Design is an exploration of new territory
Design is a lot like maneuvering an automobile on a super highway by observing only the rearview mirror and the painted lines trailing behind the car. From these observations I can see where I’ve been and from this I might infer whether or not I’m headed in the general direction of the road ahead.
Design is also like traveling on foot in a thick fog while following the indication of a hand-held GPS. You trust your GPS to aim you in the planned direction even though you can’t see very far ahead.
In his youth, Abraham Lincoln once navigated a barge down the Mississippi River, and from this experience he realized that, although the river took him where he wanted to go, he never knew from moment to moment what he might find around the next bend. The river changes from day to day, and even the word of other river men would be of little use as the water rose and fell, and sandbars and dead trees shifted. Instead of maps and hearsay, Lincoln felt his way along – working downriver ‘from point to point’ – planning his course in detail only as far as he could see and fathom in the moment.
Design is like this, too. You may strongly suspect that you’re traveling to New Orleans, but you don’t know exactly how you will get there, how long it will take, or what it will be like upon arrival. You only know that, with perseverance and care, you’ll arrive eventually.
Although a lot may seem familiar and you may have even passed this way before – yet nonetheless design is always the exploration of new territory.
Ken Ramsley
