It was hard to find my design style, so I gave up

I think this is one of the paradox when I was in design shool. I saw so many design casing but it has been hard to find my own one. I admired the classmates who have the greate design. Until I graduated from the school and I worked for several years. I realized I do not need to have my own design at the beginning. It is like I will never find my own style if I desire it a lot. It should be a collection of my good designs.

We have so many design styles, Modernism, West-coast, Béton brut. Actually I do not think the designers know what the style is, the style name more like the thing put on the building afterwards.

All we need to concern about when we doing design is the needs and requirements of the clients, the people using the design, or living in the house. As long as our living and use space is limited to the same commercial buidling, the fixed style will stereotype and classify people, so that the design can only follow the rules. If we can not cling to what school style and think that people should express themselves, live out their own style. Then the “own style” may born.

Looking for the style is more like the result of aming the direction. However, expressing ourselves is a process of constant self-exploration and growth. Whenever I look around myself, I find that design has to learn to be itself, to express itself, to have faith in itself. I believe the most of us are trying to copy what others have already done. It seems to be very popular in the industry, where people simply copy the look without asking themselves deeply:

“How can I make my own design style”

A good design practitioner should not follow blindly. But always have the mindset to meet the challenge. Think rationally and don’t indulge in the self-satisfaction of imitation. What we truly need to do is build our own knowledge framework, build your own design language. Meet all changes with constancy. When we are in a space, our mind will naturally expand the possibilities. We need to calm down to feel that space is like water without shape or edges. We are designing the container. Let users feel the light, material, color and details brought by the moving.

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in Life Outside of Design Studio and has been updated for accuracy and completeness.