Ideas thought through

Le Corbusier, the Swiss-French architectural designer, emphasised the ideation process saying that nothing should be built without thought out, or "no action before thought". That is, rather than engaging in impulsive construction, Corbusier's philosophy tied physical form directly to rigorous planning, proportion, and underlying concepts, that is, his five principles of modern architecture introduced in 1926, that is, pilotis, the free floor plan, the free facade, horisontal ribbon windows, and roof gardens. Corbusier's intellectual position, guided by "unity of intent" makes sense but what happens to the demand that creative ideas are thoroughly "thought out" in the age of AI? And so, while GenAI ideas may feel "thought through" in that they may appear brilliant although derivative, they may fail "real-world tests". That is, GenAI performs recursive calculations rather than true reflective thought and is not, unlike human thought based on critical thinking, moral reasoning and lived experience. GenAI ideas, then, need human oversight.

Thinking aloud with AI

AI technology, which includes AI chat interfaces and image generators, has pushed ways of ideation beyond traditional sketching on paper or digital drawing programs, such as SketchUp. Both modes are good at drawing at the speed of thought. But while visual elements are core to design, verbal language is the main means of human communication as shown by AI systems transforming speech into sketches. That is, by dictating, or thinking aloud to a Large Language Model (LLM), the program converts spoken ideas into visual sketches in real time. Or, by combining freehand drawing on screen with real-time speech input that supports more fluid ideation (sketch-and-speech fusion)*. And so, GenAI enables ideation using speech input as alternative to text or visual prompts. AI technology, then, is modifying and expanding ways of generating and communicating ideas that, moreover, can help widening participation in the design process to those not familiar with conventional ideation tools such as sketching. However, any conceptual tool depends on users' skills. * https://www.researchgate.net/publication/397480818_TalkSketch_Multimodal_Generative_AI_for_Real-time_Sketch_Ideation_with_Speech

AI boost to design possibility

The impact of AI technology on ideation is complex because the nature of AI is dynamic, like ideation itself. But also contradictory, as cursory observation or casual conversation in design settings, both in education and professional practice reveals, in particular disagreement over both the usefulness and transformative nature of GenAI. For example, given the vast size of data sets and processing power, GenAI suggests plausible-sounding outcomes of high certainty whereas what they actually produce are calculated (statistical) probabilities based on algorithms (lists of instructions). In contrast, ideation is not about probability or certainty but inspiring suggestions or creative propositions. But when GenAI is being used for ideation, their outcomes depend on how apt users are at prompting the generative models and this calls for reflective questioning and interpreting ambiguity and unique circumstances. This suggests that combing human agency, including traits such as critical thinking, intentional action, judgement and empathy with AI systems increases design possibility. That is, designers can explore new forms using traditional modelling software with AI features while keeping human oversight and control of the final results. In other words, analogue and digital worlds co-exist because they supplement and enhance each other.

GenAI: the Joker in the ideation pack

Design ideas can be described as either visual, concrete or abstract. But, in the age of artificial intelligence, AI, how do designers approach the ideation process and how do they generate and communicate their ideas? What ideation tools do they use, and do they show preferences for certain tools? While visual or verbal language is the main means of communicating ideas, that is, language as an ideation tool, the range of tools is wide, contextual and embracing both analogue and digital modes.. And so, for visual ideas, designers use traditional pen and paper sketching or physical or computational modelling. For concrete ideas, they explore physical forms and materials using craft methods or digital fabrication. They become curious about the theoretical underpinnings of design, as expounded by scholars such as Donald Schön, Victor Papanek, and Nigel Cross. They get inspired by design history or designer biography, for example, the inventor James Dyson. Then AI, which is greatly influencing, if not transforming the study, research and practice of design across disciplines. In this digital environment, GenAI has become a game changer that could be perceived as the Joker in the ideation pack (a trump, or a wild card). Or, the Magician, from the imagery of tarot cards (the card of new beginnings and opportunities). Finally, there are motivational sources that power new ideas and innovation: human reason, emotion or desire (although not necessarily separated states of mind, and not easily measured). Yet, not to forget  the ethical dimension of design in a world of conspicuous consumption and environmental concerns.

