My motivation for taking this course stems from realizing my limited knowledge of graphic design as a discipline. While proficient in software and adept at borrowing ideas online, I need to gain an understanding of its history and societal impact. Feeling intellectually stagnant recently, I seek to rekindle my passion for Design (with a capital D) and broaden my perspective. My modest aim is to gain insights that will inform my professional decisions, and my ego will love to impress colleagues with obscure design history during meetings.

Having begun reading "American Mutt Barks in the Yard" by David Barringer, I'm struck by his relatable narrative, particularly regarding the challenges faced by product designers navigating corporate structures. His insights resonate deeply, prompting reflection on the struggle to maintain individuality amid institutional pressures.

Early in my career, I felt that my role as a product designer was uniquely bad compared to “Real Designers.”  I was the only designer who had to move through a haze of bureaucracy, be glued to pattern libraries, and listen as engineers changed designs based on technical limitations.   

As Barringer echoed, my experience as a designer is not unique; rather, it is a widely shared experience by “Real Designers.”  

Two lines stood out to me:

“We all inhibit characters depending on where we find  - the office, the mall, the shower, the courtroom - and obey, to greater and lesser extents, the social and cultural conventions inherent to these places. (Page 25)

“At meetings, you will hear words flying out of your mouth like magician’s doves, and you will vaguely recall that, once upon a time, you thought for yourself.”  (Page 27)

The writer’s sentiment shared in these sentences is something that I recently struggled with.  How to form and share an opinion that isn’t insurance or propaganda of stakeholders?  On the surface, this may seem like an easy practice, but for me, forming and sharing an opinion is a muscle that must be exercised because it’s incredibly easy to lose yourself in the structure designed in corporate America.