Thought Maps (Design Thinking)

One’s way of thinking is not a simple procedure, but a complex algorithm shaped, formed, and influenced by a myriad of life experiences. Nature, specifically the massive animal kingdom, became the catalyst for my interest in illustration. The animal creatures that inspired me were extremely prevalent in the animated movies and cartoons that I loved as a child (and still greatly enjoy today); I easily became enthralled with the lovable animal characters and the emotional stories told through them, connecting and empathizing with them. The many creators and illustrations who work on character design, concept art, illustrations, and storyboards have been a huge inspiration to me, as I frequently examine “The Art Of…” books for animated movies. These influences have fostered my main creative motivation: to bring stories to life for the enjoyment of others, telling my stories through art.
My plethora of experiences and influences has shaped many aspects of my thinking, including my reasoning process. Although my problem-solving method has a structure to it, it is certainly not rigid. Instead, I flow through my phases of logic, like the river in my thought map, allowing my ideas to mix with my influences, circulating and combining and sometimes back-tracking in order to accommodate new knowledge gleaned from a failure. My purpose is always to learn from these past experiences, and thus utilize them in order to aid my future explorations.
Being a very introverted, introspective person, my sense of intuition is very fine-tuned. I am very prominently a right-brained individual; thus, my subconscious mind is adept at making intuitive, instinctive connections and assumptions. This ability to achieve quick insight affects my decision-making, which is often also influenced by my instinctive beliefs, concepts of spirituality and self, and a distinctive “gut feeling” of what to do. This “gut feeling” is hard to ignore, and is usually correct in its suggestions and ideas. Thus, my dominant right brain and gut feelings exert the strongest influence over my beliefs and actions. I’ve learned to appreciate the merits of these feelings, and continue to focus on internal insight throughout my thinking process.
Coyote, the mythical ‘creator,’ represents an abstraction of me and my thought process due to the similarities I have discovered between myself and their characteristics. Coyotes can be found in almost every state in the country, demonstrating their extreme resourcefulness and ability to adapt to new situations. This trait displays the animal’s intelligence, inventiveness, and ingenuity, as it has been able to survive and flourish in a wide variety of environments by learning from its mistakes. These instincts resonate with me, as I have learned to adapt to many different situations, design problems, and mediums, in order to succeed in my classes and projects. My personality is very down-to-earth and animalistic, reminiscent of the Native American influences of my abstraction. On my abstraction, the color red represents my experiences, the swirling blue represents my fluid reasoning process, and the light yellow shapes throughout represent my thorough sense of intuition. Thus, the coyote, fabled creator of the world, has come to be both my muse and symbolic representation.