welcome!

I created this space to share raw moments, discoveries, thoughts and ponders of how our minds are shaped by design. As a designer, but more importantly as a human being, I have found such passion for human centered design. It becomes more prevalent to me every day how the spaces that we create can in turn design how we feel, think and live.

I credit a lot of my non-stop analysis of design and the experience of designed spaces to my degree in architecture. Architecture and design have such a diverse range of applications, which is what I loved about the field to begin with. I honestly have no clue still what I want to do with it – I just know I am called to it and want to carry these passions forward one step at a time.

My experiences so far of studying architecture have merely amplified my passion for human centered design. Throughout the entire five years of my undergraduate program, we students were trained repeatedly to meticulously consider how “the user” (i.e. humans) will interact with the spaces we design. Questions like, “How will they move? What can they access? What will they see? How will they use it?” informed how we should design with the human in mind. Looking back at my experiences in university, I can pin-point the classes and moments that were transforming my mind into how I think now regarding the impact of well-designed spaces. These were the classes that first made me question not only how people would experience or use a space physically, but also how they would mentally experience design and how a space could make them feel, think and change – for better or for worse.

My hope through these collected thoughts I share with you here is to inspire, even in the smallest measure, and to bring about awareness to the power of design on our minds and our mental health. While there is a great deal already being done to bring awareness to this, there is always room to grow. Progress has to start somewhere, including the present. Anyone has the power to design our world that is so subtly yet so radically shaping us. So I welcome you to discover, ponder and inspire your own reality with your designed minds.

Warm wishes,

Carmen Gibes