Design Thinking for innovation final reflection

The Challenge:

The challenge I have currently been facing has been which graduate school and program  will be the best for me to apply to in the fall. I hold a BFA in Dramatic Arts and my  emphasis was costume design. I have designed shows professionally as an independent  artist, and have also designed and made boutique children’s clothing. I never thought of  it this way, but realize much later that I have been a practicing entrepreneur for many  years. We are coming into an age where social, lifestyle, and arts entrepreneurial  businesses are thriving and it makes me so very excited. My plan is to combine my arts  background with entrepreneurship for researching and teaching.

The Selection:

As I reflected on the lectures and design tools, the Visualization Tool from the first  module struck the right chord with me. Brooks defined the tool as one that  “makes the idea tangible and concrete, taking it beyond words along.” I know that I am a  visual learner, and I absolutely like when things are tangible, so this seemed the perfect  tool to use. My goal was to get all the thoughts, research ideas, possible minors, and  pretty much everything that inspires me down on paper and try to steer it all into a  cohesive direction.

The Application:

I began by listing my repertoire. I chose to organize my talents and attributes into three  categories: Career, Personal, and Family. Seeing it down on paper affected me  profoundly. I come from an abusive childhood (all types, unfortunately) and self-esteem  has been something I struggle with even decades later. After the repertoire, I made out  (lots!) of sticky notes with all of the things that stir me, that inspire creativity in me, and  that intrigue me about the fields of arts and business. Matching some of them up with  my repertoire brought the realization that I really did have tangible experience that I  could share, teach, and build upon. Finally, I took the “anything’s possible” outlook and  narrowed the schools down to about 8 top choices. For each, I listed as many pro’s and  con’s as I could think of, and matched up my interests with each program’s faculty  specialties and research. In the end, the University of Manchester looks like a clear winner.

The Insight:

The Design Thinking course has flexed my brain in so many ways. I am happy to look at  and approach problems in new ways. It would seem I took this course at just the right  time, for the tools feel like a cohesion that has brought my thoughts about graduate  school into focus. It also has opened up another interest for me that I would like to  pursue while in graduate school, and perhaps teach after graduate school. The  Visualization Tool felt like putting together a jigsaw puzzle that doesn’t show you a  finished picture. I didn’t know what the picture would look like, I just knew I had all

these pieces and that they fit together somehow. Visualization gave me the finished  picture.

The Approach:

I don’t think I would choose to use another tool for this particular challenge. It really felt  like the best fit for the project. If I repeated the process, I might organize it not by  school, but by academician and their respective fields, just to see the result that would  bring. In the end, however, it will come down to the fit of the faculty, the school itself,  and the location.

