Ideation by AI = AIdeation

Ideas are related to imagination and imagination to creativity. And creativity leads to either invention or innovation where invention amounts to absolute creativity, that is, the outcome is unique or original* whereas innovation is creativity through variation or incremental change. That is, innovation based on modification or combination of what already exists and constitutes the vast majority of "new" products and services for the marketplace. In this the marketplace demonstrates its capacity to assimilate, modify and commodify almost any idea. Ideation for innovation, then, can be seen as a creative thought process through variation. But variation is also key in the development of artifcial intelligence, AI..That is, generative artificial intelligence, GAI learns continuously from the accumulating data and outcomes and is getting better and better with time increasing its ability to change, adapt and grow based on new data. As a result GAI at maturity is capable of indefinitely generating new ideas that are combinative derivations of already known forms and patterns. Innovation by artificial versus human intelligence, then, is not mutually exclusive, that is, both  are capable of achieving compatible results. However, convergence of human and artificial intelligence suggests that a designer response to the advancement of AI is to emphasise the subjective and the intuitive, that is, to give evidence of an essentially human action, to mark the subjectivity of the idea itself. Indeed, AI only acts based on prior data and, lacking human intuition would struggle to have an answer to new unique circumstances. This further suggests that GAI is built for innovation rather than invention. GAI, then, through its capacity for variational creativity, has the potential to become a major ideation tool for innovation in the marketplace. That is, ideation by AI, or AIdeation. * What is described as original design of use is ultimately defined by intellectual property (patents, copyrights, and trademarks).

Ideation as eco practice

Design ideation, as a social activity placed within a 'culture of innovation', often conjures up the never ending call for "What new?" or, "What next?" Or, to borrow from literary criticism, ideation may be seen as a form of  'stream of consciousness' - a narrative mode that attempts "to depict the multitudinous thoughts and feelings which pass through the mind" of a narrator, in which case the ideator is the narrator depicting, or visualising a myriad of thoughts and ideas. Stream of consciousness followed by an apparently endless stream of consumer products and gadgets. But this striving in modern consumer society of always doing or getting something new, whether that is creating or buying a new product or service, is controversial. And as technology brings an increasing pace of change into everyday life, including the design sector, more responsibility is being placed on designers, and their ideas to ensure that innovation is aligned with global issues such as sustainability. This may suggest that the culture of innovation, where innovation seems confused with change for change's sake, and arrived at via the free market system, is no longer sustainable to meet urgent environmental concerns. The question, then, will a new ecosystem of innovation, or knowing when to change be championed by designers themselves, as part of distributed leadership in industry and education? Or, will the necessary change happen through external forces and market regulation?

Design as rhetoric of things

Rhetoric is commonly regarded as language designed to motivate, persuade, or inform, or the art of persuasion through speaking and writing. In Ancient Greece, oration, or public speaking, was the primary use of rhetoric. Aristotle outlined four types of rhetoric, or modes of persuasion, that can shape words into effective rhetoric: Logos - appeals to logic and reason. It relies on the content of the message, including data and facts, to support its claims. Ethos - relies on the reputation of the person delivering the message. Pathos - establishes an emotional connection with the audience. Kairos - appeals to timing, such as whether the argument occurs at the right time and in the ideal surrounding context to be accepted. For designers, however, there is more to rhetoric than expressed in classical rhetoric because in the digital age the persuasive power relies much on computer-based images, both 2D and 3D, including 3D printing and so the designed "thing" (or object), is a design argument in itself. Indeed, Dieter Rams, the industrial designer closely associated with the German consumer product company Braun argues that designers cannot remain at the level of words: 'They must transpose their insights into concrete, three-dimensional objects'. Similarly, Richard Buchanan, a professor of design, management, and information systems, says that while the word design is the natural word for all forms of production for use providing the intelligence, the thought or idea that organises all levels of production, design is an architectonic art in respect to things made for use that is not simply the old verbal rhetoric but, rhetoric of things.

