9 reasons why designers ought to take up a good dose of design challenges

Originally posted in Medium

It was late July 2020 as I looked at the OpenIDEO email, calling for entries to the new design challenge to redesign the single-use plastic bags experience in supermarkets. Instantly, it brought me flashbacks to 2017 when I achieved a winning entry for another OpenIDEO topic. The question posed: should I do it again?

5 months later, I have completed the final round of design submissions, which can be viewed here. While waiting for the results in January 2021, I felt the compelling urge to document and share my thoughts. What made me take the plunge? Why did I take up a design competition that had a high risk of getting no payout or tangible rewards?

Here are my 9 reasons why any designer ought to embark on personal design challenges. Towards the end, I’ll share 3 pointers on how you can start on one.

1. To hone my design skills and to prove myself: Paradoxically, the higher you go as a designer, the lesser of a designer you become. This is true especially in an organisation that doesn’t have Design as its core business, but I dare say it may also apply to other design-centric companies. A telltale sign would be the time spent in boardroom meetings or budget exercises that replaces the iterative design processes or thorough user research. As a design lead, this feeling is too familiar as I spend more time not being a designer at the workplace. By looking back at how I began as a designer, I’ve come to realise that the inner designer in me want to craft and make things. The habit of taking up material and shaping it into a usable product is what makes us designers. Thus, the need for me to practise and apply my hard skills of design, so as to maintain my inner traits of a designer. For this reason, I went about relearning how to use Adobe XD until I could accept that I can create decent wireframes for end-users. I applied the user research interviewing techniques by speaking to end-users and cashiers. I created digital usability tests so as to validate the designs of my flows. A designer, albeit their seniority, should not be too far from their craft and skills lest they choose to move on from being a designer.
2. Trying something new: This was a perfect excuse to play with new toys and have my own little sandbox. The joy of learning something new is like a new hack to make life simpler. A good tool makes learning easier. So I’ve capitalised on working with mmhmm, which is a video conference tool that helped captured and mask my face whilst I was able to conduct a walkthrough of my prototype. Capcut is a top-notch post-editing tool that could completely be done on a mobile device. But beyond the tools, it was also the opportunity to work on a new medium (plastic bags), a new industry (grocery), and speak to really cool people, such as an IDEO technologist and a Walmart business lead. By trying a new thing, it opens up to new possibilities of how to treat any future work or problems differently.
3. It’s truly yours: Back to the design lead situation, another paradox on leading designers is by not leading with your design, but theirs. A design shines when there isn’t a clash of personal egos emerging from a lead’s creation. Rather, giving clear ownership to fellow designers brings out the best in their work. As such, I have given up my ability to create, and have replaced it with coaching and collaboration. The yearning to produce original work is what led me to design competitions, where I can freely create whatever I desire for the outcome to be. Design competitions, in this case, can be very personal and liberating. As mini solo projects, I am able to establish my own way of working and style. And I can truly be proud that the final work is 100% defined by me.
4. Passion gives you the extra push: Choosing the right topic to design is equally crucial. My head turns whenever there are keywords like sustainability and circular economy. Increasingly, the world looks to designers to imagine a better, more sustainable future. Part of the reason is due to a growing generation of humanity centered designers. The topic has been dear to my heart, having worked on various briefs for the past 12 years of design. When something is aligned to your interest, passion and ultimately your belief system, the outcomes tend to be taken to the next level due to a continual dedication to the topic. Your meaning produces that little bit more energy. The reverse is true as well. During my early days as a designer, I was faced with a tough decision to design the user experience of casino slots. I ended up having to do it as it was part of the job but hated every moment. Picking the right design topic will pull you through the toughest times, but the wrong topic will create strong inertia that will leave you in agony.
5. Experimenting an alternate future: Is your life completely planned ahead of you? Only God will know the answer, but it will be the biggest mistake to assume that you know all of life’s answers. How would you know which path is right for you? Design competitions are a window into many possible futures. It sets you in a different paradigm, and for a period of time, you are fully immersed in one reality. The closest association to such an experience is experimentation, where the experimenter recreates the setting and conditions to run the hypothesis for a period of time. If proven successful, it becomes a new theory. Incidentally, one of my earlier design competition on airline waste led me to my current job as the challenge demanded me to speak and understand how the airlines work better. How then could you see design competitions as new beginnings to what is next at the crossroad of work and life?
