Design Lessons Between the Lines: My Blog Writing Growth Notes

Learning experience

Time flies, and the second semester is about to end. This is another challenging and novel semester. The two design projects and papers in this semester have made me very fulfilled. Looking back at the blog posts I wrote this semester, I can feel that I have made some progress.

I still remember the feeling of being at a loss when writing blogs last semester. Now I can finally express my ideas more calmly. Last semester, my biggest headache was writing long articles. I always felt that I had a lot of ideas in my mind, but I just didn’t know how to organize the language. This semester, I feel that after adapting to writing, I have become much calmer and no longer afraid of difficulties.

When studying the theme of “housing alternatives” this semester, I tried to make a more detailed mind map first. Divide the content to be designed into several parts, and list several key points in each part, so that the design will not go astray. In addition, I also learned the differences between the design of Chinese and British residential areas. Such differences forced me to change my design ideas from Chinese design to British design: Britain prefers townhouses, which are low-rise houses, rather than Chinese apartment-style houses. Chinese communities are usually gated communities, which ensures the safety of the owners in the community, while British communities are open communities, with only hedges or low walls around the houses. Parking in China and the UK is also very different. Vehicles in Chinese communities are directed to underground parking lots when entering the community to ensure the safety of pedestrians on the ground, while parking lots in British communities are usually designed on the ground floor, and there may be shared gardens between parking lots.

 Growth insights

The biggest gain this semester is that I have learned to look at problems from different cultural perspectives. When designing British community projects, I always unconsciously use Chinese thinking at the beginning. Later, through reading and field visits, I gradually understood the British understanding of community space. For example, the British prefer townhouses rather than high-rise buildings. This is not a simple aesthetic difference, but they have a completely different understanding of private space and public space. The discovery of this cultural difference has broadened my design thinking a lot and given me more angles to explore when writing blogs.

Writing helps me design better

An unexpected discovery is that writing can actually help me improve my design plan. Sometimes when explaining design concepts in blogs, I will find some unclear logic. Although I write on paper or in a mind map most of the time, in order to make the design ideas clear, I have to repeatedly ponder the reasons for each design decision, and this process often finds new room for improvement. Teacher Luke’s classes gave me a lot of inspiration. He taught us to use writing to sort out design ideas. Now I have developed the habit of recording ideas while designing, which is very helpful for maintaining the consistency of the design.

Future goals

Although my progress is small and there is still a lot to improve, I will work hard. Next semester I hope to learn to express complex concepts in more concise language, add more field research content, and try different writing styles to make the article more interesting to read.