Form Follows Function - Connected in a Spiritual Unity and Wholeness - with Power and Responsibility

I worked as an architect, as a designer, and currently call myself a User Experience Designer. I worked as a paramedic for the Red Cross and the military. I played a lot of team sports and was very successful with my sled dog team. What was and is a constant in my life - what ever I did and do it was and is regarding individuals.

In design, the technical feasibility, economic viability, and the design itself are always decisive in whether an innovative, digital product will be successful. Therefore, it is even more important to put the user, the human being, at the center from the beginning to the end of the development. 

Whenever I talk about my work, I think about people, about individuals. In essence, design means shaping, and it's a collective process involving many people. The outcome is influenced by various factors such as goals, intentions, values, beliefs, processes, organizational structures, politics, environment, social or technology.

In short, design means to me:

• putting people at the center
• communicating transparently and truthfully
• seeing that there is not just a "happy flow", also planning for unexpected scenarios
• considering long-term effects
• adhering to the principles of Accessibility & Inclusion
• and thinking about wanted and unwanted side effects during design and even more which will happen once the 'design' is present, in usage, ...

Or in other words: "Form follows function" - I think most people are familiar with this statement, but in my understanding, these three words are often misunderstood.
Because form and function should be one, connected in a spiritual unity and wholeness.

Or in other words:  "With great Power comes great Responsibility" -  Responsibility towards people, their needs and expectations, but also their responsibilities, with everything that has an influence, such as personal ignorance, vulnerability and fears. So, let us take care of; be responsible for users, because they are humans too, with what makes them happy or scares them. But let's not stop there. We have a moral human responsibility towards the environment, the world and society. It's about life, about happiness and less suffering for all sentient beings.

These thoughts came to me as I was reading the thoughts of a good colleague Peter Morville, Peter is a pioneer of the fields of information architecture and user experience, and a role model for my business work - Please read his thoughts about 'Gentle Change' by  Peter Morville.

By the way - as you might know I am writing on two blogs ...

my UXD and HCD blog 

and my Mental Health blog

... this time I was not sure where I should publish it so this time, you will find these thoughts on both, as I have anyway the impression that both grows together.