The Importance of a Connection

Back in Experience Design 101, my class was taught a quote:

“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.”
– Benjamin Franklin**

**You may have heard an almost identical quote from Confucius that substitutes learn for understand.

“Tell me and I will forget. Show me and I may remember. Involve me and I will understand.”
– Confucius

Immediately after, we were taken outside and told to form a circle. Once in place, we preceded to throw a ball around only after saying one of our classmates’ names. Now normally, I am terrible at remembering names, though I will remember faces until the end of time. However, since I was actively involved in the process, the names actually stuck with me, as did the quote.

From that point onward, we were constantly reminded to design experiences to activate as many senses as possible. After some time, it was plain to see that it worked. I could recall facts from projects I worked on in Experience Design classes easier than I could after any lecture.

Since the majority of the Experience Design events were designed around an educational purpose, it was easy to apply a hands-on learning approach. However, many things, such as my graphic design work, existed primarily in a no-touch zone. How was it possible to get the same results in these cases?

It took me some time, but I realized that it wasn’t the tactile aspect that I should be focusing on, but rather the effect of these types of experiences. People walked away from an event with a connection.

Connections are all about feeling like you can relate to someone and vice versa. For graphic designers, this means you have to know your audience from not only on a demographic standpoint, but also from a psychographic one. You have to truly dig into the heart of what your audience. You have to know about their goals and aspirations. You need to know what drives them and what they care about. Also, you should know what type of design gets their attention.

After you feel like you have a clearer understanding, I would recommend you make a creative/design brief. Basically, these allow you to spell out any pertinent information that you can use as reference throughout the course of your project.

While there are many different types of briefs that ask a wide range of questions, I prefer a brief that I discovered during my class, Art in Print Communication. Not only does it focus on your audience, but it also takes little time to complete. I have included it below and hope it will help with an creative endeavors you may embark upon.

1. Why are we advertising?
2. Whom are we targeting?
3. What do they currently think?
4. What would we like them to think?
5. What is the single most persuasive idea we can convey?
6. Why should they believe it?
7. Are there any creative guidelines?

 

Get Motivated!

“The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.”
– Walt Disney

If you ever have trouble beginning a project, just remember this quote. For some reason, it actually works. If I had to guess, I think the fact that it isn’t coming from yourself helps. We all have those days when getting down to work is hard. Finding the motivation to start is usually all you need to create momentum.

Hold Off Your Judgement

“Knowledge can be a subtle curse. When we learn about the world, we also learn all the reasons why the world cannot be changed. We get used to failures and imperfections. We become numb to the possibilities of something new.”
— Jonah Lehrer from the fifth chapter of his book,
    Imagine: How Creativity Works

Sometimes, knowing more can bog you down. Don’t be afraid to try something even if it sounds crazy at first. Part of design is about temporarily holding off judgment and silencing the inner critic. If it doesn’t work out, ask yourself how you can change it or learn from your mistake and move on. Better to fail than never try the unexpected.