<![CDATA[Dr Lewis Pearson - Design Blog]]>

I have always had an interest in how designers think. Good designers want to solve problems, that much is obvious. They see a problem and they think to themselves; 'Hey! I don't know how to solve you yet, but I WILL solve you!' The interesting question is; how do designers tackle this task of solving problems?

Good designers recognise that they don't know everything about the problem. There are many aspects to the problem that they are unaware of, including how to solve it. So, they study the problem closely from all angles in an effort to gain a solid idea of exactly what's going on. But how do they know what knowledge they are missing? What information do they need? How do they know what they do not yet know?

The answer is quite simple, good designers are ignorance experts. They are excellent at spotting the gaps in their knowledge and they know exactly what they need to do to fill those gaps. Once all the gaps are filled, they know what needs to be done to resolve the problem. It's just like putting the final puzzle piece into place.

Good designers are also highly skilled at communicating their proposed solution to others. They can produce artefacts that are capable of informing others of their purpose without a single word ever being spoken. Well designed solutions require no instructions and certainly no training, anyone can pick them up for the first time and immediately put them to use to solve a problem.

I mentioned earlier how designers are typically experts at spotting the gaps in their knowledge, this is generally true... but it doesn't hurt to remind them of what they might be missing. After I graduated in 2011, I began a research project investigating ways to improve the designer's ability to gather information about a problem. I've explored methods of prompting designers using visual stimuli to ensure that they fill all the possible gaps in their knowledge. In short, I want every designer to be an ignorance expert.

In 2012, I spotted the Oculus Kickstarter and my interest in Virtual Reality was immediately ignited. I saw massive potential to explore the immersive nature of this alternative reality and how it could be used to improve the way designers solve problems. My headset arrived in July 2014 and I have been hooked ever since. I've primarily been exploring methods for communicating information in virtual spaces and exploring the potential for virtual storytelling as a medium.

In my next post I'll explain in more detail what I've been up to in the virtual world. I'll discus how welcoming the VR community is, how I've been able to build VR experiences with no programming experience, how I managed to achieve 'Best in Show' with my stand at the JanusVR Virtual Expo, and the general response that I've been receiving to my little VR experiments. All accompanied by more silly little doodles.
Thanks for reading, Lewis_P

ps. This is my first ever 'blog' post, so go easy on me... I realise it's not really like a conventional blog. I enjoy trying to explain concepts that interest me, plus I like doing silly drawings. So today I decided to combine the two. Let me know what you think by leaving a comment below :)