The idea of Now

The concept of now represents the inevitability of transience - the relationship between space and time - a kind of fleeting sense of reality. The space-time reference point of now suggests both spatial and temporal uncertainty as well as subjective experience. That is, the concept is not absolute but is relative to the observer's frame of experience. Yet defining the true nature of now takes on elusive yet provocative and fruitful associations. It has crossed cultures and civilisations, people and places, and countless interpretations have been proposed, as exemplified by Buddhist impermanence and the ‘feeling of things’ of Japanese aesthetics. The transitory essence of now suggests that ideation is an agent for continuous change where the idea is in the present time or moment yet linked to the past pointing to the future. This also suggests that the ideation process can be viewed through a philosophical lens, say, of the ontology of being and becoming, or Hegel's view that everything is in a process of change. And Heraclitus noted the endless flux of existence.

GenAI as spectacle

Generative AI enables machines to produce content that appears to mimic human-like creativity. As such GenAI models, as tools are great creative assistants. But while GenAI models excel at mimicking human-like responses, they lack genuine comprehension. That is, GenAI models use complex mathematical and statistical methods to generate responses that appear intelligent but lack genuine understanding or reasoning. The illusion of understanding means that GenAI output is surface, or representation without any deep contextual understanding, as experienced on social media platforms such as Instagram or Copilot. To better grasp the concepts of semantic understanding, reasoning and appearance of GenAI, a philosophical interpretation may help. For example, Guy Debord  (1931-1994), an arch-critic of consumerism and theorist of The society of the Spectacle (1967) - elaborates a system of social relations mediated by images where the totality of social relations becomes mediated by appearances. That is, experience of events is replaced by a passive contemplation of images (which are determined by other people) exemplified by the culture of advertising, consumption, and celebrity. Debord's term spectacle has become widely used for the modern condition. GenAI, then, through Debord's lens of a world mediated by images, may become the new social spectacle. The spectacle, moreover, evokes differences between appearance and reality. Shakespeare's Macbeth, for example, demonstrates how appearances cannot be trusted because they are moldable, meaning they offer no insight into the reality of a person. As spectacle, then, GenAI may alter perceptions of visual representations whereby appearances are based on copies instead of the original, or copies without the original.

Data-driven ideas

In the early days of design research - 1960s, a scientific approach to to the design process was promoted as the result of new technical developments such as computers and automation. Although the design science relationship was, and remains controversial, scientific knowledge, and its application is still relevant to understanding how designers think and work (Nigel Cross, 2023). A recent example is GenAI models trained on terabytes of web crawl data from across the internet to create new content. Being data-driven means that GenAI's output is derived from data analysis, which is part of the scientific method. In the data-driven approach, GenAI represents a break from the more traditional view of design as a creative practice supported by artistic, intuitive processes or personal opinions. Yet GenAI does not exclude the designer from the ideation process because GenAI operates on a probabilistic framework, it does not possess true understanding or consciousness like a human. That is, GenAI is not capable of learning, or understanding the concepts underlying its own responses to human prompts, which are input elements for GenAI to generate results. Indeed to achieve human-centered desired outcomes, writing effective prompts is considered a skillful craft. And so, although GenAI evolved from computer science, the technology is guided by human prompts. GenAI, then, reflects human-machine interaction -  a tool that facilitates ideation.

