Mistaken ideas

Design ideas aren't forced upon the designer. They are conjectural, or guesses about reality - a tentative solution to a posed problem. But designers aren't idealists because design ideation is a purposeful activity aiming at realisable ideas. The designer, then, is a realist seeking to be proven right. That is, the designer faces practicality having to accept the physical facts of the situation and, at times, the emotional side to solving 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 to take the idea forward, to propose a better solution. That is, ideation incorporates critical thinking. And so, designers not only need to be imaginative and open-minded but also willing to be corrected.