Everyone has their passion or is on the journey of searching for passion. “Passion itself means passion, great desire, and… (KBBI)”. Everyone chooses their passion. When they do a job without expecting anything in return or voluntarily, passion can also determine how high a person’s stress level is in carrying out their work routine.
I found myself the past year immersed in the world of digital product design, which is fascinating. So far, I have not found any saturation in this job because I’m always finding something new that I want to learn.
I was amazed by design and how design can make it easier for humans to do things. The power to change the world we live in. I have a desire to experiment and a deep appreciation of creative ideas for solving problems.
I am motivated to create a digital product that is a delight and meaningful with a memorable user experience. In creating a consequence, I am inspired by nature around us and benefit from it, as in the previous designers who took a lot of ideas from nature. Shinkansen high-speed rail in Japan, for example.
In 1989, the Shinkansen high-speed train encountered problems. This train can travel at a speed of 170 miles/hour. The problem is that every time the train exits the tunnel, it makes a loud noise. This is a big problem if it is close to a dense settlement. To design a faster, quieter, and more efficient train. The idea of inspiration from nature to solve this problem was created by Eiji Nakatsu, The General Manager of the Technical Development Department, who is a birdwatcher. Perhaps the most notable inspiration is the kingfisher. Kingfisher is a bird that dives into the water to catch its prey. The unique shape of its beak allows it to that barely make splashes of water. Nakatsu then applied it to this locomotive’s form, which resembled the brim of a kingfisher. When the redesign debuted first in 1997, the result was that the train was 10% faster, consumed 10% less electrical energy, and kept it below the 70dB noise limit in residential areas.
What Eiji Nakatsu did gave me a life lesson. This life has been around for 3.8 billion years. I realized it took to research and development time to make a helpful product. The people who designed our world have a lot to learn from nature; all we need to do is look around us. Going to nature trains the senses and gives me the capacity to be creative and be a better person. All these experiences taught me that design allows us to shape the world around us. The question is, what kind of world do we want to live in?
If the timeline is drawn, my love of technological design began as early as I was a child. At that time, I rarely went out of the house as a child. Maybe it’s because I’m shy, my mom won’t let me play too long with the other kids, or perhaps I don’t remember exactly. However, I had a computer at that time at home. My first computer was an IBM Windows 98 PC. I remember my dad bought me a graduation gift in the 6th grade of elementary school. From then on, I was interested in anything related to technology. Any technical problems that people living near my place of residence have, they always ask for help, and I try to solve their problems. Sometimes things that are too small and simple can be significant for others. Helping others helps me build a sense of empathy for those around me.
The last few months have been where I’ve devoted my time to constantly learning new methods, sharpening the skills of new design tools, and continuously learning. In the future, I can share my knowledge and skills to enhance our lives and communities. I learned to be more optimistic about myself and realistic about what it took to get this far. This taught me that we could occasionally be pessimistic and take time to reflect on it. Then we can try again to be optimistic and learn to adapt. No matter how small an effort we have made, it will significantly impact us in the future.
I began to reflect a lot and began to understand the choices I made and their impact. I was thinking a lot about where I am in life, why I am there, and what I would do differently along the way. I think about what I want for my future, not only in terms of career but also to be happy. And it’s not that my outlook has changed from this experience, but I feel like I’m gaining a new level of clarity. I am much more confident in my life goals and can pursue them with pride and confidence.