Third Innings

I still remember that day vividly!

I got out of the plane, cleared immigration, took a taxi and was figuring out the address.

The driver said, "don't worry, la. I take you there".

Little uncomfortable but I have to trust him. New life begins in Singapore. new language(singlish). new environment. new culture. new everything.

I asked myself. Can i shed the old me here in this airport and start afresh? The answer was a resounding yes. I felt better inside.

That day evening I met some friends for dinner. Someone asked me what do i do these days? I thought for a second and said, I am DESIGNER.

My husband looked at me and wondered what the hell i am talking about? I am technologist. I write code for a living. Where did design come in?

The person asked me again, oh you design system architectures?

I said no i design interfaces, i design experiences, i make life easy for human beings. I am a cognitive scientist and I am going to make the world a better place to live (cliched but true). Everyone looked puzzled in that room except me. I was clear in my heart. I was not yet clear in my head though.

I said this is it! I need to forget I am programmer and become a designer inside first and then everything else will happen outside. In that moment, I had to burn the programmer in me so that the designer can be born. This was 2006.

I could have flourished as a programmer and have design as a side gig. I could have earned more. I could have joined investment banks and written algorithms. I could have told my hiring managers I also worked with user interfaces. In that case design would have been a side gig. I wanted to change the equation. I didn't want any side gigs. I wanted only one gig and that is design and nothing else.

My life changed. I was happy. I was penniless but I spent hours in library and I missed meals happily. I loved the human nature. I was filled with curiosity and questions. I could not wait to meet professors and bug them with a bunch of questions at the campus. I could not even eat quietly. I asked why this behavior, why are we like this, why not like that, what about other animals yada yada yada. It felt like I have fallen in love again. This time not with a person but with a subject. The love story continues and I had amazing experiences in the past 14 years of Design.

I am amazed that i am not bored in this love. It hasn't come down even a pinch. On the contrary, it has only intensified and increased. I am humbled at the vastness of this subject. I don't think this lifetime is enough to learn it all. I know i will go my grave ignorant anyways. But I love learning all things design. It keeps me happy. It keep me grounded. It keeps me simple.

The moment has come now to take this love story to next notch. A next notch always needs a pivot. This time it is pivot of my lifetime.

I love learning design. The best way to be a learner is a teacher. So dedicating rest of my life to be a life long learner and saying no to everything else that could take me away from this path. I was on the fringe doing many things for the past 24 months. I also learnt and taught design. Time to make that full time. Time to say a big NO to all distractions.

Let's us begin again

I don't know anything else.

I know a little design and let me tell you everything I know.

The learner is born to teach you all things design.

The journey begins ....

learning is different from education. I love learning and not education.

let us learn design the way it must be learnt!