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