Narrative ideation

The narrative is one of many ways to generate, develop and communicate ideas. That is, an approach whereby the narrative, or story telling, is the propelling agent of the idea, the agent here being the designer-ideator, from first thought to description or exposition of the idea through the means of words (written and spoken), freehand sketches, physical models or computations (digital media), or combinations thereof. Moreover, as the idea is a form of proposition, or argument, that is, although the idea may be "fully formed", it is not yet realised, and whether expressed verbally or visually, it sits within the narrative approach in either fiction or non-fiction mode, or, again, in mixed modes. Design ideation, then, becomes a process akin to that of narration, where the designer is not only the ideator - the creator of ideas, but a story teller too. A variation of ideation as narrative is interactive storytelling, that is, the designer interacts with clients/colleagues/users/consumers. In this mode, the designer is not necessarily the leading ideator, or protagonist propelling the story (idea) forward. Narrative ideation, then, becomes a shared creative and collaborative experience.