The unknown knowns
9th of July 2020
Last month I suddenly realised I knew far more about a topic than I'd previously thought. As a result I was able to help a client solve a particularly thorny, tangled problem. This experience got me thinking about those unknown knowns — the things we don't realise we already know or understand.
I picture this unknown, unmapped knowledge creeping and drifting in to place, piece by piece, slowly over time. Little ideas, experiences, snippets of information accrete into great swathes of knowledge and experience. Sometimes it's the result of a final tiny puzzle piece dropping into place and making sense of something that previously looked like nothing more than a jumble of disconnected ideas.
But why don't we notice these unknown knowns? My theory is that, in my case at least, it's down to two things: how I define myself and my comfort zone.
When it comes to work, I've long called myself a designer. I trained as a product designer, worked as a graphic designer, web designer, visual identity designer… the designer list goes on. Now I've (more or less) settled on just a simple 'designer'. However, I layer that one word description with assumptions that, when unchallenged, limit my ideas of what I do, what I should do, and what I can do.
Comfort zones can be useful things too. When it comes to work, there are things I know I can do effectively and efficiently. I'm completely comfortable doing them and can be pretty much certain that they will work well. The problem I've found is that comfort zones like this seem to shrink with time relative to the rest of the world. You can be happily working away in your niche, doing great work, only to discover that years have passed and the internet has appeared, or tool sets and approaches have moved on, or that requirements are different, or that the entire market or need you served has dried up or gone away.
In both cases, definitions and comfort zones, ongoing growth and pushing at the boundaries is crucial, but so is challenging your perceptions of where those boundaries actually lie. Perhaps you've already moved past them but don't realise or recognise it.
When it comes to learning and growth, my approach has long been a mix of specific focussed learning around topics that are relevant to me now and a more general exploration of anything that catches my interest. I'm keeping both of these elements but adding synthesis and testing into the mix. I find that writing, like this, is useful on both counts. Writing — like teaching or explaining a topic, experience, or ideas – forces you to recognise what you do and don't understand. Writing also creates a point of reference, perhaps pushing that boundary out a little further. Beyond that, though, I intend to challenge myself more — to answer that little voice that says "designers don't…" or "You can't…" with "Why not?"