Workshop in progress

Designing is a skill that designers are continuously building. Even when a solution has been found or a task feel accomplished, designers are always working to become even better. We might say that our development as designers is always in progress. That is to say, something that is not yet complete. And so with ideation. A non-linear, iterative and onging process that is practised in the ideation workshop. A practice that makes use of ideation tools, from words and drawing to modelling and computing. But a practice that is not prescriptive or formatted but informal and illuminating. Indeed practice makes progress.

Learning from the workshop

Digital tools, that is electronic hardware (digital devices) and software (programs, apps or platforms), are part of the ideation tool box , tools which complement analogue, or traditional tools in the design process. That is to say, ideators use digital tools for implementing text, images, audio, and video for creating presentations that convey visual concepts and ideas. Digital tools, then, as instruments both for idea generation and idea communicatiom reflect a kind of digital pragmatism where the digital is not in opposition to the analogue. In so doing, visualisation, from assemblage, bricolage and collage to drawing and video, may inspire words, and words, in turn may inspire visualisation. This picture-word dialogue, then, helps generate ideas expressed in, say, the picture book format combining visual and verbal narratives. Moreover, hybrid ideation tools applied both in the studio environment and on digital platforms can transform the ideation process by connecting ideators to a wide range of content and resources thereby improving the ideation process as both an individual and collaborative learning experience.

Form follows eccentricity

Ideation is about ways of generating and communicating ideas. But does ideation adhere to methods, techniques or principles? Such as Louis Sullivan's maxim "form follows function", Mies van der Rohe's "less is more", or Dieter Ram's "principles of good design"? Or, is it rooted in designers' personal style developed through practice and theory? MVRDV, the Dutch design practice, claims, through elaborate research, that they seek not to develop a specific style of architecture but to provide and develop different methods in designing architecture and urban space.Yet the start of MVRDV's design process for Depot Boijmans art museum in Rotterdam, built with panels of mirror-coated glass clipped on to a concrete bowl, and which officially opened in November this year, did not reflect the practice's cherished design methodology. Instead, during a lunchtime brainstorming session, the design team was inspired by a piece of IKEA table ware, in the form of a stainless salad bowl. Indeed MVRDV revels in turning design models upside down, or inside out, or grabbing whatever is to hand and adding it to the mix of ideas. Such is the design process of a practice that embraces eccentric spectacle. It seems, then, there's method in eccentricity.

The workshop as exemplar for flexible learning

Education was adapting to the digital world long before Covid 19 but, as with so many other human activities, the pandemic has given learning a huge shove towards the virtual. Overnight, schools and universities closed and teachers and students had to find ways to do what they do exclusively via the internet. Covid highlighted how critical the social aspect of learning is, and that something extra happens when students and their teacher share a physical space. education needs to be more adventurous and captivating – and, above all, more flexible. To achieve this, three major changes should happen: The first concerns the content, which should emphasise such things as creativity, critical thinking and entrepreneurship, rather than collecting and storing information. The second is that students should have more control over their learning, with the teacher’s role shifting from instructor to curator of learning resources, counsellor and motivator, or "active learning" where students learn in a hands-on way – through discussion and interactive technologies. Thirdly, students learn better from their own or others’ failed attempts to solve a problem, before or even instead of being told how to solve it. Indeed, design education already embodies these proposed changes. For example, the studio/workshop space, essential to creativity, active learning and experimentation, does not and cannot exist apart from the events and activities within which it is implicated. That is, as a socially and culturally produced space, the studio combines the cognitive, the physical and emotional.constituted by human experience, attachment and involvement. Or, simply, design education as a vehicle for learning through the lived experience. Reference: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/nov/08/the-big-idea-should-we-leave-the-classroom-behind

Ideation freedom

Although ideation, ideally, has no limits, often there are constraints set by the brief or the client. But there might be self-imposed constraints too, that is, ideators confine themselves to tried and tested ideas that have worked well in the past. So, to minimise self-imposed limitations or restrictions, be aware what kind of thinking and behaviour might be holding back unencumbered ideation. Such awareness may include stepping out of your comfort zone and, for example, rather than logging in to the computer first thing, scribble a poem on the theme of the brief. Or, taking risks, say, making a small sketch modell and then crumbling or setting fire to it (health & safety rules considered). Or, taking a totally different conceptual approch to the task in hand by, say, figuratively speaking, "putting the cart before the horse". And so on and so forth. Indeed surprise yourself!

Why sketch or make models?

