This pretty basic looking scribble brings us comfort and is a constant source of reference when up to our eyeballs in a project.
We are deep in the thinking right now on a number of strategy projects. We're at "that" place, well past the starting point but far from the finish line - literally swimming in thinking and observations, research and insight, sharing ideas, "going wide" and collecting info. We call it "the muddle".
Not the middle, just a muddle.
A place where nothing makes complete sense as yet, a place where there is no clear pathway out of - yet. It can be a daunting place to be - because you are acutely aware that you need to come out of this place having wrangled it all into sense - with clear, actionable steps for a client. But, for a while you can feel like you are swimming around and around in a circle and not really moving forward at all - though of course you must be - even in the smallest of incremental steps.
When we're there. Right in the thick of 'the muddle', this ridiculously simple visual always brings comfort. We visualise it often and it's an effective tool. Intended to convey the feeling of the journey, it captures the process of moving from chaos and uncertainty to clarity and certainty. Apparently scribbled in 30 seconds when the creator was asked to demonstrate the benefit of design for a client. No doubt a 30 seconds of his career well spent.
We couldn't have put it better ourselves. And when we're in the muddle (technically known as exploratory thinking of course) it reminds us there is indeed light at the end of this tunnel!
So thank you to Damien Newman for the "Process of Design Squiggle"
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