The design web
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To understand the way that this project has been set out, it will need a little explanation. The design web was created by permaculture teacher Looby Macnamara, and after attending one of her workshops last year I was very interested in this way of laying out the path through a design. I have recently been reading her book 'People and Permaculture', where she explains this all in a lot more detail. The book is amazing, I'm finding it very inspiring. Hoping she won't mind, I've used her words here to explain what the design web is and how it works.
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This is taken from her book 'People and permaculture - caring and designing for ourselves, each other and the planet':
"The design web is a framework created specifically for people based designs. The web has 12 anchor points, each focusing on a detailed, holistic picture of where we want to go and how we are going to get there. These anchor points can be visited in the sequence appropriate for the design. After each anchor point there are many directions you could move in. Where to go next is governed in part by what arises in each step. The design can become an intuitive movement by the designer, or a dance between the designer, the clients and the design where one step naturally leads to another. For example you may want to capture your ideas after spending some time visioning, or exploring patterns may lead you to think about the limits."'
You probably don't know all of the answers to these questions at first, the answers may take time brewing. You vision may be hazy at first, you may not be sure where you want to go, and so revisiting it several times through the process you can add more detail and texture to it. You can dance in and out of stages without getting stuck waiting for something to feel complete before moving on, knowing that you can return when it feels right.
Solutions can emerge from any of the anchor points. While looking at our limiting factors it may become immediately apparent how to overcome them, or we could have inspiration from appreciation of ourselves.
People care is embedded within the process, including pause for rest and appreciation anchor points. Giving time and space to design is an act of support and nurturing".
Natural patterns
"The design web follows a natural pattern. Webs spread the load, catch things, make connections, are strong, light and repairable and create lots of edge. The more steps are made, the more connections and resilience the design has.
All parts of the web could be connected with each other, this is a key difference between this and the linear design processes. There is a lot of scope for seeing how one part of the design influences every other. Our vision sparks ideas, limits dictate our actions, and appreciation sparks momentum.
"Once established, the design will catch skills and experience as well as the yields of the design itself. That is, we learn from doing and we increase our design skills for future designs, the more we reflect on the process the more we learn. Reflections can be harvested with sharing, group awareness and recording of the process.
A spider is aware of the vibrations in its web showing there is something caught. In order to make the most of our design we need to be aware of the vibrations made. We could get so carried away with designing that we don't notice that there is already a yield. Observation is a constant throughout."
"The design web is a framework created specifically for people based designs. The web has 12 anchor points, each focusing on a detailed, holistic picture of where we want to go and how we are going to get there. These anchor points can be visited in the sequence appropriate for the design. After each anchor point there are many directions you could move in. Where to go next is governed in part by what arises in each step. The design can become an intuitive movement by the designer, or a dance between the designer, the clients and the design where one step naturally leads to another. For example you may want to capture your ideas after spending some time visioning, or exploring patterns may lead you to think about the limits."'
You probably don't know all of the answers to these questions at first, the answers may take time brewing. You vision may be hazy at first, you may not be sure where you want to go, and so revisiting it several times through the process you can add more detail and texture to it. You can dance in and out of stages without getting stuck waiting for something to feel complete before moving on, knowing that you can return when it feels right.
Solutions can emerge from any of the anchor points. While looking at our limiting factors it may become immediately apparent how to overcome them, or we could have inspiration from appreciation of ourselves.
People care is embedded within the process, including pause for rest and appreciation anchor points. Giving time and space to design is an act of support and nurturing".
Natural patterns
"The design web follows a natural pattern. Webs spread the load, catch things, make connections, are strong, light and repairable and create lots of edge. The more steps are made, the more connections and resilience the design has.
All parts of the web could be connected with each other, this is a key difference between this and the linear design processes. There is a lot of scope for seeing how one part of the design influences every other. Our vision sparks ideas, limits dictate our actions, and appreciation sparks momentum.
"Once established, the design will catch skills and experience as well as the yields of the design itself. That is, we learn from doing and we increase our design skills for future designs, the more we reflect on the process the more we learn. Reflections can be harvested with sharing, group awareness and recording of the process.
A spider is aware of the vibrations in its web showing there is something caught. In order to make the most of our design we need to be aware of the vibrations made. We could get so carried away with designing that we don't notice that there is already a yield. Observation is a constant throughout."
This is the drawing of the design web from People and Permaculture, by Looby Macnamara
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VISION
allow yourself to dream and create goals HELPS Identify the things that are going to help LIMITS Identify what blocks the path, what might keep it small or slow it down PATTERNS Identify helpful and unhelpful patterns IDEAS Gather inspirations PRINCIPLES Look through the lense of each one |
INTEGRATION
bring it all together ACTION Make a plan to get things done MOMENTUM Consider how to keep going APPRECIATION focus on things to be thankful for REFLECTION Evaluate progress PAUSE Incorporate time for rest and rejuvenation |
The design web is also broken down into four phases;
Growth phase: Vision, Limits and Helps. This is represented by the seed or the child, showing the potential and what is going to help or limit growth.
Exploratory phase: Patterns, Ideas and Principles. This is represented by the roots, reaching searching and exploring, or of the young adult, learning thinking and expressing.
Productive phase: This is the adult stage of deciding, doing and producing, represented by the fruit. We are now looking for yields from our design with the points of Integration, Action and Momentum.
Reflective phase: Appreciation, Reflection and Pause are the introspective and insightful stages of the elder, represented by the mature tree.
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