Computer-aided ideation (CAI)

Now that digital media, including CAD, are built into the front-end of design processes, computing has become intuitive enough to be part of ideation. Only lack of awareness and/or fear of new technologies, then, would present Computer-aided ideation, CAI, as a disruptive concept.

The Ideator's stone

The ideator's stone is an ideation tool capable of turning base ideas into optimal ones. The tool has the magic of words, the beauty of drawing, the malleability of clay, and the ingenuity of computing.

Tools and ideas

Idea sketching, as process, is part of design ideation rather than the idea itself. The idea sketch, as outcome, is evidence of the idea.

Ideation stratagem

Ideation can take the form of a stratagem - a plan or scheme that evolves and improves with accumulated knowledge and practice.

Find inspiration

'Inspiration is hard to come by. You have to take it where you find it'.
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan's new album Together Through Life is out April 27 on Columbia Records

Ideation tools

Design ideation suggests a relational process. To capture and communicate the ideation process, designers need tools, what I call conceptual, or ideation tools. Such tools include sketching, words (speech and language), modelling (physical and virtual), and computing. The aim of the ideation workshop is to help improve the use of conceptual tools (see also below).

Too many big ideas?

The world is full of people who think they know how to make the world a better place. Perhaps that's the problem. If there weren't so many smart Alecs with so many big ideas, we'd all get along a lot more easily. So what we need is not more big ideas but more thoughful ideas?