Choreographic creativity

The word choreography comes from Greek and most commonly refers to dance (in the sense, 'written notation of dancing'). Broadly, choreography is about designing movement in time and space. But what does it mean in practice? Can ideation be seen as a form of dance improvisation and so be choreographed? While it is true that choreographers often “invent” new ways of moving, choreography transcends movements, and gives them meaning, perhaps similar to how designers give meaning to their ideas. If so, when choreographing, you need to think about everything. And so, the designer, as choreographer, is the brains and heart of the whole thing, all of which cannot happen without a deep process of thinking which neither begins nor ends in the studio. Choreographic creativity, then, may come from a philosophical background, social experiences, or any other aspect of the human experience. They may also be imposed by a brief, assignment or commission. Either way, preparing a choreographic piece may show similarity to generating and communicating ideas that require deep, broad and interdisciplinary research. Moreover, the means for creative notation can build on traditional technique, although with innovative approaches or through developing a new visual language, entirely. But each form of creative notation has its own specificity and requires a different approach. So, if choreography is planned movement, and movement is everywhere, we could say that creatives are engaged with choreography all of the time, that is, with people and ideas. And so, choreographic creativity, like ideation has no limits. https://www.dance-masterclass.com/blog/what-does-a-choreographer-do

 

Dialogic ideation

One of the many approaches to design ideation takes the form of dialogue, or interactive communication between two or more designers, or between designer and client (co-design). The dialogue, however, as an experience of human interaction, is rarely just a rational exchange of ideas. More often than not it involves the participants' attitudes, motivations and feelings when faced with, and responding to a given situation or problem. The dialogue, or exchange of first thoughts and ideas, then, creates and presents scenarios or narratives that triggers emotional responses in both designer and client which highlight the role of designers in shaping AI-driven experiences. That is, designer responsibility and accountability which means designer capability to critical thinking to reduce the negative impacts of AI on society, notably in terms of AI ethics. The emotional elements in dialogic ideation, moreover, may act as a prologue to designing for emotion when the user experience is core, as in, say, product design.

When ideas run into the sand

When Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman proposed building a 110-mile linear megacity called the Line in the middle of the desert near the border of Jordan and Egypt in 2020—the centerpiece of a vast new planned city called Neom accommodating 9 million residents—a dozen of the world’s most prestigious architecture firms signed up. Now, five years later, the idea has run into the sand, literally, with the Saudi government having a change of heart announcing the $1.5 trillion project will be downscaled drastically. And so, the assigned architects are now working on redesigning the megastructure into a more modest, and radically changed project - from metropolis to a hub for data centers to serve the AI industry. The megacity idea, however, was, due to is complexity and construction costs, unrealistic from the start. More generally, expert analysis by Oxford University's Saïd Business School suggests megaprojects are often commissioned for the wrong reason ("unchecked  motivations") and, due to their size and complexity, are pre-determined to systemic failure. As for motivation, then, did big ego, including the architects', get in the way ("lack of ego-control")? If so, does the retreat of the megaproject exemplify design driven by hype rather than evidence-based practice. For example, Neom's presentation videos were a masterclass in rendering a seductive utopia. More contentious, the Saudi decision may reflect how the planning of Arab cities responds to globalism: That is, does "new Arab urbanism" differ significantly from colonialism, that is, the intrusion of a Western lifestyle? http://ndl.ethernet.edu.et/bitstream/123456789/20950/1/11.pdf

The idea of progress

Design ideas are intrinsically linked to the Western idea of progress and the 4 industrial revolutions, from the end of the 18th century to present-day (mechanical revolution, mass production, digital automation and industry 4.0). That is, in evolutionary terms, progress built on the assumption of gradual, continuous change - a self-driven, purposeful and cumulative process. However, since late twentieth-century, the idea of progress has increasingly come under scrutiny as a result of the environmental and social consequences of free-market policies. And so, with industry 4.0, the question is now how AI systems will impact the idea of progress in the perspective of economic and social development, particularly when the effects of AI remain uneven among jobs and economies as exemplified by the introduction of humanoid AI robots. Positively, AI may renew and reaffirm the idea of progress as experimental technology turns into operational technology in homes, offices and on factory floors  However, the uncertainty or disruption triggered by AI - revolution or evolution (?), may erode the historical foundations for the belief in progress as a human force for good. To consider future direction and impact of AI on society at large, understanding how it is used, and why is as important as measuring how widely it is adopted.

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.