Ideas looking for a problem

From loudmouthed AI chatbots to ridiculous e-commerce product summaries, “AI slop”, which is defined as low-quality and generally unwanted AI-generated content, reached a new peak in 2025. Indeed AI-generated articles now make up more than half of all English-language content on the web, according to search engine optimisation firm Graphite. And so, in AI slop environments, designers find  themselves under commercial pressure 'to start from the solution and work backwards to find the problem', say researchers at Nielsen Norman Group. That is, product designers have been tasked with integrating AI almost anywhere and everywhere even when it might make little sense. And so, there has been a reaction against the amount of AI slop spreading on the web although, as the research suggests the tide seems to be turning against AI slop making way for more intentional product design and strategy that focuses on impact. If so, more intentional product design, given he impact of AI, suggests that designers will need to argue their case for what their skills contribute to projects. Interestingly, working backwards from problem to solution has a parallel in the found object art, that is, a non-art item or ordinary manufactured objects is designated as art, as exemplified by Marcel Duchamp's "readymades". André Breton, the co-founder of surrealism, defined a readymade as a ‘manufactured object raised to the dignity of works of art through the choice of the artist'. And so, Duchamp put his idea about the object and then calling it art.  Readymades are considered a viable artist practice although still open to questioning.

Remote ideation

Major changes have taken place in design practices in recent decades strongly impacted by technology, including digital communication. Positively, this means that designers can work from almost anywhere they choose. But freedom to work almost anywhere and at anytime may have drawbacks. For example, social isolation and loneliness may ensue with technology-based remote working as many aspects of design relate to the physical world with its many sensuous qualities, including in-person interaction. Indeed, as held by the philosopher Merleau-Ponty (1908-61), actual human existence is perceived on a sensual-physical level*. Physical studio space, however, is no longer the default setting for designers as AI systems combined with CAD and 3D printing provide for mobility and remote working, from ideation to prototyping. That is, AI assisted design thinking and making are changing the studio experience. Yet most designers feel the need for physical and ambient work spaces not just for work-related discussion and collaboration but for spontaneous meetings and small-talk that provide both social and emotional connections. After all, digital communication, however convenient and efficient is lacking built-in social breaks. And so, to stay motivated and productive, designers want social face-to-face connections. Studio observations, moreover, and both in education and professional practice show that person-to-person interactions foster and enhance creativity and collaborative work as well as giving designers a sense of belonging to a team or community. Text inspired by https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/digital-world-real-world/202512/remote-working-and-loneliness?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-gb  *Merleau-Ponty, M. (1945 French original - 1962 English translation). Phenomenology of Perception. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul

Learning from Frank Gehry

Buildings designed by the architect Frank Gehry (1929-2025), such as the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao (1997), have gained wide public admiration as well as inspiring fellow designers. But equally noteworthy is his design philosophy: 'To design something that one would want to be a part of, something one would want to visit and enjoy in an attempt to improve one’s quality of life.' More specifically, Gehry considered architecture 'to be art' aiming at transferring the feelings of humanity through inert materials. Not surprisingly then, he greatly appreciated the visual arts, notably sculpture which influenced his architectural approach resulting in innovative and unconventional forms. In this, he experimented with industrial materials and methods, such as overlapping glass panels and titanium cladding. But key to Gehry's creativity was the role of preliminary dynamic sketches in generating design ideas (observing here too, for example, Paul Klee’s serpentine lines as the essence of creative thought). That is, he began the creative process with freeform sketching and modelling visualising what he had in mind and then turned the ideas into production-ready drawings and material form with the use of scanning processes and 3D modelling software. Gehry also took a keen interest in education encouraging students to always be curious, and let architecture open up to other subjects, such as philosophy, literature, and music. Furthermore, and although he resisted categorisation as an architect, despite recognisable deconstructivist architectural elements in his work, he advised students to study and learn from the greats, from Brunelleschi and Borromini to Le Corbusier and Zaha Hadid.

