Ideation playfulness

The ideation workshop embraces the power of playfulness and its role in creativity allowing the participants to follow their curiosity and imagination ("what if ..."). Ideation in this way is unstructured yet constructive ("serious play") encouraging the participants to generate creative ideas, and to think critically. And not because the participants are following instructions but because the workshop environment and brief invites a playful and exploratory mindset culminating in representations and presentations of their ideas. In this, the workshop is inspired by, and builds on pedagogical research* that reflects the workshop as a learning experience through thinking and doing. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666374020300248

Idea et Materia Unum

The workshop reflects ideation as part of everyday, purposeful design activity where, in the process of generating and communicating ideas, idea and matter are one. That is, the idea, as an element of thought becomes matter when the idea, abstract, concrete or visual is explained and presented. In this, the workshop keeps alive the tradition of experiment and the range of materials, new and old, with which the designer works using both analogue and digital tools, from freehand sketching to CAG, that is, whatever works best for the participants. That is, the design task may guide the tool choice but the pick is also a matter of personal preference. This, in turn, reflects how the actualisation of design ideas relies not only on the designer but the commonplace effort of engineers, builders, manufacturers and various skilled trades.

New ways of thinking

'If you want to teach people a new way of thinking, don’t bother trying to teach them. Instead, give them a tool, the use of which will lead to new ways of thinking.' is a quote from Buckminster Fuller, the American designer and innovator (1895-1983). Fuller believed in the power of technology to change society. And so he sought to pursue and develop his ideas for the benefit of everybody. What, then, we may speculate, would Fuller make of GenAI? Fuller said 'the future is anything but defined - it is created by us'. Also, 'the best way to predict the future is to design it'. Fuller again, 'You can't change the way people think, all you can do is give them a tool, the use of which will change their thinking'. And so, it seems, Fuller's notion of a thinking tool is not just about the technology but also the design of the tool. This suggests that Fuller, who described himself as a comprehensive anticipatory design scientist, would take up GenAI as a thinking tool, a tool capable of augmenting design thinking, ideation and innovation. But when asked whether he was bothered by the fact his invention of the geodesic dome was used by the military, Fuller replied: 'How tools are used is not the responsibility of the inventor.' Sources:. https://medium.com/disruptive-design/buckminster-fuller-the-creative-shape-shifter-that-every-change-maker-can-learn-from-a5c4702d644b https://larrygmaguire.com/self-disciplines-buckminster-fuller/  https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/life-verb-applying-buckminster-fuller-21st-century/

Unpredictability and uncertainty

While traditional AI is good at analysing large datasets and predicting typical outcomes, that is, tuned for specific tasks, Large language models, LLMs, used in generative chatbots such as ChatGPT are now big enough to reach beyond the constraints of their training data. As a result, they can display unpredictable behaviours, including AI hallucination. Such behaviour reflects how uncertainty is not only inherent in generative AI systems but also a characteristic of the real world, and increasingly so when the collective knowledge base is unstable and shifting. Ideation is also conditioned by uncertainty or unpredictability. That is, an idea is just a proposal or suggestion which may, or may not be realised. And so, idea communication is aiming at removing as much uncertainty as possible about the idea's realisability. Still the final idea outcome is unpredictable - its uncertainty remains. So what about the strength of generative AI as a tool for ideation? Faced with complex user demands, in sociopolitical, economic and cultural contexts, generative AI cannot deliver certainty in human scenarios that require flexibility beyond its data-driven approach. The answer, then, lies in adaptive human-AI collaboration. For example, designers may use prompt engineering as a guide to LLM responses, an AI technique akin to human step-by-step problem solving.

Analogue moments

Using conventional design tools - from pens to model-making - is about the analogue, human-centred experience, the antidote to a frenetic digital age of "digital fatigue". But while there are needs for, and advantages with digital technology providing flexibility, connectivity and efficiency, digital software, chatbots included may make ideas and concepts look 'perfect' - almost too perfect - hiding poor credibility or usability. And so, there is a growing appreciation and wants of traditional analogue techniques, of the slow "analogue moments" which inspire design thinking and making leading to surprising idea development. That is, using analogue ideation tools, designers, without an algorithm making choices for them, are nudged to slow down to make deliberate decisions based on heuristic problem-solving that offers simplicity, flexibility and low resource requirement. In return, designers are rewarded with a richer, more sensory and satisfying creative experience. Indeed using analogue tools enables designers to find the craft in design.

The march of technology

The inroad of digital tools on design has been dramatic, both in terms of process (digitalisation) and outcome (digitisation). For example, in graphic design, the computer, both hard- and software, has much reduced the use of analogue pens. Digitalisation, like technology in general is impacting design thinking and research too, and increasingly so through search engines, social media and chatbots. Also, efficiency criteria in industry have put digitalisation at the forefront of professional practice (although it can be quite inefficient to try to measure efficiency in creative contexts). For instance, Building information modelling, BIM - a digital process that facilitates collaborative working in design, construction, maintenance and use of buildings - is becoming industry standard even in the pre-design phase. Moreover, integration of BIM and AI systems has made designers increasingly dependent on digitalisation. In design education, the impact of the digital age has seen a decline in the use of conventional tools with the loss of skills as machines continue to do more thinking and making for us. Indeed younger generations may not even get the opportunity to learn the skills in the first places questioning whether digital technology is enhancing and sharpening designer skills, or making us lazy. Although both analogue and digital tools need to be used skillfully and responsibly, the development of digital technologies highlights potential risks to human judgement, and notably ethical and operational risks of digital decisions without critical evaluation.

Reflective ideation

Efforts to get the ideas flowing - "Just begin" (see the previous blog entry) - are enhanced through capturing and reflecting on the process of generating and developing ideas. That is, to keep a sketchbook, notebook or visual diary to help track and reflect on the ideation process as it happens, or "reflection-in-action" (Schön 1991). Capturing and reflecting on the ideas generated, moreover, will help raise the awareness not only of what ideation tools and techniques are being used in the process but also feelings, sensations and reactions associated with the process. That is, keeping track of what happens during the ideation process is turning ideation into a recorded learning experience.