6. Rekindle the relationships (and expertise) that matter: No man is an island, especially designers working on complex design outcomes. Not only was my design solution in a particular niche area of grocery operations, but it was also a tech-driven solution consisting of hardware, network and native app solution. Being resourceful led me to reconnect with people, to tap into their expert insights. Rely on your primary circle of personal connections, and extend it outside. As the challenge unfolded, I do happen to know a grocery cashier and she was very helpful in explaining the operational setup and cost to plastic bags. I knew 2 techies, one was my brother who is a game engine programmer. The other was an ex-colleague, who was an expert in chatbots and POCs. By being open to their feedback, I was able to tap into their deep domain knowledge and even their initial opinions about the solution (programmers tend to very direct and are able to surface out flaws in ideas). As I share with more connections, not only new ideas emerge, resources became available. Suddenly, I have a contact for a technology supplier. I got reconnected with a friend in London via Facebook who came across a sustainability idea and shared it with me. Somehow, help will be there when you need it.
7. The rich heritage of design competitions: Designers are never too far away from a call for a proposal or to participate in a design competition. Famous designers, like Charles and Ray Eames, architects like Bjanke Ingels and Thomas Heatherwick and design firms, like IDEO and frog design, all partake in some form of design submission. It is an upbringing in design education, but also a mix of client demand and the desire to inspire new thinking with design. I recall as a design intern in a boutique architecture studio, we created mocks and renders in an attempt to secure the mega-million dollar projects and fight off the competition. Similarly, the OpenIDEO design challenges attempt to recreate that same spirit with an open community. Just like a competitive sports game, where each athlete aims to excel in their skills to get the coveted prize, such is the nature of the design competition, giving the sense of thrill, sportsmanship and history among designers. Personally, OpenIDEO has been my go-to for design challenges, almost like a tradition; an invitation too irresistible to ignore. What might be your equivalent, such that you see this as a ritual to take part in?
8. Commitment beget grit: Unlike assignments or “business-as-usual” (BAU), a design challenge to me tends to sit outside of the daily routine. It is the ad-hoc sideline that requires time, effort and resources to accomplish the task. However, as I take part in various design competitions, there is a possibility to plan to save time and effort. Another reason why I gravitate towards OpenIDEO design challenges is the clear structuring of the competition based on the different levels of commitment, and how the idea submitter is fully aware at the start of the challenge. But where the rubber meets the road is during setbacks or unforeseen circumstances. It could be the feedback given by end-users, a failed prototype, or a more important task that comes from BAU. How you then overcome the setback and bounce back is when grit is applied. Grit, the courage and resolve; strength of character, is a powerful tool that can stretch the potential of any individual. Yet, every tool needs sharpening, so design competitions become the intrinsic motivator behind sharpening the grit tool. And the nice thing about grit is that the tool is multifunctional back at the workplace.
9. Applying multifaceted design: Digital design (UX/UI), which has been my day job, is just one domain of design. Having been trained as an industrial designer, I’ve come to be aware of the various disciplines and taking part in design competitions allow me to practice the different forms. In the recent OpenIDEOchallenge, I got close to product design (making of Bluetooth straps and quick mockups), service design (understanding the workflow of supermarket staff and customers), graphic design (brand, logo, visuals) and digital design (flows, wireframing, visual design of components and assets). Professor Martin best shows this with his multi-level service design or a system of systems thinking (illustration below). Exercising the design muscle enables the considerations of how design can be applied in different dimensions.

So far I’ve shared my thoughts on why you should take up a design challenge. Perhaps you like to start, but are not sure how to begin. These are 3 quick tips:

1. Why are you doing this? Spend time to discover what is leading you to take part in the competition. Perhaps it’s a passion topic, or in my case, it was a mixture of practice, originality, habits and the extrinsic rewards.
2. Choose a good design challenge. Besides OpenIDEO, there are many other platforms out there offering good design briefs. You will need to gauge a competition based on the time and effort commitment, the scope of the work. Do take time to read the terms and conditions and be aware of what you are getting yourself into.
3. Stick to it and don’t drop out. As much as it is tempting to sit on the fence, or to give up, I would recommend to stretch yourself and aim for an ambitious yet achievable target. Gather your family and friends and get them to act as your accountability partners because they will keep you in check. And even if it didn’t work out, and there are no tangible returns, there can be personal learnings and alternate futures that are in the works.

What’s your take?