Studying abroad in the Netherlands was pivotal in my career as an academic and designer and expanded my understanding of myself, my goals, and my design knowledge. While in Amsterdam, I reaffirmed my love for the lifestyle and being in the environment of the Netherlands. Although I had traveled there many times to visit family and knew I love being a part of Dutch culture, I had not had the opportunity to study or work in a professional setting and was unsure how I would fit as a designer. My hesitations were put at ease and ultimately my experiences have influenced me to think of doing an internship in Amsterdam in the future. Being in Amsterdam and being able to creatively engage with my culture was deeply rewarding and I was continuously inspired by the dutch design scene. While there, I was able to see that there are many ways in which my personal values as a designer aligns with the dutch design culture, particularly being humanistic when approaching design not only in the solution itself but also the work style that is used by designers to reach their goals.
This experience was related to past, current, and future coursework. Due to my previous coursework related to museums and my exposure to archival work, I had at least a basic understanding of designing for these spaces prior to traveling to Amsterdam. This was extremely helpful in orienting myself when learning about institutions while abroad, and allowed me to focus on developing a nuanced understanding and comparison between what I had learned about the design of institutions in the United States. I was able to develop an international perspective on designing for and decolonizing public institutions. While abroad, I was able to grow my knowledge of decolonization within art institutions, from repatriation to institutional initiatives to build inclusive use of language surrounding artworks. Speaking with head curators and professionals from roughly 20 institutions, including the Van Gogh museum, the Netherlands Institute of Sound and Vision, Het Nieuwe Instituut, The Black Archive, and Vrije Universiteit, I built on my foundational knowledge of decolonization approaches that I had previously studied within an ethnomusicology course taught by the Head of the Ethnomusicology Archives at UW libraries. I will be able to continue my own work as a designer with a greater international perspective and consider new approaches outside of what may be common in the United States.
The area in which I had a more significant shift in understanding was my perspective on library spaces. Talking to not only Dutch librarians and professionals, but also my peers in the program exposed new challenges and opportunities for designing for libraries. Those in the program who were masters students in the library sciences field enhanced my learning about the services libraries offer, design challenges within the field, and their importance within communities. They were integral to fundamentally shifting my perspective on the ways in which versatile spaces can provide for and meet the needs of diverse community members. Reading, writing, learning, socializing, using technology, preparing for interviews, meeting with community groups, sparking new interests, and simply having a space to exist are some of the many different experiences the design of libraries should support. I will chttps://theamsterdamscrapbook.myportfolio.com/ontinue to consider how environments and spaces can make individuals feel like valued members of their community and that there's room for their voice and identity within a space.
An element of my experience that I did not anticipate to impact me as greatly as it has was the ability to learn from my peers on the program. Feeling thankful for the knowledge or perspective of the others I was with was relatively a daily occurrence. This experience has reminded me that designers are and should be reliant on others to do their work. To create things that will impact others, it’s essential to expand my perspective outside of myself to learn what the opinions, needs, and skills are of others. When continuing my coursework and when in collaborations with others, I will continue to have an open and approachable disposition in hopes to learn from and build deeper relationships with others.