smooth and absorbent paper–beware, they are addictive. Using analog materials slows down your process and opens your mind to seeing where the pen or pencil may take you. There’s something about having supplies to make you feel not only ready to take on new challenges but to also see yourself as a designer.
Commit to something small but tangible to help you hone your creativity and skill. Over the past year, I’ve decided to work on my doodling, lettering and sketchnoting skills. I’ve started following Mike Rhode and Wendy McNaughton, both of whom offer accessible lettering, doodling and sketchnoting lessons on Substack. These are great for those who want to just try something that is fun and low stakes. My notebooks are now filled with clearer, sharper letters. I’m also trying out sketchnoting and using visuals to help me follow ideas and enhance what I recall. Mike Rhode quotes that doodlers recall 29% more than non-doodlers when sketchnoting. Little by little I’m worrying less about creating something perfect and instead focusing on creating something that is visually appealing and helpful to me as a designer.
See more art. The more I view art, the more I find ways to incorporate what I see in my own work. This summer I reveled in Ruth Asawa’s art as I viewed her retrospective at SFMOMA (headed to NYC’s MoMA October-February). Asawa (1926-2013), a sculptor, artist, dancer, and Bay Area educator— made extraordinary art from objects of ordinary inspiration such as wildflowers, leaves and her living room chairs. She is most well-known for her large, awe-inspiring wire-looped sculptures and public art installations in the Bay Area as well. Asawa believed in the power of close observation and most often used what was right in front —simple materials such as wire, pencil and paper. I’ve worked on drawing loops, and copying her rough floral sketches to expand my simple drawing skills.
Then, expand your skills to include frameworks that allow you to think in a different ways.
Dario Panigua, a visual leadership coach, has developed approaches to use metaphorical thinking to help with storytelling and problem solving. He offers a framework to use metaphors in team meetings. By exchanging one visual for another, we are creating a disruptive element that needs an extra level of elaboration and exploration, and allows the participants to imagine relationships, problems and solutions in fresh ways. He offers visual ideas on describing a typical leadership team meeting: Is your team a roller coaster? A long straight road into the desert? Or perhaps something less conventional such as the stages of moon’s orbit of the earth that waxes and wanes? A series of ice cream stages as it melts? You can watch one of his recent talks on this approach here and read his suggestions below.
Draw or build alternative metaphors for exploration of what might be. Avoid gardens and other stereotypical metaphors; instead work to find less predictable ones that allow for deeper levels of exploration beyond the obvious
Be playful —consider using Leggo’s or other manipulatives, films or story boards to help you see the challenges in new ways.
Consider using Dave Grey’s Visual Frameworks (free on his website) to help you in your meetings and discussions. They are excellent tools to prompt exploration and expand how you might view a situation.
Other Exercises to Expand Thinking
Last summer, my colleague Shu Shu Costa, and I facilitated a three day workshop called “What’s Next: Design Your Journey,” developed to allow participants to more fully expand their thinking about what might be next in their role or career. We used the book, Designing Your Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans as a tool for participants to explore how they view life, work and love as they design their ideal lives. This workshop did not promise answers, but offered a range of exercises to explore how their lives might unfold through drawing, storytelling and journey mapping.
In one session, Shu Shu asked the group to play with mapping a multitude of possibilities of options for their future.These mind maps asked each person to explore the possible, probable and even far-fetched as a tool to get beyond our traditional thinking. One participant found herself connecting her interest in storytelling and history with helping those nearing the end of their lives. What if she were able to record end-of-life stories with those in hospice? It’s currently just a wondering but she might not have found this wondering without an expansive push.
Finally, apply these skills to your school’s needs.
What are questions you or your team could ponder? Make them not easily solvable, and decidedly exploratory.
How might I make team meetings more less boring and more interactive?
What’s a better flow for our playground use?
What are some ways we can get out students to engage in more lunch conversations and get off their phones?
What if every other board of trustees meeting involved a hands-on learning experience?
By expanding our strategies problem solving, we can use experience designer skills to think expansively, optimistically and hopefully about our schools. As Bill Burnett and Dave Evans note in their book, “Designers don’t think their way forward. Designers build their way…” So, build away. Your brain will be happier too!
