Design and Designing

     I was happy --while reading this section-- to find that there was a heavy emphasis on thinking. Both how we store information and how we retrieve it with stimuli are very important no matter the field, but it seems design has a special application of the extensive and complicated storage systems in our brain. We carry a tremendous volume of information in our heads, but it is useless without the ability to retrieve specific information that relates to the task at hand. So it seems that part of being a designer,  and understanding design is helping ourselves make our retrieval system more efficient in the way that we work through design processes as individuals and groups. One method the selected reading notes is through the tools of software we have available to search and retrieve specific information for the purpose of acting as stimuli to connect and reinforce our own knowledge, experience, and emotion while pursuing a design task. Of course this is far from the full package and that is why different mantras for the design process are so dutifully followed today. Within those there are many consistent tactics. Individual mind mapping, brainstorming, group brain storming and ideation, collage and mood boards, mass sketching, and many other tools help the designer to first and foremost understand what they know/feel about a subject by connecting the dots of their mental storage, as well as creating a more focused or simplified realm of material, mood, intent within which, meaningful work is more feasible.