Designing for Serendipity
Serendipity is an all-too-common and always pleasant aspect of our work. It is the essence of each “a-ha” moment that informs your next step or unlocks an idea or concept that was lingering beneath the surface, just waiting for the right moment to emerge and transform. We embrace serendipity as it represents the ethos we seek to always embrace at Noodle: to not be so rigid or set in our ways that we prioritize the plan over the impact. We also embrace serendipity because it has impacted our lives so meaningfully, and it ultimately led to the creation of our organization.
Both of us were always curious about the world around us from an early age. We have always enjoyed meeting new people, experiencing new cultures, and exploring new places. This motivated both of us to pursue educational opportunities that nurtured this curiosity while affording us the opportunity to learn the necessary skills to carve out careers centered around constant learning and engagement. For Anna, that manifested itself in pursuing an advanced degree in anthropology and a career spanning documentary filmmaking, market research, and ethnography; for Kevin, it meant studying journalism and communication before launching a diverse career spanning corporate communications and marketing.
However, neither of us truly felt fulfilled in the various professional roles we found ourselves in until, that is, we gravitated towards the “development” sector generally, and applying human-centered design (HCD) principles and practices to problem solving within it, specifically. HCD, or design thinking, really resonated with us because of the complete shift in power dynamics inherent to the work we were doing: it empowers those most directly affected by something to co-design solutions to that challenge rather than leaning on a top-down approach of force-fitting solutions designed by people removed from the context and its challenges. Though we weren’t necessarily looking for an alternative approach to our work, we both seemingly stumbled upon an approach that was the perfect salve for things that had been bothering us about other experiences we had had, chief amongst them the lack of involvement of those we were working with.
What we realized is that traditional models in working towards addressing social challenges largely viewed, and view, those most affected by issues as “research subjects” or some similar terminology. They were to be studied, with the researchers then using what they had learned to develop and implement solutions that they think work for these communities. This without ever re-engaging with the individuals that were previously “studied” to 1) verify that the research conclusions about them were even accurate let alone valid, 2) give them a seat at the table in ideating and developing potential solutions, and 3) vetting and improving the potential solutions before implementing them. It is this disconnect that HCD solves, and it is this solution that we find so captivating and valuable.
We began applying a user-centered approach to our work while living a world away from, and therefore totally unaware of, each other: Anna based in Durham, NC working for an acclaimed international non-governmental organization (INGO) focused on public health and Kevin living in Bangalore, India working for the country’s leading human-centered design firms, Quicksand. As luck, or serendipity, would have it, we had the opportunity to collaborate with each other on a project focused around female contraception product ideation for low and middle-income countries and our professional relationship began.
Within a year after working together on that project, Kevin moved back to the United States after 10+ years abroad. And again, as serendipity would have it, Kevin was recruited to head up communications and design thinking for a non-profit based in Durham, NC, and went from being ~9,000 miles away to living less than a mile from Anna. We immediately reconnected to collaborate on some independent design projects, including launching a design collective in Durham for like-minded practitioners to discuss design and connect. One topic of conversation that always inevitably emerged was the universal applicability of design thinking and our love of working with people to solve problems using its principles. There’s just so much potential positive impact to have. Noodle is the inevitable progression of our love for engaging with people, learning more about the world around us, and making that positive impact in the world a reality.
We envision our organization as a go-to resource for any individual or organization that needs a little help noodling over things. We apply design thinking to our daily lives as well as our professional ones; we understand its value intimately and look forward to helping anyone that needs an extra hand working through things. Our world has ever-changing and ever-growing challenges, but with those come opportunities. Serendipity is a huge part of that, and we utilize our process to design interventions and solutions that harness its power while addressing pressing needs and challenges.
We invite you to reach out to us today to start a conversation, and see what serendipitous solutions we can co-create together.
