Designing My Design Story

Layers of a design story infographic created using Chat GPT

February 22, 2026

This week, my work on my design story felt less like writing an assignment and more like engaging in what John Dewey described as deliberative inquiry. As Parrish (2006) explains, “Design stories can be seen as a form of dramatic rehearsal, a stage in the process of deliberation that John Dewey described as part of his effort to naturalize the concepts of logic and inquiry.” I experienced this idea firsthand. Writing my design story was not simply documenting what I created; it was a rehearsal of possibilities and imagining how my learners, stakeholders, and systems might respond.

Rather than presenting a static artifact, I began to see my design story as a thinking space. Parrish (2006) reminds us that “Design stories can be useful tools in several phases of the design process, including the design phase, the design communication or documentation phase, and in formative evaluation.” This shifted my mindset. My story was not an afterthought.  It became a tool for reflection, iteration, and communication. By narrating my design decisions, tensions, and questions, I was simultaneously evaluating and refining them.

As I moved from a blank page toward insight, I leaned into the creativity practices outlined by Kelley and Kelley (2013). First, I had to choose creativity consciously. I could not wait for inspiration, but had to decide to engage. I tried to think like a traveler, observing my familiar instructional context with fresh eyes. Instead of assuming I knew my learners’ needs, I re-examined their experiences, frustrations, and aspirations.

The concept of “relaxed attention” also shaped my process (Kelley & Kelley, 2013). They describe relaxed attention as a mental state between meditation and intense focus.  When the problem occupies space in the brain but is not on the front burner, I noticed that my best ideas emerged not when I was forcing clarity, but when I stepped away, like during a walk, while driving, or even in quiet moments of reflection. The story became clearer when I allowed cognitive space for connections to surface organically.

Empathy became central to my design story. Kelley and Kelley (2013) define empathy in creativity as the ability to see an experience through another person’s eyes and to observe people interacting with products and services in real time, which they refer to as design research. Writing my story forced me to move beyond assumptions. What pressures are teachers experiencing? What fears or constraints shape their engagement with innovation? Observing with an anthropologist’s lens revealed needs that data alone would not surface.

I also practiced reframing challenges. Instead of asking, Why aren’t educators fully embracing new instructional models? I reframed the question to: What systemic layers are influencing their capacity to change? This reframing is connected with Gibbons’ (2003) discussion of layered design, drawing on Brand’s ideas that:

• Layers of a design age at different rates,

• Layers must be replaced or modified on different time schedules,

• Layers must be articulated with each other, and

• Designs should allow change in one layer with minimal disruption to others.

This layered perspective expanded my design story beyond individual behavior to systemic structure. Curriculum, technology, policy, professional identity, and culture do not evolve at the same pace. My story began to acknowledge these tensions. Sustainable innovation requires designing for articulation between layers, not simply introducing new tools or strategies.

Finally, I recognized the importance of a creative support network (Kelley & Kelley, 2013). Discussing my developing story with colleagues and reflecting on feedback helped me move from isolated thinking to collaborative refinement. Creativity flowed more naturally when ideas were shared, questioned, and strengthened collectively.

Overall, this week’s work reminded me that a design story is not merely narrative but an inquiry in motion. It is a dramatic rehearsal of possible futures. It invites creativity, empathy, reframing, and systemic awareness. Most importantly, it positions the designer not as a detached expert, but as a reflective practitioner engaged in ongoing deliberation.

Through this process, I am beginning to see my design not just as an artifact prototype, but as a living system, one that must evolve thoughtfully across layers, grounded in empathy, and sustained by creative confidence.

References

Gibbons, A. S. (2003). What and how do designers design? TechTrends, 47(5), 22–25.

Kelley, T., & Kelley, D. (2013). Creative confidence: Unleashing the creative potential within us all. Currency.

OpenAI. (2026). Layers of a design story infographic [AI-generated image]. ChatGPT.

Parrish, P. (2006). Design as storytelling. TechTrends, 50(4), 72–82.