Diversity and Design: how can we use our learnings to be better designers
We all have histories and backgrounds, so how can we use that to get better in building products
Building diverse teams is currently a topic with high priority for any company, and the power of connecting people with different backgrounds is a proven advantage. In Design, it isn’t different, and I would dare to say, it can be a unique advantage. It connects different problem-solving mindsets through the experience of diverse cultures. In this article, I will tell about my point of view on the impact diversity has on the teams I worked with and how it supports my growth as a Product Designer.
As a Brazilian I lost count of the times I heard people telling me about how impressed they are with the way Brazilians face adversity. We have even a word for that: “jeitinho brasileiro” (in English: the Brazilian way), so before we start, let’s look especially into the meaning behind it. According to an article published by the Berkeley Center, it is described as the core of the Brazilian soul as the mentality of “finding creative or kind solutions to solve everyday problems that arise.”
I guess the relation it has with product and design is quite clear, right? But, how did that help me grow in my career?
Let’s be clear, it is not a training that you can do for some time, it is conditioned from cooping with ambiguities and uncertainty. It doesn’t matter in which situation, you are always ready to fail, and by doing that you build a couple of variables that empower you to react faster and improvise. It is like how the Spiderman is perceived in the Marvel universe: it doesn’t matter how hard you hit him, he will always stand up again and fight.
But the main driver of creativity here is to have a clear goal. If you know it, there will always be a solution and it is just a matter of opening your mind to try out different things. I promise you will get somewhere.
It all sounds exciting but at the same time very abstract. Over the years I did manage to come up with strategies to bring this mindset subliminally to the teams I worked with — and I bet if you worked with me and are reading this article, it will ring some bells.
First, never cease on one solution. I’m sure you’ve heard it a lot if you visited a design school, and I can not express enough the importance of doing it. Aim to have at least 3 presentable ideas or approaches to solve the problem, and all the discussions will flow much smoother because your brain will have enough ammunition to improvise and reshuffle ideas.
Second, always analyze the risks of your solution, understand its strengths and flaws so you own and control any discussion. Understanding the weaknesses of concepts will empower you and when you identify risks first you can better react to them or to any input during discussions. The book “Articulating Design Decisions” from Tom Greever talks a lot about it, and I can only recommend if you want to dive deeper into the topic.
Don’t get me wrong, when I talk about different backgrounds, I don’t mean the country or region a person comes from, by really personal experiences. It is not like absolutely all Brazilians will have this in them. In my case, it was forged home, with my father being an entrepreneur and improvising solutions for the craziest challenges he lived. The combination of pragmatism and creative is the core of some of the best teams I had the pleasure to be part of.
As a conclusion, I would have an ask to you, the reader that bared with me until now. How was your experience with diversity? And especially how was your personal experience being from a different culture?
I would love to hear some answers and feel free to drop me a line in the comments below, or on LinkedIn / Twitter.