The human factor in ideation

It is now commonplace to start the ideation process by prompting generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT, rather than using traditional search engines, such as Google. And so, whereas Google is typically used for direct questions (Q&A), ChatGPT is used to generate text and images based on conversational interaction which makes the chatbot a handy and speedy tool for idea generation. Google, however, has responded to the chatbot challenge by offering AI functionality to its traditional search engine, aka "AI mode". Yet, depending on the context, a traditional search engine might work as well as, or even better than ChatGPT. That is, in many ways, search engines work with the same fundamental information as traditional search engines. This highlights the interaction between people and AI tools and the need to recognise the non-technological side of the design process, including privacy and ethical risks in AI projects. That is to say, the role of the human factor in innovation might be overlooked or undervalued in the AI matrix of speed and efficiency - an issue the workshop tries to address.

AI-deation workshop

The results of GenAI design tools, such as Midjourney and ChatGPT tend to be derivative often producing illusions of newness or varieties of sameness, and potentially unethical because AI technologies rely on training data drawn from the web without referencing the sources. Yet the use of GenAI is now commonplace and used by designers to generate and develop ideas. That is, ChatGPT appears to be working like a co-designer for bouncing ideas creating content and narratives in texts and images. But how would this collaboration between human and machine perform in the ideation workshop? Well, instead of banning GenAI in the workshop, using it would be a requirement. But with the important proviso not to take the results for granted. That is, GenAI outputs should be questioned, modified or even destroyed. This approach to AI-ideation is of a critical nature that reflects how algorithmic calculations regarding speed and efficiency risk leaving out thoughtful thinking and humane attitudes, criteria that also may recall speculative design, that is, design not necessarily commercially-driven or aimed at problem solving*. Sources: https://bravedog.co.uk/journal/ai-didnt-kill-designers-killed-lazy-design  https://borism.medium.com/design-against-the-machine-72648374aec1 *Speculative Design (or Critical Design’) is an approach to design developed at the Royal College or Art London. It grew out of concerns with the uncritical drive behind technological progress, when technology is always assumed to be good and capable of solving any problem.

GenAI dynamics

The rapid rise of AI chatbots, promises immediate and effective help with a range of cognitive tasks, from studying and writing to image generation and brainstorming. And so, idea generation powered by AI chatbots can provide a wide variety of example designs which designers use for inspiration. But what happens to users’ own abilities when the AI is not available? A study* provided causal evidence for two key consequences of AI assistance: reduced persistence and impairment of unassisted performance. Across a variety of tasks, including mathematical reasoning and reading comprehension, the research found that although AI assistance improves performance in the short-term, participants perform significantly worse without AI and are more likely to give up. Notably, these effects emerge after only brief interactions with AI (∼10 minutes). However, another study** found the question is not only what AI can do but how it can help designers think, create and collaborate more effectively. And so, when participants were shown AI-generated suggestions for designing virtual cars they spent more time on the task, produced better quality designs and felt more involved. That is, AI was not just about efficiency. It was about creativity and collaboration.  *https://arxiv.org/pdf/2604.04721  **https://www.swansea.ac.uk/press-office/news-events/news/2025/11/can-ai-make-us-more-creative-new-study-reveals-surprising-benefits-of-human-ai-collaboration.php

GenAI bias

The learning objective of the workshop is to raise awareness of design ideation and provide participants with an opportunity to reflect on their own design practice through the use of ideation tools, including ChatGPT, a generative AI tool. GenAI visual and textual output, however, tends to downplay bias embedded in the content absorbed from its training data which reflect mainly western cultural, scientific and political contexts. Indeed, such bias reflects how design, as discipline, is drawing predominantly from western, educated, and democratic societies. Moreover, GenAI input, or prompts often reveal users own cultural assumptions and biases. That is, assumptions and biases can be hidden in the written prompts. The interactions between users and GenAI tools, then, highlight the need for users to critically interrogate the diversity of GenAI output, that is, question its trustworthiness. Practising ideation, then, calls for cultural sensitivity and critical intelligence.

Places and spaces for ideas

Although ideation is situated not only in the design studio, but in many "other places", the traditional studio represents a place, space and setting where designers typically ideate through sketching, building physical models and proposing projects in a shared creative environment. Indeed, in the context of education, the studio embodies the creative learning process where, moreover, there is no clear border between theory and practice. But in the digital age, designers, both in professional practice and education are experiencing how studio practices are changing effected by hardware and software choices and the use of online platforms and AI technologies. And so, the concept of the studio is changing too, including both physical and virtual settings. However, designers, as problem solvers, are apt at adjusting to new materials and technologies, changing conditions and methods resulting in the networked, hybrid design studio that bridges the physical and virtual worlds of creativity.

