Future Skills: DESIGN

Assignment 1

Keep a design notebook. This is a notebook where from now you will record all
your ideas, creativity thinking, projects, and anything under the subject of
creativity or innovation. This could either be a real notebook or a digital one.

A. To begin thinking like a designer:

a. Write down the names of five objects inside your house that irritate
you. The irritation could be their design, their ineffectiveness, their
technology or something else.
b. Now, make improvements to the design or a way to get rid of your
irritation by redesigning the object.
c. Write down three experiences that irritate you. For e.g. checking in to
a flight, looking for admissions to a university, shopping in a mall, your
own kitchen, any experience. Now write down the experience in about
five or six lines. Then, write a few lines as to why such a design would
have come about in the first place. Now, write how you will improve
that experience.
d. Watch the IDEO shopping cart video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6EgoiPxNDs
i. What did you learn about the process of innovation? (~300
words)
ii. How would you design a cart to ensure social distancing? You
can draw your idea if you wish to.
iii. Visit the IDEO website and learn how they work. Write a short
essay on what you understood about IDEO and their work.
(~300 words)

B. According to you what are the top five innovations in the last 100 years. Give
a short reason as to why you think they deserve to be in the top five. An
innovation could be a product, process or service. If I were you, I will look at
several websites before I answer the question.

C. When you say ‘Logo’, what do you visualise? Draw your Logo. Your logo is a
representation of who you are. It is a totality of your strengths, your
weaknesses, your likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams. It can be elaborate, or it
can be very simple. It can be descriptive and complex, or it could be a tiny
dot. It is something that sets you apart, something that identifies your
uniqueness. The beauty of a logo is that no two logos are the same. Draw a
logo that is truly you.
The interesting thing is logos change over time. (Mine used to be a tennis ball,
but now it is something else.) Once you have drawn your logo keep it safe and
see if it changes over time. Show your logo to your family and have fun.

D. Biomimicry is about mimicking nature. It is about learning how to solve our

daily challenges in science and life from nature. I don’t want to spoil your fun
by going into detail. Visit biomimicry.org.
If you are able to tear yourself away from the beauty of nature, write a short
essay (~500 words) on what you learnt from the website. I would encourage
you to explore the website completely before you write. Incidentally, I am
learning biomimicry too and would love to discuss with those of you who are

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 interested to take it to the next level. Please mention in your assignment if
you are interested, so I know.

E. What do you understand by the word DESIGN and why should it be classified as
a future skill?

The exercises in this assignment are for you to start thinking like designers. The
mindset of design cannot be outsourced. In a way, these exercises will ensure
we acquire skills of design that will stand us in good stead wherever we are. It
will help us be better craftsmen and make us think and reflect about new
solutions and new ideas that benefit the world.

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