Design and Identity
I feel that answering the question of who you are as a designer, is as hard as answering the question of who you are as a person. The issue of personal identity has always been hard for an individual to define or understand, and I feel this is no different when specifically design related. Our unique backgrounds, including the way we have grown up, our cultures, religions, genders and life events, all shape the way we behave and this translates into our work. However I don’t believe we always understand these influences and the effects they have on us as ‘designers’ until later on in our lives.
I was born in the UK and feel lucky to have had the opportunity to live, work and travel overseas. I look forward to further investigating and drawing ideas from this cultural diversity I have experienced and feel that I am constantly noticing and learning more about how my background seeps into my design work. I don’t feel worried that I don’t fully understand this yet, as I am of the opinion that we have only just started our long design pathways, and as time goes and we form stronger ideas about who we are as people, our personal stories will become more and more apparent in our design ideas and work.