Human-AI symbiosis

Generative AI, such as ChatGPT, opens up new perspectives for designers by offering them unprecedented technical, performative and aesthetic possibilities. Indeed, GenAI is transforming design ideation and communication. But how does GenAI differ from classic human creativity? Research suggests that the answer lies not so much in difference as in symbiosis*. That is, designers and GenAI work together to jointly solve problems and perform specific tasks. That is, by facilitating ideation and broadening the field of possibilities, GenAI provides designers with a creative platform to more quickly produce, say, sketches, prototypes or different strategies to develop a given theme↟. Human - AI symbiosis, then, has the advantage of combining the power of AI with the human domain expertise to improve performance and create added value, particularly for commercial purposes. But more than this, GenAI can hallucinate and create things that do not exist beforehand. GenAI, then, as an agent for change, raises important concerns, such as the question of the originality and authenticity of the works generated, the question of responsibility and transparency in the creative process, copyright and intellectual property, or even the risks of manipulation. * https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3542698  ↟ https://www.sorbonne-universite.fr/en/news/when-art-meets-artificial-intelligence

Generating ideas with everyday materials

In the context of design ideation, an 'idea' is understood as a basic element of thought that can be either visual, concrete or abstract. An example of a designer who thinks in terms of concrete ideas is Philippe Malouin, who is experimenting and making things out of any available everyday material. Taking an instinctive approach to design, that is, not to think too much in front of a computer, the London-based designer lets the function and the materials influence the creative process. For example, on the theme of sustainability, and based on his salvaging practice, Malouin looks at the waste streams and modify them in order to make a new product, In this way, he has created 68 design products from junk steel. Also, starting with a very open project brief, and with a minimum of intervention, Malouin says he is trying to demystify the creative process.  https://philippemalouin.com/

The shape of things: AI in design

AI is becoming an essential part of designers' tool set in generating images, models, design options and other forms of data. And this often by just a few keyboard prompts and clicking the AI button. However, the ease and flexibility of using AI, from the perspective of individualism and psychology, can be either positive, that is, it enhances creativity with less mental stress (cognitive offloading), or negative, that is, it risks over-reliance on algorithmic feedback (cognitive overloading). This paradox suggests the need to fully consider the design process - from first thoughts to final outcome - as a human experience while acknowledging that AI is both co-creator and design material in the process - not just a tool. That is, as our tooling shapes us, so does AI. Over-dependence on AI, then, may privilege the finished product over the design process. This highlights designer responsibility to think critically of the ethical, cultural, and creative implications of AI.  https://www.riba.org/work/insights-and-resources/professional-features/ai-professional-features/what-can-architects-learn-from-an-ai-in-education-report/

Design and artificial creativity

As AI infiltrates the world, design, as a discipline stands at the threshold of yet another paradigm shift. That is, can AI-driven ideation not only compete with but exceed human ideation, particularly for "routine" problem solving?* In this challenge, designers are exploring multiple directions and pathways while considering AI's creative role as well as its societal impact. It is a hybrid (analogue-digital) creative process which largely simulates human creativity although lacking several characteristics of it.† The design studio, then, is not a confined physical space for drawing and model making but a hybrid practise which blends traditional in-person studio experiences and computer simulations. The hybrid model, moreover, overcomes disciplinary boundaries using combinations of data (structured and unstructured), culture (man-made and biological), matter (organic and inorganic) and technology (analogue and digital) that stimulate and generate new creative perspectives which, in turn, impact ideation itself. Indeed, a paradigm shift. *‘Aha, I know what is going on here and this is what I need to do to figure out the answer.’ reaction to the problem. †AI does not use the same process as a human does when that human is thinking creatively. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2713374523000225

New year resolution: digital detox?

The risk of digital addiction from excessive use of AI systems may suggest digital detox. That is, commitment to reduce, limit, or exclude the use of digital devices and technology like smartphones and social media platforms. But for ideation, would over-reliance on AI and digital tools dull creativity? This may, at first, seem contradictory as AI-driven design tools such as Adobe Firefly or Midjourney, have become integrated in everyday design practice. Indeed this convergence of human creativity and technology is redefining design processes not just in terms of speed and higher productivity but empowering designers to unlock untapped potential, and create once unimaginable designs. Yet over-reliance on AI systems, such as ChatGPT, may result in creative complacency or automation biases.* If so, critical thinking skills remain important to evaluate chatbot outputs rather than blindly accepting them. Digital detox, then, would mean taking a break from constant connectivity and screen time to reflect on the use of AI and the relationship between human decision-making and technology. But to choose to limit or reduce designer tech time can be challenging in modern-day design practice which is hugely dependent on digital tools and materials. However, there are designerly ways to counter the tendency to rely on, or trust automated technology too much. For example, setting time aside for "thinking with a pencil"! * AI systems tend to take on human biases and amplify them, causing people who use that AI to become more biased themselves. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2024/dec/bias-ai-amplifies-our-own-biases

