Do you realize that right now your experience with the Lord enables you to do supernatural things? Maybe you are already at a place where you’re aware that that Christ can work through you because you have the Holy Spirit inside of you. But, do you realize that everything you receive in your daily walk with Christ is one more experience you can channel to someone else? Most often the first experience (and most essential experience) in our relationship with Christ is the moment when we realize and accept His amazing love and forgiveness. It’s a life altering moment because no one has ever shown such perfect love and mercy toward us, especially when we’ve done so much wrong.
This experience has the power to change us, shift our perspective and stir our hearts. “We love, because He first loved us (1 John 4:19).” Before Christ, we didn’t know love because we didn’t know Christ. However, this experience is merely the beginning of our journey with God… Phil 2:1-2 says, “Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.”
As we experience new facets of God’s character and heart we are able to see new things about Him – things that shift and move us. These experiences each have empowerment built into them. It’s likely that it could take many seasons to experience some of the things noted in the above verse. But like a marriage or a friendship, the more that you go through with someone the deeper the connection becomes.
Each day with The Lord should be a liberating experience, one where you see new facets of His heart and character. Where (for example) your compassion comes to life because you’ve experienced Christ’s compassion toward you. When this takes place you are empowered do as Christ did.
What areas is Christ liberating you in? Has His encouragement been the anchor that keeps you from giving up? Does His comfort ease the painful situation you’re going through? It’s time to let whatever it is that Christ is doing in you be what flows out to those around you. Let’s practice liberating others with each facet of God’s heart.
Tom and David Kelley share Doug’s Story: By Christa E.
Doug has helped lead development of high-tech medical imaging systems for GE Healthcare. He spent two and a half years working on his multimillion-dollar magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner. Shortly after finishing his MRI scanner he was nothing short of honored at the invitation to view it being installed in a hospital. His feeling of accomplishment became somewhat tainted when he learned that the young girl scheduled to get a scan with the MRI would need to be sedated during her scan.
Watching tears of worry stream down her face, Doug’s expected glorious moment quickly shifted to sadness as he observed his first patient nervous to go inside the scanner. He realized that his beloved piece of technology, though painless, caused an already vulnerable patient additional anxiety. If patients feel unsure whether they can lie still inside the MRI scanner long enough an anesthesiologist must be called in. Doug felt like he had let down the very people he was trying to help. However, he was determined to make things better and proactively sought professionals and those around him as he sought a new design approach.
After a suggestion was made to Doug that he try out Stanford’s d.school, he flew out for a weeklong workshop – hoping to spark some ideas on how he could make MRI’s less frightening for children. Through collaboration with others and the human-centered design thinking he was able to develop prototypes designed to meet specific needs. He returned at the end of the week feeling invigorated from all that had learned while being with a diverse group of people. Due to certain limitations, Doug knew he couldn’t redesign his entire scanner again but what he could do was change the experience.
He grew empathic toward those he was trying to help by observing children at day care centers, spoke with child life specialists to better understand what pediatric patients go through and reached out to many others. From there he created his first prototype he named the “Adventure Series”. By creating the scanner to look like a ride, children were already more inclined to take a trip inside. By observing how children interact with technology Doug was able to create an “adventure” that was fun and engaging without having to alter the complex technology inside the machine. As a result of his human-center approach, there has been a dramatic drop in patients needing to be sedated during MRI scans which has in turn has also improved the number of patients doctors can scan each day.
Kelley, Tom, and David Kelley. Creative Confidence: Unleashing the Creative Potential Within Us All. New York. 2013. Print
Collaboration through Transdisciplinary Methods
The role of collaboration in design is evolving intensely in the 21st Century. The design process includes but is not limited to collaboration efforts pertaining to group brainstorming sessions, interviews, and co-designing. Tim Brown, author of Change by Design, mentions that businesses are taking a more human—centered approach because the consumer’s expectations are evolving. Due to the increasing demands of consumers, it is important for graphic designers to be more equipped and efficient than ever before. Subsequently, establishing the right team through transdisciplinary methods will offer visual communicators a multifaceted opportunity for communication, which will generate the ability to create excellent designs and solve rigorous problems.
