Who am I as a designer, and who do I want to be? What are the roles and expectations that were impressed upon me during my design education and how does that affect who I am as a designer and design educator now?

Investigating my own modernist undergraduate design education, I will seek to uncover and examine my preconceived notions about design. How has Modernist ideology shaped my perceptions and even how I teach design to my own students? I will explore what I took for granted as “TRUTH”, specifically looking at the Modernist “sound bites” I always bought into, including “Form Follows Function”, “Pixel Perfectionism”, and “Great Design is Invisible”.

Looking through a bit of design history to understand the source of these “truths” I’ll ultimately reveal what I believe was missing. Finally, I’ll explore how curiosity, empathy, and a willingness to be imperfect can help overcome the paralysis of a recovering Modernist designer.