Many of us came to design through how we see. We noticed things — a candy wrapper, subway tiles, traffic patterns — and couldn’t look away until we understood why and how, first steps onto the diving board of creating things ourselves.
But professional design work doesn’t always demand that we notice omnivorously. Noticing is often boxed in by a brief or a process step. What we notice outside of that stays there, if it stays at all.
I’ve spent my career helping global product teams design for Japan, while teetering on an insider/outsider edge, a useful place from which to help others make sense of the unfamiliar and sometimes uncomfortable.
In this talk I’ll share how I try to keep noticing: living with my own biases and assumptions, embracing rabbit holes, resisting quick or clean answers, and finding joy in looking closely with others.
