Notes on 'Play'

2025-04-23

Try adding a little play into your work and you'll be surprised at the result.

Play isn't just for kids. Play can be used as a tool or approach for expression or experimentation.

In play, you don’t think of an end product or final solution. Play allows you to suspend judgement. With that, connections illuminate themselves when they would be hard to visualize before.

I find when I lean into play in my design work, I gather more expressive ideas that push the boundaries of what I originally thought possible.

One of my Mt. Rushmore-design heroes, Corita Kent, liberally used play within her work, and it shined through in her practice as an artist, as well as the people she had an affect on as a teacher.

Below is a list of ten rules developed by Corita Kent and her students of the Immaculate Heart College Art Department, describing what a learning environment could be. I have found that these rules, especially Rule 4, Rule 6, and Rule 9 centered around work and play, help me explore and expand my own perspective when it comes to what design can be.