Hello!
I’ve been told I say ‘hello’ exactly the same way every time. I’ve always been bad with intros. I’d rather just get into the meat of it.
I’m Jordan Gulbronson, a Digital Product Designer who cares deeply about the work I do without trying to let it define me. So let me define it for myself…
My definition of design
To design is to be intentional. So I believe that studying design history shows what was important at that time, discussing design today is a way of describing what matters right now, and designing for the future is the best way to define what should be important. To think about what potential existed and what potential can be created.
Design is political
To design is to be intentional, but intention alone isn’t design. Design is the act of bringing that intention to the world. You have to decide what is important, believe it’s important for people other than yourself, and then determine how you want to bring it into the world. Because of this, design is inherently tied to making decisions for and with others, impacting the public.
Design is political and my posts will engage with politics as a central way to understand design decisions.
What we choose to design and more importantly, what we choose not to design and, even more importantly, who we exclude from the design process—these are all political acts.
Design is for the future
I grew up in Virginia and was obsessed with the history of the area. I felt so fortunate to visit the towns I was reading about in history class. I loved that I could stand in a place and imagine how different it once was. Considering a different world to the one we live in felt freeing. There were countless constantly changing decisions, ideas, and actions that resulted in where we are today.
In college, I became interested in technology primarily because it’s a way to make a lot of change in a little amount of time. Digital Product Design was a way for me to make decisions and see the their impact fairly quickly. I was participating in what would become a small part of someone’s history and no history is too small to be meaningful.
But history doesn’t stop, it keeps being created after the initial impact of a design. Intended and unintended consequences arise. That has led me (and many designers) to think more and more about the future after the initial impact. If I can make any impact on any person or thing with a design then I have to consider that impact, to be intentional about that future. And this blog will consider those design futures from time to time.
So what’s next?
I’m going to try to post once a month, but I’m not keeping myself to a tight schedule. This blog is ultimately for me to think through ideas and try new things (and secretly to reduce the number of long slack messages to my coworkers). But if history isn’t recorded; it’s typically forgotten and it can’t be communicated with or built upon. I hope you stick around and if you’re interested in communicating with anything you read, please reach out