TikTok for ideation

If you have not used TikTok, you are rapidly becoming the global exception, writes Drew Harwell in the Washington Post*. In five years, the app, once written off as a silly dance-video fad, has become one of the most prominent and technically sophisticated juggernauts on the internet - a phenomenon that has secured an unrivaled grasp on culture and everyday life. TikTok’s website was visited last year more often than Google and its ad revenue is estimated to have tripled this year, to $12 billion. TikTok is a social media app that allows users to create short videos of their own up to 3 minutes long. It's different from other social media platforms because while Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram are primarily focused on sharing images and text, TikTok is all about sharing videos. But more than that. Tiktok has blown up the model of what a social network can be. Silicon Valley taught the world a style of online connectivity built on hand-chosen interests and friendships. TikTok doesn’t care about those. Instead, it unravels for viewers an endless line of videos selected by its algorithm, then learns a viewer’s tastes with every second they watch, pause or scroll. You don’t tell TikTok what you want to see. It tells you: “We’re talking about a platform that’s shaping how a whole generation is learning to perceive the world.”. TikTokers are increasingly using the app as a visual search tool too. Thanks to its gravitational pull on creators and audiences, the app’s videos now encompass practically every topic on earth. TikTok, then, is an app that stimulate creativity. In other words, TikTok can be seen as another ideation tool for generating and communicating ideas. *Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/interactive/2022/tiktok-popularity/?utm_source=pocket-newtab-global-en-GB

Ideation: Words or images?

'I prefer drawing to talking - drawing is faster and leaves less room for lies', quipped Le Corbusier (1887-1965). Or, Eero Saarinen (1910-61): 'To me, the drawn language is a very revealing language', adding, 'one can see in a few lines whether a man is really an architect'. Although drawing predicates most design disciplines, this is not to say that designers need to be able to draw like an accomplished artist. The freehand sketch, even a scribble or doodle, is often a starting point towards an accomplished design. And when drawing digitally, with a tablet pen, there may be an advantage in that the designer can undo and tweak as much as they like until they are satisfied with a design. However, in the context of ideation, visual or verbal communication are not mutually exclusive. Indeed both visual and verbal modes of idea communication are rhetorical means, that is, ideation belongs to "the art of persuasion". And so what matters in communicating ideas is the relationship between words and images: Words explain, images suggest - or vice versa. Ideation, then, as its most effective, exploits the relationship between words and images.

Creative writing prompts

Creative writing prompts is a way of inspiring innovation and as such is an ideation tool. Now, in the age of artificial intelligence, the word prompt, in its meaning of 'to make something happen' or 'prompt someone to do something' (verb), or 'something done quickly and without delay' (adjective) or, as a noun, 'a sign or set of directions to say, write or do something', is taking on a new significance. And so AI is being used to generate images based on text prompts, or generative artificial intelligence (GAI) - a short and precise sentence that describes the desired image. Accordingly, AI algorithms turn text input into images by combining and altering existing images using artificial neural networks. Currently, the way the AI industry is doing this is to train machine learning algorithms through real photos that already exist on the internet. Yet AI generated images are potentially limitless and so the technology of text to image generators provides a new approach to ideation. That is, in conceptualising designs, a human-machine interaction, or dialogue between visualisation (non-verbal) and language (words). But the technology is not without controversy, notably because the question of copyright has not be resolved. That is, it remains unclear where things stand for the people who own the original images used by the AI generator. This uncertainty reflects the idea/expression dichotomy in copyright law, that is, while ideas, facts and concepts are not protectable by copyright, the expression of those ideas, facts, and concepts are protectable. As a reaction to this, Getty Images, one of the world's biggest libraries of stock imagery, has banned AI-generated images from its site.

