How to see: mindset & design thinking
George Nelson (1908–1986) was an American industrial designer and one of the founders of American Modernism. I look at the way George Nelson designed the ball clock, asterisk clock and starburst clock, and I see a designer who pioneered many things in architecture & design. To give a particular example, he gave me new ways to see clocks, differently and more joyfully.
In his book How to See: Visual Adventures in a World God Never Made, George Nelson discusses visual literacy and seeing as a discipline. He challenges designers to reexamine the ways we see. Creative Review provides a succinct review of the new reissued edition for a designer’s perspective.
(The original 1977 cover makes me smile.) Here, I take Nelson’s lens, and move it over from a design discipline to a heart discipline. I pulled out some quotes and thematic pages filled with George Nelson’s photography that struck me as applicable themes to consider therapeutically and psychotherapeutically. Let’s look imaginatively with eyes of healers. What if we saw with new eyes and use design thinking to help us reframe our mindsets by looking through the lens of our hearts? What are the questions we can ask on behalf of our clients and patients?
“We all tend to see in terms of what we know, or believe…Seeing then, is also dependent on the value system of the observer.”
FOCUS: If we see what we are looking for, we are only looking at part of the picture. In therapy, there is space to look, look and look again at the things in our lives that we see but don’t actually focus on and pay attention to.
ARROWS: What are the arrows guiding us in our lives? Can we identify the arrows that are operating in our lives? Do we have power over these “arrows” that exist in our midst or do they end up controlling us?
NO-NO: These are the ways we alert others to “keep out.” What are the boundaries we place around ourselves to protect us from unsafe, toxic people and situations? What do our boundaries look like? How have we shut out or hurt loved ones?
TRANSFORMATIONS: The crushed aluminum can, the damaged relic, the junk we’ve thrown away. The message here is that “the essence of a beautiful thing can survive a surprising amount of damage.” Artists have been fascinated by junk and their unending possibilities to become new forms. Archaeologists dig up old junk to gain insight on the nature of a society. What are the parts of yourself that you’ve discarded, that deserve another look, a chance to be loved? What are parts of yourself that you’ve thrown into a black box, that needs to be dug up and studied?
“So we come, as always to the question of Truth. What is it?…How do you measure it? Who is the final arbiter? All such questions have been asked over and over again for a very long time, and it seems unlikely that the situation is going to change in the near future. What we are left with is the reality of our varying ability to use our eyes. What this takes us to is not any particular brand of truth, but rather the possibility of uncovering many levels of meaning.”
GOING PLACES: Have you ever had that feeling of returning home from your travels with a sense of change, a familiar place to be re-familiarized with fresh eyes? There is something about movement that is essential to the human spirit. When we are depressed, we just can’t summon the energy or willpower to move. There is power in our bodies moving — it can affect our mental space. Looking from another angle, think of how we traverse books and road maps. Books are for the most part linear experiences. Road maps differ from books in that they are networks; if you get lost, you can reroute and find a new path to your destination.
NOBLE BEASTS: Its universal to use animals as symbols of qualities such as strength and courage. If you were to design a coin to represent you, what animal and/or plant would be on it? What stance would it have, and how would it appear? What does your choice say about you? I envision this identity exercise for 2nd & 3rd graders.
PUBLIC PEOPLE & NONPEOPLE: Public sculpture is a kind of outdoor mirror for society to see itself. What sculptures in the world would you place to mark significant events in your personal timeline? What altar of remembrance would you design for a personally significant moment to remind you where you have come from and where you are going?
PATTERN: “Patterns are one of our best sources of information about the world.” What are the patterns that you notice in your life? What throws off the patterns that you’ve established? What patterns have been throwing you off-center? Are certain patterns becoming warning signs screaming for your attention?
“Seeing, which cannot be disconnected except in the most mechanical sense from the overall workings of the brain, relates to the traditions in which we have been raised — ideas embedded in childhood, the millions of bits of random information stored in our private memory banks, either conscious or subconscious — to the rigidity or flexibility with which we respond to the unfamiliar or, better still, to the familiar suddenly seen with fresh eyes. The seeing is always conditioned, but at the same time it is uniquely personal and private.”
TRACES & TRACKS: We are bodies that have traces and tracks of those who have affected us and left their marks. What are the shapes of the marks? How deep? Where does healing need to happen?
SKYLINES: What if we looked out ourselves like city skylines? City skylines are dynamic, and their profiles can change over time. Buildings are demolished and new architectural designs are erected. What are those “buildings” that define our identities? Those structures within us that we are in the process of knocking down or drawing blueprints for and building brick by brick?
SURVIVAL DESIGN: Our society needs survival gear for various situations. Firefighters wear protective suits and helmets to protect themselves from fire. Space and deep-see equipment are also survival designs. What survival strategies will help us to navigate toxic or unsafe people and situations? What protective measures can we prepare ourselves with when we expect to be triggered?
