Thoughts On Embracing Uncertainty & Navigating Ambiguity

A screen shot from the official web site of the “Navigating Ambiguity” book. (Don’t get me started on the type crime being committed on that “Just Published” tag…)

I had the chance to read a great guide, Navigating Ambiguity, by Andrea Small & Kelly Schmutte, and nicely illustrated by Reina Takahashi.

Rather than butcher the intent of the book by paraphrasing in my words, here’s a copy/paste from the web site:

We are in an age of ambiguity. While it’s not easy to confront the unknown, it is now an inevitable part of work and life. In this insightful book, Andrea and Kelly, both educators and designers, make the case that ambiguity can be embraced rather than overcome or avoided. Using humor and luscious, cut-paper illustrations, this book presents clear guidelines to discover opportunities and creativity within uncertainty by being adaptable, curious, and unbiased. Imagination is the only prerequisite.

The book caught my eye because part of my design philosophy is “Embrace uncertainty.” It was a phrase I added a few years back but never found any designers talking about the topic in depth. (Or to be more precise, there were probably designers talking about the topic, but I was completely unaware of their existence.)

In the spirit of navigating ambiguity I have absolutely no idea what to type next, so I’ll just put down whatever random thoughts I had about the book while reading it. These thoughts may or may not help your…