Response to "The Journal of Design Strategies"

The reading assigned for this week written by Elliot Felix explores the flaws in the process of design. I find it quite interesting in how he fragments this process. In the initial focus of the problem a "design gap" arises which essentially is a result of the lack of communication between the client and designers. Felix has generalized this process yet at the same time uses simple examples based on architecture, technology etc. that further explain his point to the reader. He goes on further to state that a design strategy may be implemented to "close the gap". I find it interesting in how he identifies each stakeholder involved in this process and explains their personalities in order to come to a solution. Such as - he states that the design strategist is "empathic, self-aware, curious, inquisitive with a high tolerance for ambiguity". By identifying the traits of this person, he makes it easy to understand how to work with each person and bridge the gap. He further goes on to provide a potential solution to the whole issue by stating that the whole design process needs to involve defining problems as opposed to solely being a mechanism to solve problems. I think Felix gives us a great insight to all these loopholes in the system that us as designers need to be aware of in order to avoid these same mistakes in our future design methods.