By Andrea Small and Kelly Schmutte

A design process presents a series of steps, but in real life, it rarely plays out this neatly. Navigating Ambiguity underscores how the creative process isn’t formulaic. This book shows you how to surrender control by being adaptable, curious, and unbiased as well as resourceful, tenacious, and courageous.

Designers and educators Andrea Small and Kelly Schmutte use humor and clear steps to help you embrace uncertainty as you approach a creative project. First, they explain how the brain works and why it defaults to certainty. Then they show you how to let go of the need for control and instead employ a flexible strategy that relies on the balance between acting and adapting, and the give-and-take between opposing approaches to make your way to your goal.

Beautiful cut-paper artwork illustrations offer ways to rethink creative work without hitting the usual roadblocks. The result is a more open and satisfying journey from assignment or idea to finished product.

Illustration by Reina Takahashi and photographs by Andria Lo

Designed by Emma Campion and Mari Gill

Published by Ten Speed Press, 2022
Part of the Stanford D.School series

Softcover, 144 pages, full color, 5.5 × 7.25 inches

ISBN: 978-1-98-485796-5