Ideating in pairs

The workshop setup allows for participants to generate ideas alone, in pairs or small groups (3-4 people - larger groups would become "brainstorming" activity). While designers may prefer to ideate on their own reflecting the tradition of individual creative expression, working solo or in pairs isn't mutually exclusive and switching between the two can be beneficial. Pair work, then, encourages collaboration and provides a platform to initiate, express and pool first thoughts together. From then on, the pair explains, clarifies, amends, and fine-tunes the emerging ideas and may, finally agree on a single idea or arrive at a totally new idea or concept. Moreover, ideating in pairs focuses minds on the design task or theme, sharpens and develops creative thought and organises and communicates the ideas convincingly, both verbally and visually. Ideation in pairs, then, imparts clarity into ideas that might otherwise remain vague. Also, having to listen to, reflect and respond to another's ideas fosters appreciation for diversity and builds respect for design as a discipline.

Prompt engineering and creativity

Designers typically pride themselves on generating their own ideas. But AI models, such as ChatGTP, can help designers generate ideas through prompt engineering, that is, the process of structuring or crafting an instruction in order to produce better outputs (texts or images) from a generative artificial intelligence (AI) model. This may suggest that designers using prompts for idea generation are becoming editors or curators rather than ideators.That is, designers are selecting, refining and promoting the most promising ideas produced by the algorithms. If so, do designers may risk outsourcing their innate spark of creativity to AI models rather than creating the idea itself. Or, is it the case that prompting is simply unlocking a new form of creativity? After all, prompt engineering is a creative activity in that it means experimenting with different phrasing, structures, or contextual elements in the prompt to get the best possible design output from the AI model. This suggests that prompting enhances rather than diminishes human creativity. But even so, as chatbots become more powerful and accessible, designers need to address concerns about authenticity, quality and ethical standards.

Performative ideation

The concept of performativity* - the symbiotic or interdependent relationship between words and actions - can be applied to design ideation. That is, ideation has a performative function in that designing is typically about change and changing the world. The overreaching transformative role or function of design, moreover, means that the workshop participants are agents for change, that is, they are seeking desirable outcomes through design thinking and making. In this performative pursuit, the participants are not so much competing to impress others - "mine idea is better than yours" - but, and more important, to develop designer authenticity and resilience, both collectively, as members of the design community, and individually, in what philosopher Martin Heidegger called our "authentic self".* How To Do Things with Words (Austin 1962) is the foundational text on performative language

Creativity and critical thinking

Creativity and critical thinking are both processes of thought which can be viewed separately - one is expansive, the other reductive - or they can be seen as working together. That is, when designers generate ideas they can either conceptualise something new outside the ordinary, without fear of failure, or make new connections while thinking critically about the ideation process and its outcome, which is critical. That is, creative and critical thinking are not mutually exclusive. But, in practice, critical  thinking is needed to rule out the truly poor or impractical ideas, to produce a workable solution. In this, the designer turns on the inner critic and considers adjustments or alternatives. Moreover, when communicating ideas, the designer, when challenged would allow for feedback in the form of criticism. Being critical, on the other hand, in evaluating ideas, differs from thinking critically in that being critical may suggest a negative attitude, a fault-finding mindset or aversion to risk-taking (negative criticism). Positive criticism, on the other hand, would contribute to how designers understand how creative and critical thinking go hand in hand also raising awereness about personal accountability and wider ideation issues such as ethics and serving the greater good. Ideators, then, at best, are both creative and critical thinkers.

Playfulness and ideation

The ideation workshop embraces the power of playfulness and its creative role in design allowing the participants to follow their curiosity and imagination ("what if ..."). That is, the participants engage in playful thinking and behaviour with the intention to achieve serious objectives, that is, problem-solving. Ideation in this way ("serious play"), is unstructured yet constructive encouraging the participants to think both creatively and critically culminating in representations and presentations of ideas. And not because the participants are following instructions but because the workshop environment and brief invites and facilitates a playful and exploratory mindset. 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.