Reflection 1: Mind Mapping Design



I think the whole PD crew of 2010 has been having problems fielding the question of what exactly we are studying. I've gotten responses to"I study product design" ranging through the following:

1) Are you like an industrial designer?
2) So you are a fake engineer?
3) What exactly do you design?
4) How do you study design?
5) Oh like fashion design?

etc...

So for this reflection my mind map includes all the different things I have been using for answers to the question of "what are you studying at Stanford?"

I'm getting a better feeling for what the goal of the product design program at Stanford is all about. Its not clear cut, which is the beauty of the program. Everyone of the 13 of us are completely different with a diverse range of goals, ideas and knowledge.
Here is my first written attempt at the definition, but ask me again in a week, it will probably have changed.

"What is product design?"
Product Design at Stanford is the education of the theory of design that can be applied to problem solving for anything from household products to world hunger. It is a combination of engineering, art, business, psychology and everything else under the sun that influences how people live their lives. I am studying human values and the needs of society to help me design more well rounded, thought out products that will work better and are more sustainable in order to create a brighter future for the user.

I'll keep working on it.