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 iterative 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, and in return, may be 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.

Just begin

John Cage (1912-1992), the US composer and philosopher, knew well the challenges of just getting started. For him, music was a complete universe that could be entered at any point to find something to work with: 'Begin anywhere', he advised. And so with design and the ideation workshop. But that is not to say that ideation begins with a clean slate or that the mind starts blank (tabula rasa). In reality, nobody begins from scratch. Even in computer science, AI included, an initial data-set or knowledge-base is placed there by the human designer. And so, every designer consciously or not, draws on a reservoir of past ideas and forms, and, as a practice unfolds, past experience: incomplete projects, intuitions and half-formed thoughts that have been put aside to revisit later. But also, a project is never fully contained in its beginning. That is, the first sketch is just that: a beginning, an intuition to be developed, and whatever is drawn there will change and evolve as it is fleshed out. If there is no capacity for change, it’s a flawed beginning. The role of drawing, then, as a fluid medium of thought is a place where designers can set down and test ideas, a medium always incomplete. More, https://drawingmatter.org/just-begin/

BrAIn storming

Ideation signifies idea generation in general without referring to any specific technique or method. One such creative thinking technique is brainstorming in which a group of people, or an individual come up with new ideas in response to a prompt. The brainstorming sessions typically focus on the quantity of ideas and welcome all kinds of ideas be they absurd, foolish, strange, or fantastical. That is, brainstorming allows for any idea to be voiced, and without judgement. The freewheeling approach to ideation, however, has been criticised for promoting group-think, mediocrity or out of hand results. Yet the application of the method, which was originally developed to stimulate idea generation in the US advertising industry, has gained new interest with web scraping, or AI data harvesting. That is, GenAI, in responding to prompts, provides not only vast quantities of ideas of great variety and at high speed but enhances the quality of ideas through seemingly unlimited combinations of ideas. In short, GenAI has the power either to replace or enhance the traditional brainstorming session resulting in ideation on a massive scale, or brAIn storming. Indeed AI-generated creative content is increasingly difficult to tell apart from human-created work, at least for everyday design tasks, that is, when dealing with "tame" rather than "wicked" design problems.

Jack of all ideas

The phrase 'Jack of all trades, master of none' often has a negative connotation in that it suggests someone who is kind of skilled in a variety of things but isn't an expert in anything. However, the phrase actually comes from a longer quote that has a more positive message: 'Jack of all trades, master of none, though oftentimes better than the master of one'. It means that even though a jack of all trades may not be a master at anything, their diverse skills often make them better than someone who is only a master of one subject. And since Jack knows a lot about different subjects, they have multiple perspectives. These perspectives are useful when generating ideas and finding new ways of problem solving. Indeed, historical figures like Leonardo da Vinci and Galileo were jacks of all trades. In other words, Jack is no other than the versatile ideator or, Jack of all ideas!