Ideation futures

Design ideation, despite the computer revolution, may still project or conjure up the romantic notion of the lone genius or inventor coming up with brilliant or breakthrough ideas. However, the reality of everyday ideation is more collaborative and down to earth; designers building on what is already out there in the world, reconsidering, remodelling or recombining existing states of thinking or being. Yet adding the latest digital technologies, such as artificial intelligence, AI, ideation continues to trigger "what if?" questions and scenarios exploring new ways of thinking and doing. However, AI, in the context of design thinking characterised by "trial and error" and "problem solving", is largely fed and scripted by human, or natural language and these inputs, directly or through feedback loops, influence outcomes which, moreover need to be evaluated and explained by humans, and whether in forms of simple suggestions, complete proposals or elaborate narratives. Ideation futures, then, is not so much about any perceived dichotomy between AI and human intelligence, or whether AI can match or even surpass human intelligence, but rather how computers can complement and augment human creativity, not replacing it. In short, interactions between AI and human intelligence to enhance human judgment and aesthetic sensibilities.

Idea ex machina

Deus ex machina, is a Latin phrase meaning 'god from the machine', a term originating from ancient Greek theatre where devices ('stage machines') were used to either lower or raise actors, from above or below onto the stage to dazzle the audience with the appearance of the gods in the drama, as a kind of 'coup de théâtre'. Used as a plot device evers since in theatre, literature, cinema and video games, from Shakespeare's Hamlet to Wachkowski's Matrix and Rowling's Harry Potter to solve a seemingly intractable problem by adding in an unexpected character, object, or situation, to bring about a pleasing outcome, the device has, however, been crticised as an inept, or too simplistic plot device. Yet, arguably the device opens up creative possibilities and, in the digital age, the notion of 'deus ex machina', where the computer would be the machine, may suggest 'idea ex machina', that is, in the ideation process software becomes a plot device towards problem solving.

Contextual ideation

Design ideation is about generating and communicating ideas, not about evaluating ideas per se because ideas represent proposals, or work in progress, rather than final plans, products or systems. Yet to help evaluate how good, or rather meaningful an idea is for a new product or service would be to look at the design context, that is, the intended users' working or lifestyle environment.  That is to say, designers, when generating and communicating ideas, need not only understand what matters to the customers who will use the product or service (end-users), what might be called contextual enquiry, but also be able to represent the proposal (solution) in such ways that the the idea (proposal) would meet users' satisfaction, what might called contextual ideation. In short, if design is contextual, so is ideation.

Ideation and text mining

Of the four main categories of ideation tools, viz. words, sketches, models and computing, words, spoken and written are often overlooked or underestimated as an ideation tool despite the fact that language is the main means of human communication. Therefore it should be no surprise that words play a key role in generating, developing and communicating ideas. But the word choice is also important, as shown by analysing texts in a large number of ideas across different domains (text mining). In identifying common patterns in ideas that were considered creative, researchers found that if the idea was too familiar the text mining software offered words that made it more novel. Conversely, if the idea was too novel, the algorithm offered words that made the idea more familiar. In other words, it was found that what makes an idea creative, as judged by both consumers and business executives is a mix of words that includes a balance between words that commonly appear together (familiar combinations) and words that do not (novel combinations). This suggests that using text mining software may help ideators improve their ideas.  * https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/01/170109134131.htm

Ideation and disruptive innovation

Although the notion of disruptive innovation is not new - industrial history is full of examples, from rail mania and mass production to computer and social media revolutions, it has become a buzz word in the business world to solve problems and create opportunities by focusing on disruptive rather than incremental or evolutionary forms of innovation. Applied to businesses, then, disruptive innovation shows similarity with design ideation in that both strive to generate groundbreaking ideas that have capacity to transform existing markets, or create new ones for goods and services. Thus disruptive innovation, like ideation, may produce fresh perspectives in which "Aha" Moments occur. Moreover, in making the connection between disruptive innovation and design ideation, the business and design sectors seem to share elements of disruptive thinking, which may further suggest that business schools and design schools can learn from each other.

Ideation exemplified

When Sou Fujimoto, the Japanese architect (1971-), who designed the 2013 Serpentine Pavilion (London), talks about his creative thinking and design process, he is also effectively affirming design ideation, its process and tools:  'I start to discuss with my team a craziness of the ideas and we make some sketches or sometimes we make some such a tiny sketch models. All of this is just to see a lot of different potential. We like to have unexpected ideas from our normal thinking, so that first phase is really expanding our brains and expanding our ideas. And through that process, those kinds of tiny models, we try to test or try to transform normal things into architecture, then that process always opens our minds to create new perceptions of architecture spaces. But of course, at the same time we are using the computer to check the volumes. In that sense, our processes, trying everything, not only physical models, not only computers, not only sketches, sometimes just a discussion by words or conversation is also quite important. So using all of those kinds of methods or media just to see the wide range of the craziness of the ideas'. (Quoted from interview in ICON Magazine 2018, August Issue)

Earth-friendly ideas

Environmental concerns and sustainability issues are increasingly important in design ideation, and whether designing for products, services or systems. But ideas are elements of thoughts that can be either visual, concrete or abstract. In the case of abstract ideas or concepts, and particularly if the idea is digital-bound, that is, not physically enacted, it might be difficult to assess the idea's impact from ecological or sustainability perspectives. It is then that communicating the idea in simple language is essential, to make the idea as transparent and understandable as possible, for expert and layperson alike.