The shift from learning design as geometry, design jargon, and a focus on things to learning design based on reading, writing, and storytelling brings with it two benefits. First, learning design here is not treated as something new, something you’ve never done before but is based upon existing knowledge and experiences. As a result, learning landscape architecture (architecture or interior design) is comfortable, often fun, and much easier than the approach used in many university programs. Second, learning design based on existing knowledge and personal experiences asks you to shift from the natural tendency to focus on things (nouns) to people’s anticipated experiences (verbs) and in doing so build on knowledge and experiences you already enjoy and with which you are already familiar. As you’ll come to see, this basis in your experiences is critical to learning what constitutes design and how to approach it.
