Words, words, and ... drawing

Q: "How do you design? Do you draw? Do you drape on a model?" A: "I design with words. When I'm in bed I write. Everything is really words which I communicate to my assistant, and then I start drawing. But first it's all about the words and the mood." Haider Ackermann, womenswear designer (Interviewed in Industrie 2012 Issue 5, pp 96-109) -------- This quote rings a bell with my research findings that language (written and spoken) is a major ideation tool. Or, that the role of language might be overlooked or underestimated in the early stages of the design process. [Jonson, B. 2005. Design ideation: the conceptual sketch in the digital age. Design Studies Vol 26 No 6 pp 613-624]

Talent and Creativity

"How do you spot talent and creativity? I don't know. I think that the fashion world now is so enormous that it needs different kinds of people. It needs hyper-creative people to move fashion forward. But it also needs dedicated, efficient, dynamic, smart people in all areas, whether we're talking about the creativity or we're talking about management. I don't think it's just about one mad spirit". Suzy Menkes, fashion journalist.

From idea to design decision

"Few people think about it or are aware of it. But there is nothing made by human beings that does not involve a design decision somewhere." Bill Moggridge (1943-2012); designer of the first folding laptop computer (1982), and co-founder of design firm IDEO.

Unity of design and material

'"Right from the beginning I had a clear idea of what to do with that pavilion. But nothing was fixed yet, it was still a bit hazy. But then when I visited the showrooms of a marble firm at Hamburg, I said: "Tell me, haven't you got something else, something really beautiful?" I thought of that freestanding wall I had, and so they said: "Well, we have a big block of onyx" ... "And so we decided to use onyx."' Mies van der Rohe, on designing the German pavilion for the 1929 International Exposition in Barcelona, Spain.

Constructivist ideation

Ideation, in the context of learning, can be seen as a form of Constructionism where learning happens most effectively when people are active in making tangible objects. In this way, we don't "acquire" ideas but "construct" ideas through exploring, testing and playing around with materials in the real world. In manipulating materials, then, ideas are given physical shapes and forms (2D/3D). Moreover, when using everyday items and found objects, the manipulation becomes acts of improvisation utilising techniques and processes such as assemblage, bricolage, or collage. Or, if you like, ABC of material ideation. https://www.dropbox.com/s/7orx128gkljfdzl/BEN_DRAFT02.mp4

Ideas communication: Diagram and doodling

According to Hideshi Hamaguchi, the Japanese engineer and inventor of the USB Stick, if you don’t have the talent for drawing but are good at strategic thinking, then you can still become a great product designer. All you have to do is connect the design to the strategy and then turn into a language the company management people and the consumer can understand. To keep creativity on the top and communicate the design, Hamaguchi intentionally uses both diagram and doodling to bridge logical and intuitive thinking. Source: http://www.yankodesign.com)

Non-designer designers

"The glossy, black and metal slab [of the iPhone] came about because Jobs had acquired great design taste, even though he wasn’t really a designer. Or was he? That depends on the definition we use. Jobs wasn’t a designer, because he didn’t have a degree in any design field. In his professional life, he didn’t directly engage in the kind of creative work that we usually associate with professional designers. Yet you needn’t have designer credentials to think and act as a designer. Jobs exemplified many of the traits of a great designer: He was creative, curious, exploratory, and playful. His father had taught him that it was important to care about the craft of anything you built. Influenced by Zen philosophy, Jobs paid close attention to the world around him and came to appreciate the kind of simple, refined aesthetic." John Edson