Thinking made visible

"The ideal trademark is one that is pushed to its utmost limit in terms of abstraction and ambiguity, yet is still readable. Trademarks are usually metaphors of one kind or another. And are, in a certain sense, thinking made visible." Saul Bass (1920-1996)

Robust ideation

Robust ideation suggests creative thinking informed by research rather than mere opinion. The robust idea, then, presents a well-argued position. Although the robust idea doesn't necessarily win over the sceptics, the robustness encourages an informed discussion rather than an endless discussion of clashing opinions.

Idea formation

Daniel Shechtman, this year's winner of the Nobel prize in chemistry, observed that the arrangement of atoms in a metal alloy can break the rules of crystallography by forming unrepeating patterns, much like irregular medieval Islamic mosaics found in the Alhambra Palace in Spain and the Darb-i Iman Shrine in Iran. At the time of Shechtman's discovery, the configuration found in these "quasicrystals" was thought impossible because regular patterns were considered essential for a crystal solid to form. As a result, scientists had to reconsider how they viewed the nature of matter. The way Islamic mosaics have helped scientists understand what quasicrystals look like at the atomic level highlights the role of intellectual heritage, and might also illuminate the nature of idea formation.

Living your idea

'Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma- which is the result of living with other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.' (Steve Jobs 1955-2011).

Cloud ideation

Video games can now be delivered on demand to a PC, Mac, TV or tablet whereby the players use a web-based service (subscription or pay-per-use) rather than buying the software (shared, platform independent infrastructure). Instead of players hosting and managing the software, all the processing take place on powerful remote servers (cloud computing technology). Access to games is practically instant, and all user inputs are effectively streamed back in real-time. Now, how might cloud computing impact the hardware and software ecosystems of ideation?

Computer dependency

Long hours flying under computer control may have dulled the skills of airline flight crews, according to a U.S. advisory board that recommends more manual flight time for pilots.

"They're becoming very dependent upon using the autopilot, the auto-throttles, the auto flight system, the computers, to actually operate the entire flight," said Kevin Hiatt, a former airline pilot who sat on that board.

"What happens is, you don't actually hand-fly or manipulate the controls, whether it's a control yoke or a sidestick controller," Hiatt said. "Therefore, your computer skills get greatly enhanced, but your flying skills start to get rusty."

The panel recommended that airlines provide guidance for manual flights in their operating manuals to encourage more actual flying by pilots. But experts say the problem may get worse because of the way younger pilots are trained.

"When you bring on a new pilot who has not been through some of the things that some of the older guys have, they've never flown an airplane that had anything but some computer activity on it," retired commercial pilot Jim Tilmon said. "They don't understand what to do necessarily when something goes wrong with their computer."

Is there a lesson here for designers dependent on CAD?

Source: CNN

Ideation and plasticity of the brain

'The ability to personalise our brain in response to environment and individual experience is known as "plasticity". As we make our unique way through life, we develop our own particular perspectives due to the connections between our brain cells that are driven and shaped by our specific experiences. It is these connections which normally enable us to associate people, actions and objects with the sequence of episodes that amount to our life story. Our brain is in constant two-way dialogue with the outside world, shaping and re-shaping our neuronal unique configurations into a unique "mind"'. Susan Greenfield, pharmacologist.