Ideation is relational

That ideas are not stand-alone elements of thought but relational, and ideators act not on their own but with others, seem reasonable. Yet the notion that all properties, or "entities", “attributes”, “qualities”, “features”, “characteristics”, or “types" and their agents are relational is not without debate although central to the western philosophical tradition. Plato called them “ideas” or “forms”, and viewed them as universals, in contrast with particulars or individuals. The Sophist, written by Plato in 360 BC, contains the following phrase: “Anything which possesses any sort of power to affect another, or to be affected by another, if only for a single moment, however trifling the cause and however slight the effect, has real existence; and I hold that the definition of being is simply action". And in the eastern tradition, the Buddhist philosopher Nāgārjuna’s central notion of “emptiness” tells us that nothing has independent existence: anything that exists, exists thanks to, as a function of, or according to the perspective of, something else. Furthermore, in the material world, we know that a chemical substance is defined by how it reacts, a biological species is defined according to the niche it occupies in the biosphere, and what defines us as human beings is our relationships. Moreover, atoms, as quantum physics show are defined by their physical interactions with the rest of the world. This suggests that reality is not a collection of things but a network of processes. If so, ideation, as part of the design process, and ideas, as outcomes of this process, can be described in terms of relationships and interactions. This further suggests that winning ideators are those who collaborate. Too often we measure success in terms of a single ideator's fortunes. However, prioritising individual ideas over the common good might prevents us from addressing the true challenges that face the world today. (Adapted from, and added to) Source: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/sep/05/the-big-idea-why-relationships-are-the-key-to-existence

Moore on drawing ideas

Henry Moore (1898-1986), the English artist perhaps best known for his semi-abstract monumental bronze sculptures also produced many drawings. Talking about the difference between drawing and carving, Moore says that there's a connection between his drawings and his sculpture: 'Drawing lessens the danger of repeating oneself and getting into a formula. It enlarges one's form of repertoire, one's form experience. But in my sculpture, I do not draw directly upon the memory or observation of a particular object, but rather use whatever comes up from my general fund of knowledge of natural forms'. Referring to drawings, in his notebooks and sketchbooks, he describes them as 'tryouts of possible ideas for sculpture, or just scribbles in which one hopes that some new ideas might come'. As to using drawing as a means of generating ideas, Moore says: 'Sometimes you would sit down with no idea at all, and at some point you'd see something in the doodling, scribbling - whatever you call it; and from then on you could evolve the idea ... or, in another way of doing it, one would start off with a definite idea ... you would give yourself a theme and let the variations come'. Here, Moore expresses ways of ideating that would apply to design more generally. Source: James, P. ed. (1966). Henry Moore on Sculpture. London: Macdonald & Co.

Ideation strategy

Ideation is not just about generating ideas but, and equally important, about ideas communication. That is, the idea presented should stand out in some way, or stand out from the crowd in a compettion. Although there can be no guaranteed way of achieving this, a few suggestions have emerged over time. For example, the concept is presented with an-easy-to-understand, compelling solution organised around a simple, and striking idea, such as Lloyd Wright's Guggenheim Museum in New York.. However, a simple, attention seeking idea that carries the whole project is not always the most persuasive, or the most likely winner because the "big idea" might not be so much simple as simplistic. For complex design tasks, or briefs, ideation may require a more nuanced approach for which a single-idea based proposal might not be the winning ticket. The Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, for example, was designed from the inside out by Frank Gehry working with world-leading Japanese acousticians. So while there can be no single winning formula, what seems a sure-footed ideation strategy is effective and clear communication that explains the idea in its full context, both verbally and visually. The strategy may include the use of metaphor, particularly when design teams need to connect with the end users on a deeper emotional, intellectual, or experiential level.

Ideation and memory

To better understand the psychology of ideation, we must look at the mental process involved in generating new and meaningful ideas. And — from a cognitive perspective– ideation is a cognitive process generated by making new connections across different regions of the brain. Many cognitive functions draw on our experiences to make the right cognitive connections. This suggests that while some individuals may have a higher aptitude for creativity, ideation is a skill that can learned and improved on. The skill aspect of ideation highlights, in turn, the integration of memory and ideas generation, or, how ideation is driven by memory. That is,  in the context of creative problem solving, ideators need to find ways to reach their memory to find information that will be relevant to solving the problem. Or, as argued by Art Markman, a cognitive scientist, the key route to finding creative solutions to a problem is to find information in your memory that will help you to solve the problem in some way. He concludes, all creative work requires using your existing knowledge to help you to do new things. Source: https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/ulterior-motives/201510/creativity-is-memory

Neuroscience of ideation?