Exploring ideas in a quick, informal, and rough manner, as might be sketched out on a scrap of paper (such as the back of an envelope), also known as a thumbnail sketch, is core to the design process and the ideation workshop. Equally, a physical 3D sketch model, hastily made and incomplete may serve the purpose of expressing first thoughts and ideas. In contrast, producing 2D sketches or 3D sketch models using software (CAD), arguably lacks the immediacy of physical ideation tools. So why sketch on paper or make physical models? Says Gavin Henderson of Stanton Williams, the Sterling-prize winning architecture practice: 'I take a pencil and make marks on paper. I take pieces of card and hold them together, reconfigure, cut, pin, add, fold, subtract, assemble, carve, disassemble, reassemble. In each case the hand thinks.' He continues: 'Making by hand explores thoughts that are unpremeditated, pre-verbal, non-linear. The idea evolves before the brain has had time to set boundaries, enforce preconceptions. The craft of making things, whether drawings or models, is the essence of design.' Moreover: 'The model provides a shared focus for design discussion in a way that promotes interaction, the exchange of ideas and an engagement with the messy, physical, creative process of designing the world in which we live.' Reference: https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/opinion/why-make-models

Ideation tools and AI

Artificial intelligence, AI is set to change the ways people work. What, then the implications for design, and ideation in particular? Pen and paper, say, the typical sketchbook, have long seen a decline relative to computer hard- and software. While the programmable computer was inititated in the Second World War,  AI, a term coined in the 1950s, is a system that combines computer science with robust datasets to enable problem-solving based on the abstract essence of mathematical reasoning where everything is digital and quantitative. The power of AI, then, lies in its ability to continuously improve with more data, dramatically exceeding human performance, for single-domain tasks - power based on easier access to massive volumes of data, development of high efficiency computer processors, and advancement in machine learning techniques. Accordingly, AI, in conjunction with robots have the potential to take over the manufacturing, delivery, and marketing of most goods and services. But while such forecasting typically apply to data-driven industries, say, construction, transport or financial services it may overlook problem-solving in the design field that is not necessarily a single-domain or quantitative task based on datasets. Moreover, such datasets are not impartial or value free. That is, data is interpretive all the way down, shaped by what is collected, how it’s collected and for what purpose. AI-driven ideation, then, based on digitised data, might underestimate the role design ideation plays in addressing human needs in a much broader sense, including purposeful play - needs that, moreover may compete or be in conflict with each other. Ideation, then, cannot be left to computing alone but rather embrace a range of tools, both analogue and digital that facilitate, mediate and reflect on the meaning of design as a social and cultural activity. In short, activity that encourage creativity, self-expression and constructive problem-solving. Reference: Lee K. & Quifan C  (2021), AI 2041, Ten Visions for Our Future.

Ideation by building on pre-existing ideas

The phrase "Standing on the shoulders of giants" expresses the meaning of "discovering truth by building on previous discoveries", a notion made famous by Isaac Newton in 1675: "If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants". Now, in everyday language, truth is typically ascribed to things that aim to represent reality or otherwise correspond to it, such as beliefs and propositions. Moreover, most commonly, truth is viewed as the correspondence of language or thought to a mind-independent world. An idea, then, as an element of thought, and as a proposition aiming at representing reality may amount to discovering truth too. Thus, in the context of ideation, the process of discovering truth by building on previos discoveries, would translate into generating ideas by building on previous, or pre-existing ideas. That is, most ideas, if not all, are combinations, or re-arrangements of pre-existing ideas. In short, today's ideators are producing "new" ideas by standing on the shoulders of ideators who came before. Practically speaking, then, ideators, to see further engage in creative activities such as the ideation workshop, or building ideas through research, experimentation and serious playfulness. Source: Wikipedia.

Responsible ideation

Design ideation is not objective, or value free, in the way science typically seeks to be - it is motivated and purposive activity. Moreover, ideation is intertwined with social and aesthetic values enveloped by an economic and cultural system. The workshop, then, goes beyond satisfying the participants' own success, or using it in an instrumental way, say, by focusing on the latest technology. Rather they are encouraged to assume responsibilty for the ideas they bring into the world through discovering new ways of thinking and doing design. Ideation, then, becomes a way of revealing things in a world of changing reality. But not "reality in itself", but "reality for us". That is, ideas that characterise our time in ways that are both meaningful and responsible.

