Assignment | Planting the seed of your CRC Renewal Project: Your Design Team |Reflective Questions
September 4, 2026 10:02 AM
In 200-300 words, respond in the forum to the following questions:
1. What, in essence, are we doing when we design?
2. Can I be a "designer"? Am I a designer?
Discussion (15)
When we are designing something we are trying to create something to help community and humanity as a whole. First we see the problem then we brainstorm with parties who are effected by the problem plus bring in people familiar with the issue. After gathering data around then issue we start trying different models. Trial and error learning from each failure which gets us
closer to a design that will work. So yes i feel i can be a designer by thinking outside the box being creative and spiritually inspired never giving up to set backs learning that failure not a option. Again by bringing the community and experts together brainstorming we will find a design. Being open minded objective to all parties input then putting them together to approach then issue at hand. Keeping in mind that failures create progress.By remembering to practice spiritual and creative ways will help me open my mind to new ways to Knowing that my mindset is a important part of my progressing design projects.Remembering i must intend form and align to succeed on any design i am trying to do.By joining this class by design i am setting myself for success hopefully. Hopefully by having a design vision looking at things for what they are i may be able to inspire others to help humanity we are all in this together because this our earth and we need to save it together.
To: Timothy Harrison
Timothy, I appreciated your examples of everyday routines. They helped me recognize how much designing we already do in our daily lives. We make decisions about our time, arrange things so they work better for us, and develop ways to care for ourselves. We may not think of those choices as design. Professor Goldberg’s lectures helped me expand my understanding to include services and experiences as well.1
Your emphasis on bringing community members together with people who have relevant experience also stood out to me. Each person may notice something someone else has missed. The Field Guide’s discussion of learning from failure reminds me that an attempt can teach us something even when it does not work as we hoped.2 We may need to change the idea, or we may discover that we have been asking the wrong question. I appreciate the room you are making for people to contribute and help shape what happens next.
References
1. Goldberg, Neil. Design Thinking for Social Change. Online lectures, “Design Lens” and “Design as a Verb.”
2. IDEO.org. (2015). The Field Guide to Human-Centered Design. “Learn from Failure” and “Iterate,” Mindsets section.
I do think I'm a designer. I am an optimistic person by nature, I like creating things - whether it be craft objects, small group studies, or programming for children, families or older adults at my church. And I'm a problem solver. I am also empathetic and it's important to me to create something (an event, a program, a training, a summer camp for children, or, more recently for older adults) that serves the community in a positive way and meets an expressed need. I listen to people and use their ideas and dreams in my planning.
Since everything that is a product of our imagination is an object of design, then I too am a designer. Through out the lessons presented in this course I kept reflecting back on my job as a recipe tester for the mail order/retail store Williams Sonoma. Rather than hire professionals, Mr Williams chose me, the inexperienced, new employee to test the recipes that he planned to put with every product sold. His concern was that without insight from a novice, not all of his audience would be served. He was engaging in Human Centered Design and brought me along with him. Together we went through the three main phases of inspiration, ideation and implementation. We embraced the seven mindsets of empathy, optimism, iteration, creative confidence, making, embracing ambiguity and learning from failure!
While I am proud of the work that I did at Williams Sonoma, I look forward to using the principles of Human Centered Design in my church community. I am excited to share this knowledge with my fellow parishioners.
To: Elizabeth Mores
Elizabeth, your recipe-testing example stayed with me because it showed how easily experience can cause us to overlook something. An experienced cook may read a direction and know exactly what to do. Someone making the dish for the first time may need an explanation that the cook never thought to include. Mr. Williams recognized that you could help him see those gaps.
That connects with Professor Goldberg’s invitation to look at familiar experiences through a beginner’s eyes.1 It also reminded me of the Design Justice chapter “Nothing About Us Without Us” and the importance of learning from the people who will actually use what we create.2 What you did not know became useful information for improving the recipe.
I am carrying that lesson into our church listening project. Those of us who have been part of the church for years may assume certain things are clear or comfortable because they are familiar to us. Someone whose perspective we have not heard may help us understand where that is not the case. Your example reminded me to make room for that person’s experience.
References
1. Goldberg, Neil. Design Thinking for Social Change. Online lecture, “Forming Your Design Lens.”
2. Costanza-Chock, Sasha. (2020). Design Justice: Community-Led Practices to Build the Worlds We Need. Chapter 2, “Nothing About Us Without Us.”
What in essence are we doing when we design?
It seems to me that we’re trying to problem-solve. There is a bona fide need to correct something to make life on this planet less difficult, less stressful, less harmful, less violent, less problematic for human beings, and the rest of the planet. I think we are trying to problem-solve now and into the future to make life on this planet more satisfying, more joyful, barrier-free, conjuring new worlds, and imagining a love of life.
