Upon reading about ethnography as a practice, its procedure, or seeming lack there of, and the work that goes into creating ethnographic understandings of a situation it really sounds like one hell of a job! To have an occupation that requires you to immerse yourself in a situation and not only observe, but also participate in the pursuit of gaining a true understanding is really getting paid to live a rewarding life. It seems to me that training to observe like an anthropologist, without the procedural boundaries, and with more personal interaction is a good way to keep creative and honest, and therefore generally in a designerly mindset.
I think this is what I really drew from the articles. More than anything, when it comes to wayfinding or any other design challenge, I need to focus more on being a present and active observer, and spend more time just "doing" with whatever material good or space I intend to modify. It is easy to listen to suggestions and explicate the immediate logistical short comings of any given situation, but good design requires reading between the lines of an object or space, its cultural connotations, its relationship to people, and its traditional aesthetics in the pursuit meaningful connection. More than anything I know now that I need to spend more time in the interacting phase of ideation, a feat difficult at this point so late in such a short project, but I suppose that is a lesson learned for future problems if nothing else.
Secondly, I need to form a habit of data collection. this is a habit/ritual/addiction/obsession of so many successful designers, and it comes down to being able to quantify trends, movements, connections and subconscious messages. This is probably my weakest point as a designer due to my dislike of organizing said data, but all that means is that it needs to become my greatest focus, and a focus that could be assisted by an ethnographic mindset. To stay in an observational mindset, and to record observations in a truthful, consistent, and detailed manner is to gain creative insight, which is the greatest tool of a designer.