What is going on in our brains when we are creating? This is a question that has long intrigued designers, both in practice and education, because creative thinking involves the discovery of novel connections which is intimately tied to learning. More specifically, in neuroscience, most reserchers agree that two elements are central to creativity. First and foremost, it reflects our capacity to generate ideas that are original, unusual or novel in some way. The second element is that these ideas also need to be satisfying, appropriate or suited to the context in question. However, many of the empirical findings in relation to creativity are not in relation to originality but to associated factors like fluency and flexibility. These facts challenge a single definition that can be applied across all manifestations of creativity regardless of whether the "object" being judged is a work of art or a scientific theory. Scott Barry Kaufman, a US humanistic psychologist, says that what happens in the brain when we engage in a creative mode versus an uncreative mode remains uncertain, and notably in the explorative-generative cycle that is in place during the creative mode. Temporal factors also pose stumbling blocks in studying the brain basis of creativity. This is so because while neuroscientific methods are great at capturing the workings of the brain in short-term present, the creation of an original work of art or a novel scientific theory all transpire over extended periods of time. What is clear, however, according to Dr Kaufman, is that much of what triggers a creative mode as opposed to an uncreative mode is situational. That is, the creative mode is called for in contexts that are unclear, vague and open-ended. For example, so called "wicked problems", where there is no single solution to the problem, a situation or context that is familiar to many designers.

Ideation refinement

Ideas appear in many guises, some like a flash to be quickly made into something, others to develop slowly, worked, reworked, changed, modified or abandoned. In developing an idea to the stage where it is more likely to be endorsed than rejected, the idea may go through a process of refinement or clarification. Let's for a moment imagine such a process of idea refinement where the "raw" idea is made "pure" through applying the additive colour system. That is, RGB, the system's three primary colours, is perceived as coloured light made white. Imagine, then, that the red colour would take out any unethical or corrupting aspect of the idea, the green colour any unsustainable or harmful component, and the blue colour any disagreeable or ugly element of the idea. The idea, then, in this thought experiment to illustrate the complexity of ideation, is perceived as a broad spectrum light source shown as white light, or a refined idea. That is, a pure idea, free of any contaminant - as pure as natural sunlight.

Multisensory ideation

Designers use a range of tools to visualise their ideas. In this, traditional arts and crafts methods remain powerful means for expressing and developing ideas and concepts, perhaps even more so when designers and consumers alike seek out tactility and signs of a human touch as a counter to life lived increasingly impacted by digitisation, automation and globalisation. Indeed, physical interaction with things, or "thinking with the hands" can stimulate ideation (Mies van der Rohe, whose practice and teaching of architecture were influenced by his early training as a stonemason, brought a load of bricks to the classroom so the students could experience the material first-hand) . For comparison, consider a game of Chess: players naturally touch and move their pieces across the chess board. If thinking were simply done "in the head", what's the purpose of these physical moves? Thinking with the hands, then, as in manipulating materials, say, to build a physical model, becomes an ideation tool for problem solving. In other words, the capacity to ideate depends not just on cognitive ability, or abstract thinking, but on material things and people around us. Such a multisensory approach to ideation seems most apt when considering sustainabble production for a harmonious future with people and the planet.

Idea mapping

In the context of design, 'idea' is understood as a basic element of thought that can be either visual, concrete or abstract. Although it may seem, at times difficult to characterise concreteness and abstractness in ideation, the abstract idea may roughly overlap with the concept of a mental or cognitive map, or just about any mental representation or model, while the visual idea may take on the sign of a visual map, and the concrete idea represented in material form (physical object or artefact). But whatever shape, form or matter the idea takes, ideation is a kind of purposeful wayfinding where the ideators orient themselves in space and time with the help of ideation tools, viz, words, drawings, modelling and computing to cover both physical and cognitive creative activities. Now, wayfinding, in physical space is increasingly facilitated by technology, for example, GPS, or satellite-based radio navigation. In a similar way, ideators can navigate creative space using transformative technologies, such as artificial intelligence for data mapping while maintaining direction and control. Such use of AI-powered data mapping tools may help idea generation and facilitate innovation. That is, idea mapping to enhance ideation and break new creative ground.