Easy Aideas

Design ideas typically are about incremental change or improvement over something that already exists rather than about something that is truly original or radically different. For incremental innovation, then, generative artificial intelligence has emerged as a powerful ideation tool that facilitates a seemingly endless flow of creative content. But how does GenAI tools like ChatGPT and Copilot compare with human ideation without GenAI? GenAI foremost advantage is it generates huge amount of diverse content - both text and images using pre-existing data from across the internet. Then there is the ease of use of GenAI as it responds to written prompts in a conversational style and in multiple languages - and at great speed. More, as GenAI is going mainstream it has the potential of facilitating problem solving on a global scale. But there are weaknesses with GenAI models.. For example, writing effective prompts may seem simple but rests on prerequisite knowledge, language skills and, yes human imagination. Even so, the user friendliness of GenAI and the creative and original appearance of its output carry the risk of over-reliance on GenAI. Indeed users might find themselves having more ideas than they know what to do with. Also, it is not transparent what data GenAI models are trained on - raising ethical or copyright issues. Or, the self-referential loop of GenAI data might, paradoxically result in more similar output over time narrowing the scope for plurality or novelty. But values, assumptions and biases are embedded in GenAI tools, and so more empirical evidence is needed to fully evaluate the pros and cons of GenAI systems. Yet the appeal of GenAI is overwhelming and by fusing AI-generated ideas with human judgement and refinement, it is fair to say that GenAI is enhancing human creativity, including ideation.

Ideator roles

Design ideation can be seen as generating, developing and communicating ideas, and so the corresponding roles of the ideator would be that of generator, developer and communicator of ideas. And one may add a fourth role, that is, that of critic, or rather inner critic. For the designer as ideator, these roles often role into one. That is, the designer generates the idea, from a great variety of (re)sources, then develops the idea, that is, grow, evolve or expand the idea, and finally communicates, or shares the idea with others.The fourth role, that of inner critic, may run throughout the ideation process, a balancing role as the ideator should manage their self-criticism so as not harm the desire to succeed. However, there is potentially a fifth role for the ideator, that is, the role of realising, or implementing the idea to what then becomes a working idea. And to execute the idea would be either on the ideator's own accord or with the help of others. The designer-maker would exemplify the ideator playing all the roles whereas the "Jack-of all ideas" may typify the ideator as foremost generator and communicator of ideas.

Daydreaming

Daydreaming or mind-wandering is often seen as a spontaneous, unfocused mental state without deliberate direction - in contrast to imagination regarded as a more focused, structured, and purposeful cognitive process. And so, if you get stuck on a particular problem, say, it may be a good thing to take a break from the problem and allow the mind to wander and daydream for a time, to let your subconscious work the problem. Moreover, by stepping away from the task in front of you, chances are you may generate creative ideas that help solve the problem at hand. Although daydreaming may at first be seen as distraction from the present, that is, inattention - and daydreaming does not necessarily lead to creative manifestations - it may nevertheless help problem-solving as it frees up space for the mind to rest and wander. Allowing daydreaming then, can be intentional, also known as "positive constructive daydreaming". Deliberate daydreaming may sound counter-intuitive but in practice may take the form of finding space and time for sketching or doodling to allow the mind to roam or wander. Doodling then becomes a technique, a tool, or practice that supports daydreaming, or out-of-the box, creative thinking. In addition, daydreaming through doodling may give a sense of professional identification with the work - particularly when generative AI may reduce the capacity to daydream.

Participatory ideation

Digitisation of design (converting analogue data into digital format), or digitalisation (turning analogue processes into digital ones) are not only driving mundane or routine aspects of the design process (such as rendering, drawing a plan or elevation) but also influencing design thinking and ideation. And so designers are being challenged by algorithms and corresponding software structures to focus their efforts on things that humans are better at than machines. Or rather, when challenged, how designers who embrace AI may do better than those who do not.  That is, designers need to engage in the evolving computer-human mind relationship. For example, AI is moving in the direction of becoming closer to a super-competent assistant, a virtual team member or co-pilot in the design process. That is, using AI tools in an enhancing role. Moreover, digitisation of visualisation has transformed the way designers communicate with non-expert clients shifting the balance of power in favour of the client - clients who, through their own digital experiences are better equipped to engage in the design process and consequently more demanding in their design requirements. This development highlights how the designer-client relationship is an ever closer cooperation, collaboration or partnership. In other words, digitisation is enabling a multi-level participatory design process where the client and other stakeholders are effectively becoming co-designers.