Alumni Update: A New Way of Thinking

Eco-careers

01_Koehler_YearSketch2014_02

We all know the plight of the typical industrial designer: make (more) stuff; repeat. But with the nexus of vast technical abilities and support systems to deliver ideas, where does responsibility and “design sensitivity” come into play? How will we be able to design with an understanding that every design decision is connected in some way to everything else (either directly or indirectly) and will inevitably have a social and environmental impact (intended or not)? Is it even our responsibility as designers to think about the impact of our designs? Do we need to worry about what happens up or downstream of our products, or is that someone else’s job?

Where I Was

In 2009, armed with a traditional industrial design degree, I entered the workforce and immediately began to struggle with the paradox of wanting to use my newly-honed design skills yet feeling like I needed to make crap to get paid. At the time, I did not grasp my role as a young designer, but I did know that continuing to design harmful, and sometimes pointless, products was not going to fulfill me. I decided I did not want to participate in a cycle that turns everything into a consumable or everyone into a consumer.

Following my undergrad, I initially tried to get my foot in the door, only to question why I was trying to get in the door in the first place. I ended up not taking the prescribed path of working for a conventional design firm, taking on freelance projects instead, ranging from corporate product design and branding to gritty consulting for start-ups and training dogs on the side. I wondered if could I turn my (perceived) inability to get a “real job” into an opportunity to engage in a career path that makes me happy? Luckily, I found that the answer was “yes,” and that sustainability-focused design has filled this void for me, both personally and professionally.

Where I Went

As one of the first graduates of the fully online Master of Arts in Sustainable Design (MASD) from Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD), I learned that it is not always easy to understand the impact of frontend product design choices until confronted with the backend of a product’s life.

In and after leaving the MA program, I experienced growth personally and professionally once I started actively incorporating sustainability into my work, growth that was catalyzed by the knowledge, skills, and understanding of how to use design to address the needs around us. Now I feel relentlessly optimistic about a designer’s ability to solve humanity’s most pressing global challenges. Although I knew I wanted to rethink the way I made things, the amount of high-quality, freely available information is impressive but overwhelming. With access to thousands of online resources for this quickly emerging field, how could I be confident that this information is what a designer really needed?

During my two years in the MASD program, I had carefully curated experiences that helped me to discover a new way of thinking and designing—from essential frameworks in systems thinking and impact measurement to adaptive leadership (core courses)—while providing opportunities to dive deeply into specific areas of interest (electives, field practicum, thesis research). The 100% online platform enabled me to pursue a credible degree while moving around North America (from Michigan to Nebraska to Minnesota to Canada to Oregon), as I worked on projects that have proven useful in landing new clients and educating others.

Increasing awareness, learning to practice new ways of thinking, and embedding these into my daily habits has enabled me to bring a sustainability-focus into my design solutions.

How my thinking evolved

My thinking has radically changed now that I have integrated a sustainability-focus into my work and life. I’ve gone from…

  • Linear to circular and whole-systems thinking
  • Burden to a tool for innovation
  • Efficiency to effectiveness
  • Changing materials to changing all aspects of the business
  • Consuming less to consuming wisely
  • Confused to equipped in identifying needs
  • Incremental to radical change
  • Hopelessness to pragmatic and relentless optimism
  • Clever design to smart design
  • An eco-groovy trend to a life-enriching career direction

I went on to use design competitions to continue to evolve my thinking and to put sustainability theories into practice. More about this is my next article. Stay tuned!

This article is part of a mini-series about a young industrial designer’s experiences bringing a sustainability-focus to her work entitled “Aspiring to Improve the World by Crafting a Career in Sustainable Design.” Article originally published on Core77 on March 3, 2014.

Image courtesy of Stefanie Koehler

Stefanie Koehler

Stefanie Koehler is a designer of things and non-things. As a sustainability-focused human, she aims to create solutions that work to regenerate our environmental, cultural, and creative global and local economies. Trained as a product designer, she also likes to play with the art of not making things, or rather doing smart (not clever) design. Stefanie practices designing with extreme user empathy and leveraging whole systems and service design to realign innovation, business, and natural cycles. Stefanie has a traditional industrial design background (BS in Industrial Design; Western Michigan University (2009)) but has an inherent desire ‘do more good’ rather than just ‘doing less bad’. Struck by how little she knew about materials and product life cycles, she pursued a degree focused on sustainability; she graduated from MCAD with a MA in Sustainable Design in 2013. Stefanie is based in Oregon.