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.