“This craft-based method of learning is making a comeback today,” he says. “It’s influencing how design happens—the process of observing, sketching, listening, modeling, sketching again, and modeling again.”
At home in the shop himself, Simons has been designing for the healthcare industry for over 30 years. Since graduating from the University of Wisconsin and the University of Illinois, he has embraced two fundamental approaches to his work. ”One is that I spend a lot of time focusing on human-centered research around the topic I am pursuing,” he says. “Two, I build my ideas as early as possible and often as a way to both learn and advance design.”
As with the Revive Guest Center, he strives to see things through the end user’s eyes. Such empathy leads to designs that recognize the emotional weight that often accompanies healthcare situations.
