Researching The Design Squiggle.

The design Squiggle was something that was recommended for me to research into by another student on the course. My last project a dabbled in line drawing faces so she mentioned this might be a fun bit of research for me.

‘The Squiggle originated as a simple illustration of the design process. The journey of researching, uncovering insights, generating creative concepts, iteration of prototypes and eventually concluding in one single designed solution. It is intended to convey the feeling of the journey. Beginning on the left with mess and uncertainty and ending on the right in a single point of focus: the design’.

The Story of the Squiggle.

‘In the early-nighties, a decade of grunge, raves and hip-hop, I was working as an illustrator and designer for Xerox Europarc in Cambridge, UK. A European outpost of the famous Palo Alto R&D Lab, PARC. Where it was explained to me their process of designing innovative technology solutions. Things like the Personal Computer, the GUI, Interpress, The Laser Printer, etc. Their process began with an abstract notion, through research moved to a concept and then finally ended with the design. So as I pursued my own career in design, I began to write proposals and pitch the process of design using the terms: Abstract, Research, Concepts and then Design. However, back then clients were only interested in the last bit: the design. Having no interest in any prior steps to the process. For them, as it was for many, design was the simple act of making ordinary things pretty.

The Squiggle came to life at the beginning of the next decade when I had the opportunity to design some complex desktop software. And the need to convince the client of the value of the process of design, in less than thirty seconds. (Their limit not mine) So I created the sketch. Picking one from a handful I’d made using a Wacom tablet, I labelled it, and used it to compel the client to allow us to proceed methodically in designing their software’.

Works Cited “About.” The Squiggle, 14 Nov. 2023, thedesignsquiggle.com/about.