Free range ideation

Although the ideation workshop is studio-based, realistically ideation is situated  in many 'other places'. The free flow of ideas, then, suggest designers face a minimum of constraints for thinking and making when ideating. In such a creative environment, ideation becomes akin to a 'free range' activity rather than a 'caged' activity whereby ideators can move freely in the ideation space, both physically and virtually while engaging with a broad range of ideation tools. In this sense, the workshop is makeshift or nomadic in character allowing for the greatest ideation experience possible.

Ideas of both artistic and social significance

The workshop encourages the participants to engage with as many ideation tools as possible, from drawing and words to modelling and computing ("sensory input"). This hands-on approach may suggest ideas for ideas sake where autonomy and individualism run counter to processes of socialisation. However, the workshop supports a creative approach to ideation without being "arty" because ideas, while abstract, visual or concrete, have a social context too, that is, design ideas carry social significance if not social obligation. So, the workshop doesn't set up an opposition between self-realisation and social reality. In this, the workshop is inspired by creative thinking and making in the applied arts. Says Frank Gehry, the American architect and designer: 'I always start from the understanding that architecture is art and was always considered an art. Everyone became architects after being painters. El Greco, he became an architect. I've always thought that, but it gets pretentious and pompous to talk about it that way as our culture doesn't see architecture as an art and most buildings are not art'. El Greco, howver, was far from the only renaissance artist cum architect. Brunelleschi, for example, was a master goldsmith and sculptor before he turned architect designing and building the cupola of the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, the highest and widest masonry dome ever built.

Workshop culture

The 2020/21 virus pandemic put severe restrictions on face-to-face interaction in the workplace, not least in the physical design studio. As a result, many in-person activities and engagements shifted to remote working modes, that is, working from home, or online. Post-pandemic, then, will studio culture return to its former modus operandi of mixed, or hybrid mode - analogue and digital? Signs are that the upward digital studio trend will continue. If so, what happens to a studio-based design tradition, or culture that even before the pandemic was increasingly mediated by the computer or overshadowed by digital and social media? What happens to design ideation when influenced, if not relying on the abstractness of mass-media sources rather than the hands-on concreteness of the studio? Or, what happens to the effort of first-hand experience with a physical object, with its own scale and density as a thing in the world when computing, from CAD to AI fills the gap between imagination and reality?  If so, what might we lose in the process, and does it matter?

The empty studio?

Most designers would agree that it’s often the informal, unplanned interactions that matter most in the creative work environment. So, when working from home, as is the case during the current pandemic, how much are we missing by giving the physical studio up? What is lost in terms of not being able to communicate in person with colleagues or the sense of belonging to a team? Indeed does ideation require face-to-face interaction in the studio? To try to answer such questions requires an understanding of how designers interact in the studio, how they generate and communicate ideas or how they deal with practical concerns and decision making. That is, the thinking and behaviour that establish, develop and maintain any particular studio culture, real and/or virtual.

Sketchy Gonzales

A sketch is a rapidly executed drawing and requires a certain speed. But speed is only part of sketching to demonstrate graphically an image, idea or principle. So whatever the drawing mode or instrument, analogue or digital, there's no substitute for skills and experience. For budding designers, however, this may, at first seem daunting but practice turns "poor" drawing skills into good ones: Not necessarily perfect, as a sketch is not usually intended as a finished work. Indeed the sketchiness of the sketch is what gives it character. But "good enough" to help generate, develop and communicate ideas. Also remembering that practice takes effort. Sketching, however, is only one of many ideation or conceptual tools. And arguably, in the digital age not always the primary tool. That is, digital imagery increasingly appears in the early stages of ideation based on graphics software, or video. Moreover, the freehand pen and paper ideas sketch has to compete with ever growing expectations of photo realistic renderings, and from both clients and design colleagues. Yet the ability to sketch out an idea with ease and at speed demonstrating purpose and meaning of the idea not only enhances designer confidence but can help catch and hold audience attention too.

Ideation: both global and local

The ideation workshop reflects how design works both in global and local contexts. It's neither ideate globally nor locally but both/and. Design ideas flow between countries and cultures and are developed, improved and acted upon to meet both global and local needs and conditions. For example, James Dyson, the British industrial designer, who set up his global headquarters in Singapore in 2019,  says: 'We can develop technology [in Britain], but understanding what Asians want and what works in the market - we have to be there, we have to be immersed in it'. A classic example of local/global ideation is how Japanese electronics firm Sony borrowed ideas from US  transistor manufacturers in the 1950s (under a licensing agreement), and, after improving upon the ideas achieved mass-market penetration of transistor radios selling seven million units worldwide by the mid-1960s.

