GDE 730

WEEK 9

Entrepreneurship Core Characteristics, Ethics and Theory 

This week has us begin to look at the designer themself. Who are we? What are the pillars of our success? How are we equipped to be entrepreneurs?

The main question driving the week was:

 In your opinion, what are the essential characteristics of the entrepreneur today? 

Lecture: Entrepreneurship Case Studies

GDE730_Week9Lecture_Header

I think in terms of the working process that we have, Hato is all founded around the notion of learning through play essentially. Learning and making are probably the core of that process. I guess that instance of learning is really important, and that notion where, when we take on a new project, we’re constantly challenging ourselves to further our practice and learn by finding that project, so learning a new skill, or a new way of communicating with a type of client. It can be a range of learning outcomes but that is what will always make sure that we’re invested in what we’re doing, as opposed to rolling out that exact same product for just a different person.

Kenjiro Kirton

This week's lecture was long but very insightful. It really looked at the pros and cons of being an entrepreneur with interviews with John Sinclair of Ustwo, Robin Howie of Fieldwork Facility and Sophie Hawkins of S.Hawkins Co. They all shared their insights about the design industry through their experiences in setting up their practices and in guiding their services and products as an entrepreneur and bringing it  to a level for success.

The idea of create a job as opposed to having a job speaks volumes about passion, motivation and drive. You then have to look for ideas to make new innovative products or services that people would want and need. The journey needs to be planned starting from ideas  to research to delivering the product with the discipline to succeed. One has to be determined to execute the plan and shine in your delivery of it. As a designer you have to be willing to step into shoes that you may not have experienced before. This is where you need to wear many hats to control your business from admin to CEO to keep control of what your venture is pursuing.

Work ethics plays a big deal in setting up your entrepreneurial venture. You need to be very well aware of your strengths and weaknesses and really find out where your passion drives you. Here having strong values can guide your practice and provide the backbone and why of what you are creating. Success then becomes about having the discipline and the passion to pursue your vision everyday and make it happen. As designers I think we're well equipped to be successful entrepreneurs we just don't fully know that yet. 

Listening to John, Robin and Sophie really provided great insight and a good backdrop to the topic of this week.

Workshop Challenge

CHALLENGE: Being an entrepreneur today — Create an information graphic, or diagram, or animation that, for you, highlights the effective definition and process of a being a design entrepreneur today. Discuss the pros and cons of how risk, failure and innovation is built into a model for business success; what is the impact of different cultural insights with regard to opportunity and potential?

Designers don't often think of themselves as entrepreneurs. Usually we're just all about the process and the craft, that is what really has us interested. However, the way we think actually has us in a unique position to show up as an entrepreneur and even succeed at it. 

For my infographic I came up with the term "Designpreneur" and distilled qualities about us that make us very well equipped to be entrepreneurs. In the infographic below, I show these as glasses, or perspectives we have about how we observe the world around us. Each of these can be expanded upon to reflect on what our unique strengths are and how they equip us for both success and failure, and how through each of these lenses the way failure shows up for us lets us innovate and keep moving forward. Enjoy!

TheDesignpreneur

Final thoughts and reflection

The last four weeks were tough, and with this week we started a new brief so it was a breather for me. Although the lecture was a bit long I enjoyed it. Really have started thinking about what kind of designer I want to be. I wouldn't say I have it entirely figured out, but I can see that I like design that is either objective and functional, informative and clear, or design that is abstract and expressive, beautiful. I can see a few ideas that could drive my design practice, but right now I am for sure in an area of discovery.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. 

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Week 8: New Models for Future Practice
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Week 10: Designer, Author, Maker

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