Can I be a designer?
Yes, I can be a designer if I feel like a creative person who can make, remake, and reshape the design experience I’m creating until it finally serves its purpose for the audience. I can also be a designer as long as I stay hopeful that I will reach the end goal of creating a better society for everyone included in the audience. No one should be left behind.
Am I a designer?
Yes, I think so. I’m a Dance Educator, and I have designed curriculum/experiences in K-12 public/private schools. Currently, at the University of San Francisco (USF), I’m the Community Engagement Artist in a Faith-to-Faith Fellowship between St. Ignatius Church and Downs Memorial United Methodist Church (UMC). We are working to start a Performing Arts and Social Justice program at Downs UMC, where I’m a member.
When we design, we need to consider people's needs, identify challenges, and work together to create a meaningful solution. Before these readings, I thought of design as something only professionals would do – designing homes, redecorating homes, artist, creating a product of some sort. However, Sasha Costanza-Chock’s Design Justice helped me to understand that design involves power, inclusion, and whose voices are heard. Costanza-Chock shared the importance of involving the communities most affected by design decisions. Rather than assuming, we should listen to their experiences and recognize the knowledge they bring. Design should be done with people, not for them.
IDEO.org’s The Field Guide to Human-Centered Design challenged me to reconsider what it means to be a designer. The emphasis on empathy, collaboration, curiosity, and learning from failure reminds me that I do not need to know everything to begin. I need to be willing to listen, ask questions, experiment, and learn from others. Designing is a process of discovery rather than having all the answers from the start.
I believe I can be a designer through my experiences and involvement in my community. However, I must remain open to learning from others rather than assuming I know what is best. Being a designer is not just about what I create, but how I listen, include others, and work alongside the, to create meaningful change.
Question 1: What, in essence, are we doing when we design?
To me, designing means intentionally creating or reshaping something so it better serves people. That begins with listening to the people who will live with what we create. One person’s solution can become another person’s problem, especially when we assume we understand what people need without asking them.
I think we also have to examine the values and assumptions we bring into the process. When something does not work, we can learn from it and make adjustments. Sometimes a small, useful solution can serve a community better than something larger and more impressive. For me, that means holding firmly to our values while leaving room for the solution to change as we listen.
We also need one another. No single person sees everything, and our different experiences and ideas can fit together like Legos. The questions I keep coming back to are: What is really needed? What will actually help? What can we realistically do, and what can we sustain?
I see this reflected in The Field Guide to Human-Centered Design through its emphasis on empathy, collaboration, and learning as we try things. Design Justice asks us to look more closely at whose values shape the design, who is affected, and whether the people living with those conditions have a voice in the process.
Question 2: Can I be a designer? Am I a designer?
Yes, I think I am already a designer, even though I have not always used that word for myself. I see design in the way I plan programs, bring people together, work through communication and scheduling challenges, and make adjustments when something is not working.
Through Wisdom Productions, the theater and performance group I founded at my church, I also think about the conditions people need to share their creativity. Sometimes my role is to ask questions, listen, and make space for someone whose gifts have not yet been acknowledged.
I have to remember that my understanding is only one part of the picture. Other people bring experiences, knowledge, and gifts that I do not have. Some of those gifts are like diamonds and rubies that may remain hidden if we do not create room for people to participate. So yes, I am a designer, and part of that work is recognizing what others bring.
The creative confidence described in The Field Guide to Human-Centered Design helps me see myself this way. I also connect with the emphasis in Design Justice on the designer as a facilitator and on lived experience as expertise. I do not have to have all the answers to help create something meaningful with others.
To: Ethan Toven-Lindsey
Ethan, your point about designs that are not physical helped me think more deeply about my own project. A listening session has a design. So does the way we communicate with people or welcome someone into our community. The choices we make shape what people experience, even when there is no physical object involved.
Professor Goldberg’s lectures helped me connect our intentions with the experience that develops from them.1 In my church listening project, I may intend to create a space where people feel heard. I still need to ask whether that is what they experience. Do they feel comfortable speaking? Have they had enough time? Do they understand what will happen with what they share?
The Field Guide’s emphasis on empathy reminds me that people’s own perspectives are essential to answering those questions.2 Your post helped me see how much care needs to go into designing the experience of listening itself.
References
1. Goldberg, Neil. Design Thinking for Social Change. Online lectures, “Design Lens” and “The Design Process: Three Stages.”
2. IDEO.org. (2015). The Field Guide to Human-Centered Design. “Empathy,” Mindsets section.