It's all in the mind?

Ever since Plato started telling stories about people trapped in caves, as a means of illustrating how reality is created by the mind, philosophers have pondered the relationship between the mind (consciousness) and reality (the world as we experience it). This is generally known as the mind-body problem. Designers may not be overly excited by the mind-body problem but it touches on ideation, as part of design thinking, in that it highlights the relation, or interaction between the idea (subjectivity and intentionality) and outcome in terms of physical properties (spatio-temporal objects). Moreover, design ideas seem to have causal powers, but they also possess the mysterious property of intentionality, that is, being about other thing. Or, as the dualist might see it, the idea is in the matter, or the material world (concrete or visual ideas) but also in the computational world (abstract ideas). Intriguingly, though, simple mathematical relationships may not just tell us something about the way designers think but also something about the world. The body-mind problem, then, from a designer perspective could be conceived as fitting ideas to reality while recognising that nature is independent of ideas.

Ideation for the real world

Design ideation may suggest that the design process starts with no preconceived notions. That is, the designer start with a blank sheet of paper waiting to be filled with ideas. Or, in the words of John Locke (1632-1704), the English philosopher, who stated that the mind is like a slate scraped  free of all markings, or a tabula rasa, and that humans do not have innate ideas. Locke, then, was a leading proponent of empiricism, the theory that stresses the role of experience and evidence, and particularly sensory experience. Yet while the notion that design begins with a blank slate is attractive, the everyday lived experience tells us that the environment around us (from natural to socio-economic-political factors) influence ideation -  the ways we generate ideas, and both in terms of process and content. In this sense, empiricism is one of the foundation stones for ideation for the real world. Indeed empiricism helps the understanding of the marketplace, which in turn influences the ideation stage of the design process. Ideas which then feed into design development and production adjusted to meet both global and local needs and preferences.

Keep calm and carry on scribbling

There are times when there seem to be too many ideas competing in one's head at any one time. It can be overwhelming, even stressful although having many ideas is typically considered a good thing - a manifestation of creative thinking. After all, what designer wants to run short of ideas? So, capturing the ideas is key. And a good way of generating first thoughts and keeping track of them is through scribbling - a way of sketching out ideas, concrete or abstract, in words and/or images, say, telling little stories, and with any implement on any surface (although "pen & paper" is the most typical). In fact, scribbling can have a calming effect when there are too many "idea sparks" flying around. It can help harnessing restless ideas and put the ideator in a focused or meditative frame of mind that allow ideas to flow steadily rather than turbulently. Like a meandering stream rather than rapids. Scribbling, then, becomes a mindset, or an approach to problem solving - an aid that functions at many levels, including thinking-aloud or day-dreaming. In other words, ideation without stressing about it.

To Zoom, or not to Zoom

The creative process is being crushed by an avalanche of Zoom conference calls and remote working. That’s the view of global brand expert Martin Lindstrom, who says the new culture of video conferencing and remote working is sapping the energy of creatives: Moreover, the structure of video conferencing hinders critical discussion and encourages safe contributions such as “I agree with X, Y and Z", Lindstrom argues. The challenge that the Zoom culture poses to creativity, then, becomes a creative challenge for ideators. Some tried-and-tested ideas include online sharing of ideas for arts & crafts activities, games to play on Zoom, or Zoom singing groups. Yet constant effort to come up with the right idea when trying to solve a problem via Zoom can be counterproductive. That is, sometimes ideas and creative sparks emerge from quiet moments - in the gaps between thoughts. Or, as a Zen master may suggest, cherish the time when you're not thinking about anything: Zen, rather than Zoom, for ideas?