Word-image cycle

The ideation workshop isn't a talk shop. True, words matter but so do doing and making. And so design ideation is manifested by interaction, or dialogue between visualisation (non-verbal) and language (verbal). An example of the image-word cycle is Corbusier who, in his final interview of May 1965, explained it as follows: 'As it turned out later that, not being able to build certain things, I could draw them; but not being able to explain them entirely in drawing, especially when it came to urbanism, I had to explain them, so I wrote.' In the interaction between words and images, however, words place the image in context. Moreover, the contextualised image highlights how ideation is as much process as outcome. That is, the process of visualising and verbalising the idea towards realisation, step by step. Or, idiomatically speaking, to take the idea from "talk the talk" to "walk the talk" to "walk the walk".

Intangible concepts

Design has many aspects (charactertistics) or perspectives (contexts), both tangible (the physical object) and intangible. Time, light and darkness are examples of intangible factors investigated, articulated and manifested in the design process. Take architectural space, which, like time is a convention and cannot be grasped in a handfull and therefore intangible. Or, say transparency perception which is influenced by light reflected versus light transmitted, both intangible. Indeed an architecture experienced as a spatial phenomenon without physical measurements. And so in the ideation workshop where explorations take place, discoveries are made, and where transformations occur producing tangible forms from intangible ideas. In the same vein, Isozaki, the Japanese architect, urban designer and theorist, developed and worked on the idea of "Darkness" as an architectural prototype (1960s-), holding that architectural design is the process of giving concrete form to intangible concepts. However, it should be noted that ideas can be concrete, visual or abstract.

Activity creates ideas

The trigger for the ideation workshop is that ideation is not a passive pursuit say, simply sitting waiting for ideas to pop up. On the contrary, the workshop is an active engagement with ideation tools, that is, from words and sketching to model making and computing. The activity takes many forms, for example, improvisation, or the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Or, tinkering towards innovation, that is, the practice of experimenting, testing, probing, and making incremental improvements to existing designs and processes. And a great place for tinkering is often he studio (or the ubiquitous garden shed, or garage). And so the ideation workshop, through the activity of playing around with stuff, and asking "what if" questions creates opportunity to problem solving, indeed even problem finding.

Modelling ideas

Although the ideation workshop is, necessarily confined in space and time, ideation itself is a never stopping, never ending process: it's a flow. The flow of ideas reflects how each existence, animate and inanimate, is changing during every moment day and night. The change is like flowing water which does not ever come back and which reveals its true nature in its eternal travel. Indeed panta rei. In this sense, every idea, like every day is a good one from which we can learn something new. However, in design education as well as in practice, there is a tendency not to accept the notion that every idea is good. That is, "the Good, the Bad and the Ugly" are labels commonly attached to design ideas focusing minds on how to categorise and organise ideas in the realm of perception or thinking, or how to systematise and control ideas as sense data of the sensual world. Indeed, in the name of industry efficacy, design ideas are made to fit into the rational design process as early as possible, for example, feeding ideas, as computer files into Building Information Models (BIMs).

A sports approach to ideation

In ball-playing sports such as football, rugby or basketball there is an approach to learning known as non-linear pedagogy which advocates a more ‘hands-off’ approach to teaching and learning within physical education (PE) embracing both technical and cognititve skills.Through the manipulation of certain constraints, rather than prescriptive instruction different information is presented to the learner. In turn, the learner is challenged and channelled to find their own movement solutions to the problems they face or the goals they need to achieve. The set constraints, which relate to the performer, the environment or the task, are the boundaries in which the learners can search for those solutions. In this way, learners are encouraged to make their own discoveries. This approach works for ideation too. Indeed the ideation workshop is very much a non-linear pedagogic approach raising the awareness of ideation tools through manipulation of constraints.

Thinking aloud a tool for ideation

Speaking or saying out loud means to say what you are thinking, to verbalise aloud with your voice, as opposed to just thinking it. Although talking to ourselves out loud is sometimes frowned upon, hearing ourselves speak can help memory recall. Moreover, saying something out loud is not only a powerful cue to retrieve pre-existing ideas but can also help generate new ideas. The writer Heinrich Kleist of the Enlighenment era describes his habit of using speech as a thinking method and writes that active speech helps to turn the obscure thought into a whole idea. That is, it’s not thought that produces speech but, rather, speech is a mental process that in turn generates thought. Or, ideas come with speaking. Self-talk, then, or thinking aloud can be seen as an ideation tool. Reference: Kleist (1805). On the Gradual Production of Thoughts Whilst Speaking. Ed. and Trans. by David Constantine. (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 2004).