KNOWING: the first level of Design Quotient

I realised that it has been a while since the last time I have blogged about 'Design'. In today's post, and subsequent entries, I hope that I am disciplined enough to be able to give my views on the various levels of the Design Quotient (DQ), a schema of sorts that I hope would be able to spark various discussions on raising the design consciousness in the design domain of our cognitive capacity.

Firstly, my question would be how do we start to 'look' at design as a means to just beyond something that is a given. How do we, say, be appreciative enough about the design of everyday items that surrounds us, without looking or delving deeper into its various other technicalities of how it is made, or how it has added a great deal of benefit to out lives! I mean when we brush our teeth in the morning, are we really aware the amount of effort that goes into the design of the toothbrush and the toothpaste container? It is this very state of 'KNOWING', of awareness, at a certain level of 'design consciousness' is where I would put my theoretical viewpoint on the first level of DQ. It is this level of consciousness, of suddenly being hit by that AHA moment, of suddenly realising, as you held the toothbrush in your hands, and then suddenly realising how ergonomically well-designed the toothbrush is, how everything about it is so...well nicely fitted into what it is intended to function as.

It is at this state of knowing, of realising, of suddenly being awakened by the superficiality, beyond its tendency to connote negativities, of design in itself as a state of being that would help, or trouble us in one way or another. On the other side of the scale, the realisation that something is badly designed could also spark this state of consciousness, although one would somewhat be more overwhelmed with vulgarities of the verbal kind, more than being hit by a 'design awareness' moment, when bad design come avisiting!

So let's just state that the first level of DQ is:

KNOWING: the semi- or full-conscious state of realising the superficiality of design