How I think
Tags: Design Process, Thinking, Mindset, Curiosity, Design Thinking

A big part of who we are is related to the way we think. Here is how I do it.

I wrote this piece as part of the “About” section of my Design Portfolio. You can read the full essay there.

As a human being:

If you are reading this, chances are that you are thinking about working with me, or maybe you are simply curious (which I love). In any case, to better understand me and my work, it is essential for you to get a grasp of my world views and beliefs that shape my feelings and thinking. In this text, I will highlight and try to link resources to some of the core beliefs that guide my existence. This, I think, is the best way for you to quickly get an overview of who I am.

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How we think is related to how we feel about things, and feelings are derived from beliefs. Therefore, the logical path to proactively controlling our thinking is by better understanding and shaping our beliefs. Because of this, I focus heavily on altering beliefs before anything else when it comes to self-development.

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I have always been one to think deeply about things and question everything around me. The pleasure of finding things out drives me forward and allows me to progressively make better sense of a reality that is far too wide for anyone to decode in a lifetime. Knowing that I will never know everything is as important as knowing anything else when making decisions. This acceptance of a lack of knowledge helps me become antifragile by thinking that anything can happen, especially the things I didn’t think about.

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We tend to underestimate reality because of how flawed our mental model of reality is. Anything can probably turn out way better or way worse than our wildest guesses and the only thing we can do to protect ourselves is to refine our mental models over time and to prepare for the unexpected.

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Our beliefs become our reality. This concept has been proposed by Gandhi, Lao Zi, Eckhart Tolle, and many others throughout time. It is the best explanation as to how people born in very similar conditions end up on completely separate paths in life. It is also an empowerment tool that allows me to change the tides when storms arrive. If I can control my beliefs, and my beliefs become my reality, then most of what happens to me is my fault. To achieve anything, instead of worrying about things that are out of my control, I start by working on my circle of influence.

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Knowing what I want is incredibly more difficult than knowing what I don’t want. Hence why I choose to live by Via negativa. Most problems in modern life are problems of excess, and it becomes more important to choose what to leave out of your life than what to take in. There are more notifications in the world than you could ever manage, more information than you can absorb, more theories than you can make sense of. You choose who you become by choosing what you leave out.

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Life is not a zero-sum game. I believe that there is enough of everything for everyone in the world, although it is clearly not well distributed, because when we create something we are creating value other than taking it away from someone else, especially in the age of digital assets and businesses. In striving to create value, I can never lose if I never stop trying. Operating on an infinite mindset helps me deal with failed attempts to achieve a goal.

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“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication” — Leonardo DaVinci. Simple, clear purpose and principles give rise to complex and intelligent behavior. Complex rules and regulations give rise to simple and stupid behavior. While simplicity is hard to achieve, it is more often than not, my ultimate goal. “If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter.” — Blaise Pascal (and many others after him).

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It is also important to mention that everything is a remix. None of the beliefs above were created by me, nor were they originally created by their authors. Creation is only a matter of copying, transforming, and combining existing things.

As a designer:

When talking about design in its broader capacity, I like to follow IDEO’s design process, composed of 5 stages: Discovery, Interpretation, Ideation, Experimentation, and Evolution. Most people in the design field are familiar with this model. Personally, I am a fan of it because of how versatile it is and for its ability to recognize that design is a process, with the last stage being “evolution”.

IDEO’s Design process

When focusing on UX, I am a big believer that technology should be more human and cater to our feelings, so I incorporate the aforementioned design process with the guide written by Roxanne Pinto, content strategist at Google, titled “4 simple steps to designing a strong user experience” published on “Think with Google” in 2018.

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I advise you to read the full article, but I will proceed to summarize it using my own words.

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“The goal of good UX is to help users do what they want to do when interacting with your business.” — From this key point of the text I would extract an even smaller and simpler phrase: “The goal of UX is to help users”.

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Step 1: Take action

What do your users want to do on your website or app? Make a purchase, know more information, or book a service? Whichever it is, I will “put myself in their shoes” and help them achieve that goal. Different users have different goals and I will account for all of them.

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Step 2: Get emotional

What users think derives from the way they feel. It is crucial to account for the feeling your users will experience while using your product. To achieve the desired feeling, I will play with movement, colors, shapes, sounds, or other elements that might apply.

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Step 3: Start sketching

“Thinking with my hands” helps me generate more and better ideas. You will often find 50 versions or more of the same element in my Figma files with very small incremental improvements. Sketching is cheap, so I do tons of it.

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Step 4: Test early

Only by testing can you know if the project is a success. As mentioned in IDEO’s model, the last step is always “evolution”, meaning that we should iterate based on our findings. My favorite testing method is A/B testing.