Psychological studies have demonstrated that an individual’s degree of imagination (and also the open-mindedness that eases it) may be directly affected by the total amount of travel they do. But maybe more surprisingly, the most imaginative advantage that the individual gains from travel can be radically impacted by how pumped they become in the culture they are visiting. Designers shouldn’t only aspire to journey but also to immerse themselves to various cultures, languages, and experiences they encounter while overseas. For example, an interior designer in Brisbane should travel even around their own country and explore different styles and trends as well as emersion in all the cultures Australia has to offer.
In a couple of hours, I will be going on a one-way trip to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. I sold all my possessions and I really don’t have plans to return to the States anytime soon. I will be living with my fiancée (who’s Brazilian), working distant for HubSpot, and travel / talking around South America. My mother thinks I am completely crazy.
However, I Believe I am on to something. In the past year, I have been to areas like London, Warsaw, Munich, Kraków, New York, San Francisco, Las Vegas, and Denver (with São Paulo, Budapest, Vienna, Santiago, and Johannesburg coming up) experiencing and immersing myself in the culture. It has been a superb way to find the entire world and be immersed in the design community stemming from art décor to beach homeware. However, with this movement, I am hoping to take matters to a more profound degree. I would like to start a private study of style in South America and then use it to help boost the development of UX as a formalized clinic there. This is something which I’ve wanted to do since I was young, but my motivation to do this today (and in such a radical way) is something which I feel any designer could gain from understanding.
A Change in Perspective
As soon as I started traveling, I immediately noticed that different civilizations would often fix problems in various ways, and several would love forms of aesthetics which were vastly different from what I had been used to. Automobiles, bathrooms, door handles and locks, ads, inside decorations, outlets or even coastal home interiors. Wherever you go on the planet, the implementation of those common designs will, many times, be basically different from place to place.
I have encountered answers to issues I had never previously known to exist, aesthetic tendencies or fixations I was never aware of, as well as correlations between the prevalence of specific dog breeds and specific areas of the planet. Every one these realizations are the product of my journeys, and they have brought me to a point where I see a new location, I expect that I’ll leave that location with a modified perspective on aesthetics and design. A kind of perspective that could only be gained through experiencing another culture.
But maybe even more shocking are the things which stay the exact same everywhere. The items which are so well made and so universal, that regardless of where you go, they’ll be consistent. These are the layouts that I fixate on. Stop signs and street markings, tea pots, clocks, bikes, razors, scissors. What about these layouts enabled them to be embraced by the entire world?
And what about the more abstract matters that are the background for what follows? The things which are distinct, but also kind of the same. Like sentence architecture, cultural standards, or greetings. “Thank you” and “Obrigado”. A handshake and a kiss on the cheek. “How are you?” and “Tudo bom?” . They are used in precisely the exact same style, but if you dig deep in their significance, you understand they have various roots and consequences. These subtle nuances form the ways we believe and the contexts which our civilizations function inside.
Traveling and Creativity
Since I continued to accumulate those adventures, I finally came to note they were altering the ways I thought about designing. I’d approach problems through another lens and also be open to formerly foreign trends of solutions. However, this was not only a sense and it also was not unique. I had been undergoing a well-researched psychological change that happens when a person spends a specific period of time overseas.
Adam Galinsky, a professor at Columbia Business School, has authored several studies about the relations between imagination and global travel. By these means, he has discovered that fresh sounds, scents, tastes, languages, sights, and experiences could arouse unique synapses in the brain, leading to a gain in cognitive flexibility. That is what allows your mind to leap between different thoughts, think deeply, and also create irregular connections between basically different objects or ideas. It is the fuel of imagination which can be used in any type of industry including: tenant advocacy, mining or plumbing services, interior design, etc.
But maybe more compellingly, he has discovered that this really goes much deeper than simply being overseas. In reality, only traveling to a place may not be adequate. The best effects seem to result from true immersion.
To put it differently, a week long excursion to a walled-in hotel in the Bahamas likely will not have much of an impact on one’s imagination. However, a week spent living with a local family in the Bahamas could. This really gets into the heart of why I am moving to Brazil. I have experienced exactly the same thing within my journeys and I have gained a respect to the worth which may be cultivated from authentic immersion (possibly for the individual residing overseas and for the people who they interact with while overseas).
Becoming a Nomad
Remote work appears to be an increasing trend, particularly among designers and individuals in the technology market. The world wide web has enabled us to collaborate and work in a way that would have never been possible. In addition to this, many businesses are providing flexible or distant work opportunities such as being an interior designer online, and boundless holiday policies that are best for the nomadic way of life.
We are beginning to run out of excuses not to get out there and go through the world. Regardless of how your job situation is organised, you may most likely find a means to do some precious traveling.
Have a holiday
I understand this should seem obvious, but a lot of men and women overlook the concept that holidays can be utilized as more than just a chance to have a week off work. Rather than visiting the identical beach destination that you have been frequenting your entire life, attempt to plan something distinct. Recent research discovered that travellers possess a 25% boost in performance on vigilance evaluations after returning from holiday. And that amount goes up to 50% if you are aged 45 or older. So whether you are in commercial property sales or the construction business, get holidaying.