AIGA refers to transdisciplinary design as a growing movement of academics and practitioners who are creating new ways of bringing people together in open environments. Transdisciplinarity will challenge graphic designers to look to other disciplines for new ideas and ways of working. This concept is a calling to step into a new dimension of team efforts. The method will challenge designers to think more holistically and create the opportunity for design to serve as an integrative agent for complex problem solving.
Therefore, next time you’re thinking about developing a creative team, consider professionals such as: lawyers, doctors, educators, or your neighbor next door. These individuals can employ incredible results towards your next design solutions.
web: faithhousedesigngroup.com
twitter: @faithhouseDG
Connecting Made Easy
Throughout my life I have made several connections with people. Some that have lasted for over 20 years and others that have lasted for only 20 minutes — if that. Making connections or more so, making the right ones can be powerful. Making the right connection will in turn, be rewarding and memorable for not only you, but the one you engage with.
Connecting with people does not have to be treated like rocket science. Sometimes we put way more pressure than necessary in the idea of building relationships especially in the business field. Everyone has what it takes to connect.
Lets briefly reflect on Jesus who was one of the main individuals who made significant encounters. How was this done? Jesus simply applied the techniques of spending quality time, listening, engaging, inspiring, and touching lives. He also went in with the agenda to place others first. These simple principles are ones I believe are important to model.
It can be very easy to get caught up in our own agenda, needs and wants but this could lead to a path of destruction when considering developing successful relationships. The foundation in developing a relationship needs to be strong and real.
As you meet new people remember not to make the task complicated. Find common ground, listen, keep the communication simple, inspire, and most importantly, keep it authentic.
web: faithhousedesigngroup.com
twitter: @faithhouseDG
Branding You
Marketing today requires a business to do more than simply inform consumers of its existence. There are more advertising options today then ever before. As more individuals utilize these resources, it becomes more and more difficult to get noticed. You must position yourself to set yourself apart. One of the most effective ways of doing so is Branding.
Branding encompasses so much more than a brand name. It is also goes well beyond the idea of consistency of an artificial look for your self, business, and/or ministry. Branding is a matter of perception. Behind any action there is a motive, and behind any product there is an organizations intent. Branding needs to become how you can connect with your consumer on personal level, so they can better see your intentions.
As the leader of a business or ministry you would need to ask yourself, “What am I offering?” “Why am I offering this?” and “Who am I offering it to?” Once you better understand yourself, branding now shifts paradigms from you to your consumer. The question to be answered now is, “How can I show them I have a product I truly believe will enhance their lives?”
faithhousedesigngroup.com
twitter: @faithhouseDG
Graphic Design
We live in a society today where culture is more demanding than ever. We need things faster, cheaper but still with high quality. As designers we understand that effective design does not happen by accident or overnight but it takes hard work and a solid design process.
Developing a strong methodology is critical and is a process that will definitely work in the designer’s favor as well as resulting in positive results for the costumer. Creating a methodology will allow designers to remain focus with a confident plan. If you are a designer that likes to jump right on the computer and start creating, I would like to encourage you to develop a solid foundation first that includes intense research on your clients design problem. Here are a few things to consider:
1. Discover who your client is and their purpose.
2. Research the target audience an know exactly who you are designing for.
3. Brainstorm! Generate pages of sketches. Just rough 10sec sketches.
5. Do some mind mapping to help focus your ideas and concepts.
There are several things you can practice and these are just a few. Just try it out and see where it leads you next time as you create design solutions.
Faith House Design Group
At Faith House Design Group, we believe that an environment of collaboration, design thinking and spiritual guidance can liberate great ideas as practiced and executed effectively. We take hold to this environment as we watch our clients excel through innovative design solutions.
