RuNT. Design Thinking (and Lies) Recap

Our third Austin RuNT was a huge success all thanks to our amazing speakers and sponsors. It was a packed house at Brew & Brew to mingle, drink, eat, and listen to Rose Newton and Elayna Spratley share their knowledge on design thinking and how they’ve successfully built the careers they are in today.

Elayna, a Senior Designer, started off the night with a wildly entertaining and informative talk about the methods and tools she uses to incorporate design thinking into her day to day life. Elayna explained to us that “Design Thinking is an iterative process in which we seek to understand the user, challenge assumptions, and redefine problems in an attempt to identify alternative strategies and solutions.”

Thanks to a book that Elayna referenced often (Designing Your Life by William Burnett & David Evans), we learned about the five designer mindsets: Curiosity, Bias to Action, Reframing, Awareness, and Radical Collaboration. Through these mindsets, we can seek new opportunities, and change our perspective on our ways of thinking.

Rose, a Director of Product Design, followed Elayna to give us insight into the six “lies” she has told throughout her life and how fabricating your truth can help achieve career goals. Rose’s presentation had smiles on everyone’s face the whole time. It was comforting to hear you don’t have to be 100% at every skill to feel confident to step up to the plate and try something new. These “lies” opened so many doors for Rose, who has built a very impressive career. She was not teaching us to be deceitful, but how to believe in yourself and learn new skills with confidence.

An awesome night filled with talented people. Thanks to everyone who came out and supported!

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