This past summer I was lucky to take a class on human-centered design in the College of Human Ecology at Cornell University. It made me look at design and its process in a way that I had never seen it before. What I quickly learned was that design is not only used to create aesthetically pleasing graphics and objects, but it is what is used to make every man-made object we see in our everyday lives. I realized that we do not design for art galleries: We design for people. Humans influence how objects are made to function, and what they are used for. Additionally, the reason we continue to design is so that we can continue to improve the lives of humans. As my professor always stated: “Why would we stop designing when we can always make things better?” Through this realization I began my transition from viewing design as a form of art to seeing it as a science. It is not an art as much as it is one of the most essential components in the creation of buildings, furniture, tools, machines, etc.

I would like to take away what I learned from that class and do my very best to design something that would benefit the people in my community. My purpose is to “design and create something for a group of people so that their lives are improved, even if by a small amount.” Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has become especially important that we as a community help each other out through these difficult times (from a distance, of course). I am not quite sure yet what group of people I would be helping–would it be my school community? My neighborhood? My city? Perhaps even my country, or the world? However, figuring out who I am helping should be the easiest part. The larger question I have is: What will I make, or at the very least, prototype? A new workspace in my school? A small play-area in my local park? Perhaps even something as simple as a more functional COVID key? I’m not quite sure yet. When the time arrives to begin my project, I plan to do lots of research before I begin designing. I want to know exactly what issues people both online and in my community have with the design of objects they witness and use in their everyday lives. What is most important to me is that I make a difference with my design. The worst outcome of this project would not be that my final result looks particularly unattractive, but that its functionality does not help a single person.