Draft for Damilola to rewrite in his own voice. Institution and year for the BSc to confirm.
Sociology taught me to ask why before what. Here is how that shapes every brief.
Plain-language summary
Before I studied design, I studied sociology, which is about how people and groups live together. It taught me to ask why something happens before deciding what to make. I still work that way on every project.
I did not start in design. I started in sociology, and I think it is the most useful thing I bring to a brief.
Why before what
Sociology is the study of how people live together: the systems, habits and assumptions that shape what feels normal. It trains you to ask why things are the way they are before you try to change them.
Design, especially under deadline, pulls the other way. The brief asks for a logo, a leaflet or a campaign, and it is tempting to start making straight away.
I still start with why. Why does this problem exist? Who does the current situation suit, and who does it leave out? What do the people affected say about it, in their own words?
How it shows up in my work
I listen before I sketch. On Deck of Triumphs I began with one-to-one conversations with disabled people about their successes. The cards came from those conversations, not the other way round.
I look for the story under the story. Sociology made me alert to the stories a culture repeats. For disability, one of the loudest is pity. A lot of my work is about offering a different one.
I ground ideas in evidence. Theory and data come before any sketch. For Beyond Labels, that meant Maslow's hierarchy of needs, research on self-expression and UK disability data.
I think in systems. A single object rarely changes much. A system of identity, product, experience and campaign, held together by one idea, has a better chance.
From sociology to visual communication
Damilola to add: the route from your BSc to seven years in design, and then the MSc in Visual Communication at Teesside University. What made you move into design, and when did disability become the focus?
What I tell people starting out
You do not need a design degree to start asking good questions. Whatever you studied first, it gave you a way of seeing. Bring it with you.
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