AIdeation: ChatGPT three years on

ChatGPT, the generative artificial intelligence chatbot, was launched three years ago (November 2022) and has evolved rapidly to become the go-to software tool for generating, developing and communicating ideas, enhancing concepts and exploring scenarios. But more than this, ChatGPT, together with CAD and 3D printing is increasingly facilitating and streamlining the design process - from first thoughts to prototyping. Indeed, rare is the designer who hasn't engaged with ChatGPT, which holds 61 percent of the market for Generative AI chatbots. But despite its widespread adoption, ChatGPT is not without risks. For example, it can pose a threat to integrity, such as plagiarism (although copyright does not protect ideas or concepts per se), or create technology dependency. But while the impact and implications of ChatGPT are felt and experienced across design fields, both in education and practice, the chatbot has become a powerful assistive design tool offering creative synergy between human ingenuity and AI. Yet like any computer tool, ChatGPT should be used from critical and informed perspectives, considering both its benefits and limitations as a creative source for best course of action or possible outcome. After all, ChatGPT is only as good as the user's prompts. This highlights the role of judgement in creative thinking which may suggest building foundation for critical thinking without relying too much on GenAI systems, especially for novice designers. That is, to encourage critical thinking, in the context of design education and creative learning, to develop fortuitously through personal engagement with tools and materials that offer tactile sensations and emotional connections. That is, to empower users of ChatGPT, in often cluttered and noisy digital environments to (re)discover arts and craft tools for inventiveness. But overall, the challenges presented by chatbots call for ongoing experimentation, research and discussion.

Ideation, GenAI and critical thinking

In an analogue world, design ideas aren't forced upon the designer. They are conjectural, or guesses about reality - a proposal or tentative solution to a posed problem. In this pursuit, designers aren't idealists because design ideation is a purposeful activity aiming at realisable ideas. The designer, then, is seen as a realist seeking to be proven right. That is, the designer faces practicality having to accept the physical facts of the situation and, oftentimes the emotional side to the problem at hand. Yet some ideas can clash with reality, and when they do they remind designers that ideas may be mistaken. Ideation, then, is a process that must allow criticism in order for the idea to move forward, to propose a better solution. That is, ideation includes critical thinking skills. And so, designers not only need to be imaginative and open-minded but willing to be corrected. However, with the rise of Generative AI, what is its impact on critical thinking? Interestingly, a recent survey (2025) shows that in GenAI-assisted tasks higher confidence in GenAI is associated with less critical thinking, while higher self-confidence is associated with more critical thinking.* This may suggest that practsing ideation without GenAI assistance could help foster greater critical thinking skills also raising designer self-confidence in problem-solving ability. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/publication/the-impact-of-generative-ai-on-critical-thinking-self-reported-reductions-in-cognitive-effort-and-confidence-effects-from-a-survey-of-knowledge-workers/

Ideation and problem-solving

When designers respond to a problem, the problem is typically on a sliding scale from simple to complex.  Roughly speaking, simple problems can be described as puzzles, or "tame problems", whereas complex problems are known as "wicked problems". A puzzle is fairly straightforward when the pieces need to be located and connected. That is, it is assumed that the solution to the puzzle is almost certain to be found. A complex problem, in contrast, has no known or at least immediate solution and so designers are faced with challenges that call for a greater variety of skills and capabilities involving collaborative and decision-making tools and techniques. But whether simple or complex, the starting point for problem solving includes clarifying the goal, identifying the constraints, and understanding the context of the situation. Also, see Tame vs Wicked problems, in blog below. https://www.td.org/content/atd-blog/puzzle-problem-challenge-or-conundrum

Conversational prompting

Prompt engineering is the process of writing effective instructions for a GPT model, such that it generates content that meets desired outcomes. And because the content generated from a model is non-deterministic, that is, even for the same input, the model can generate different responses on different runs - and the rich datasets combine art and science, prompting can be particularly useful in creative fields such as design. However, there’s more to effective human-AI collaboration than a perfect prompt. And so, conversational prompting is a technique that involves interacting with AI systems like ChatGPT in a human-like conversation. That is, users describe in everyday terms what they want ChatGPT to do rather than trying to craft complex prompts. In this, users engage in back-and-forth interactions with the model to refine the results, provide additional context, and answer the ChatGPT's questions. That is, the user guides the process while letting ChatGPT handle the specifics of generating appropriate prompts and responses. Problem solving, then, it is thought, is enhanced by balancing human ingenuity and machine intelligence. However, conversational prompting, as a feed-back model, carries risks too. That is, the interaction may contain misinformation, biases or illusions raising the question: Is the output reliable and trustworthy? Selected sources:  https://platform.openai.com/docs/guides/prompt-engineering    https://promptengineering.org/conversational-prompting-in-generative-ai/