Research-based ideation

While research is an established part of the design process, what is research in the context of ideation? First, ideation is about generating ideas and so researched -based ideation involves forms of exploratory research, and qualitative research at that. That is, research that is exploratory in nature as it tries to explore, not to predict the outcome - after all, ideas amount to suggestions or propositions, not final outcomes. The ideation research approach then necessarily varies, from examining the situation and culture where the design takes place (through literature, conversations and interviews) to searching and referencing written or visual sources (both on- and offline), and to playing around with materials and techniques, including sketching and modelling and culminating, perhaps, in the proverbial Aha! moment. 

"The idea man"

We have all heard of the "Idea Man". That is, a man, typically although not exclusively so, who appears extremely intelligent and creative with an endless list of interesting ideas. But will any of them come to fruition, or actually work? Afer all, an idea is only an idea - and the proof of the idea is in its realisation. So, the realisation, or execution of the idea is the challenge for the ideator. A challenge that suggests having both the confidence and resources to pull the idea off - to make it happen. In an interview in The Guardian newspaper*, the "dissident"Chinese artist Ai Weiwei is being asked, against a background of producing artwork with the help of a team of 30, if he is mostly the idea man nowadays: 'I am a very handy person', he replies, 'my hands are always working. If your hands are not working, your brain is not going to function. I am very capable: carpentry, stone, iron. I have also become skilful on social media. Everything is about the continuity of learning, and learning comes from curiosity'. So, Weiwei doesn't seem to be just the idea man throwing concepts in the air but a man who turns his idea into reality, with or without assistance of others. * February 6, 2022

Airborn ideas

Le Corbusier's urbanistic ambitions, from Ville Contemporaine and Plan Voisin (Paris) to Plan Obus (Algiers) and the Rio plan (Brazil),  have many references, both explicit and implicit (as he had a habit of covering up his sources). Ville Contemporaine (contemporary city, 1922), a city designed for a population of 3 million, was an attempt at combining the garden city idea with the more urban type of the apartment block (where Chicago inspired skyscrapers made up the core of the city), whereas Plan Voisin, exhibited in 1925, made references to the French motor industry (Voisin car manufacturer sponsered the plan). Plan Voisin was followed up by Ville Radieuse (radient city, 1930) - a linear city divided into zones. As to the aesthetic, economic and social aspects of Corbusier's urbanism, the plans are based on an established catalogue of building types which represents the ideal city of big business and of centralised state control. In contrast, his proposals for Rio de Janeiro (1929) and Algiers (1932) were more flexible due to differences in the landscapes, that is to say, the new urbanism planned for flat topography, such as Paris, was too rigid and unsuitable for the steep coasts of Rio and Algiers. Interestingly, Corbusier's plans for South America and North Africa were inspired by his view of the coastline from above (he viewed both cities by airplane) providing him with ideas for a new urban aesthetic and guidelines for master planning. He wrote: 'A flight in a plane is a drama with a message - a philosophy ...  But once he [the flier] is down on the ground again, his aims and intentions will have achieved a new dimension'. Perhaps the most ironic outcome of Corbusier's urbanistic ambitions is that while none of his visionary schemes were realised his radical ideas have been hugely influential in the designing and building of cities worldwide and, in societies that still regard the motor car and tower blocks as signs of progress, till this day.

Ways of ideating

The book Ways of Seeing by John Berger (1926-2017) was published fifty years ago and was based on the BBC television series with the same name. In the book, Berger expounds on the way we view art (paintings, photographs, films, or any other representation that humans can construct), encouraging us to flex our image-reading skills. A key message of the book is 'Seeing comes before words. The child looks and recognizes before it can speak ... But there is also another sense in which seeing comes before words. It is seeing which establishes our place in the surrounding world; we explain that world with words, but word can never undo the fact that we are surrounded by it. The relation between what we see and what we know is never settled.' This state of flux characterises design ideation too. That is to say, the relation between visual and verbal language, between the image and the word, as in the popular phrase "a picture says more than a thousand words". Or, as expressed by the Russian writer Ivan Turgenev (1818-83) who wrote: "The drawing shows me at one glance what might be spread over ten pages in a book". Yet visual and verbal languages have been intertwined for centuries, for example, medieval illuminated manuscripts, with their elaborate illustrations. Or, say, the Cubists, such as Braque and Picasso, who incorporated text into their artwork.