Ideation is relational

That ideas are not stand-alone elements of thought but relational, and ideators act not on their own but with others, seem reasonable. Yet the notion that all properties, or "entities", “attributes”, “qualities”, “features”, “characteristics”, or “types" and their agents are relational is not without debate although central to the western philosophical tradition. Plato called them “ideas” or “forms”, and viewed them as universals, in contrast with particulars or individuals. The Sophist, written by Plato in 360 BC, contains the following phrase: “Anything which possesses any sort of power to affect another, or to be affected by another, if only for a single moment, however trifling the cause and however slight the effect, has real existence; and I hold that the definition of being is simply action". And in the eastern tradition, the Buddhist philosopher Nāgārjuna’s central notion of “emptiness” tells us that nothing has independent existence: anything that exists, exists thanks to, as a function of, or according to the perspective of, something else. Furthermore, in the material world, we know that a chemical substance is defined by how it reacts, a biological species is defined according to the niche it occupies in the biosphere, and what defines us as human beings is our relationships. Moreover, atoms, as quantum physics show are defined by their physical interactions with the rest of the world. This suggests that reality is not a collection of things but a network of processes. If so, ideation, as part of the design process, and ideas, as outcomes of this process, can be described in terms of relationships and interactions. This further suggests that winning ideators are those who collaborate. Too often we measure success in terms of a single ideator's fortunes. However, prioritising individual ideas over the common good might prevents us from addressing the true challenges that face the world today. (Adapted from, and added to) Source: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/sep/05/the-big-idea-why-relationships-are-the-key-to-existence

Moore on drawing ideas

Henry Moore (1898-1986), the English artist perhaps best known for his semi-abstract monumental bronze sculptures also produced many drawings. Talking about the difference between drawing and carving, Moore says that there's a connection between his drawings and his sculpture: 'Drawing lessens the danger of repeating oneself and getting into a formula. It enlarges one's form of repertoire, one's form experience. But in my sculpture, I do not draw directly upon the memory or observation of a particular object, but rather use whatever comes up from my general fund of knowledge of natural forms'. Referring to drawings, in his notebooks and sketchbooks, he describes them as 'tryouts of possible ideas for sculpture, or just scribbles in which one hopes that some new ideas might come'. As to using drawing as a means of generating ideas, Moore says: 'Sometimes you would sit down with no idea at all, and at some point you'd see something in the doodling, scribbling - whatever you call it; and from then on you could evolve the idea ... or, in another way of doing it, one would start off with a definite idea ... you would give yourself a theme and let the variations come'. Here, Moore expresses ways of ideating that would apply to design more generally. Source: James, P. ed. (1966). Henry Moore on Sculpture. London: Macdonald & Co.

Ideation strategy

Ideation is not just about generating ideas but, and equally important, about ideas communication. That is, the idea presented should stand out in some way, or stand out from the crowd in a compettion. Although there can be no guaranteed way of achieving this, a few suggestions have emerged over time. For example, the concept is presented with an-easy-to-understand, compelling solution organised around a simple, and striking idea, such as Lloyd Wright's Guggenheim Museum in New York.. However, a simple, attention seeking idea that carries the whole project is not always the most persuasive, or the most likely winner because the "big idea" might not be so much simple as simplistic. For complex design tasks, or briefs, ideation may require a more nuanced approach for which a single-idea based proposal might not be the winning ticket. The Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, for example, was designed from the inside out by Frank Gehry working with world-leading Japanese acousticians. So while there can be no single winning formula, what seems a sure-footed ideation strategy is effective and clear communication that explains the idea in its full context, both verbally and visually. The strategy may include the use of metaphor, particularly when design teams need to connect with the end users on a deeper emotional, intellectual, or experiential level.

Ideation and memory

To better understand the psychology of ideation, we must look at the mental process involved in generating new and meaningful ideas. And — from a cognitive perspective– ideation is a cognitive process generated by making new connections across different regions of the brain. Many cognitive functions draw on our experiences to make the right cognitive connections. This suggests that while some individuals may have a higher aptitude for creativity, ideation is a skill that can learned and improved on. The skill aspect of ideation highlights, in turn, the integration of memory and ideas generation, or, how ideation is driven by memory. That is,  in the context of creative problem solving, ideators need to find ways to reach their memory to find information that will be relevant to solving the problem. Or, as argued by Art Markman, a cognitive scientist, the key route to finding creative solutions to a problem is to find information in your memory that will help you to solve the problem in some way. He concludes, all creative work requires using your existing knowledge to help you to do new things. Source: https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/ulterior-motives/201510/creativity-is-memory

Neuroscience of ideation?

What is going on in our brains when we are creating? This is a question that has long intrigued designers, both in practice and education, because creative thinking involves the discovery of novel connections which is intimately tied to learning. More specifically, in neuroscience, most reserchers agree that two elements are central to creativity. First and foremost, it reflects our capacity to generate ideas that are original, unusual or novel in some way. The second element is that these ideas also need to be satisfying, appropriate or suited to the context in question. However, many of the empirical findings in relation to creativity are not in relation to originality but to associated factors like fluency and flexibility. These facts challenge a single definition that can be applied across all manifestations of creativity regardless of whether the "object" being judged is a work of art or a scientific theory. Scott Barry Kaufman, a US humanistic psychologist, says that what happens in the brain when we engage in a creative mode versus an uncreative mode remains uncertain, and notably in the explorative-generative cycle that is in place during the creative mode. Temporal factors also pose stumbling blocks in studying the brain basis of creativity. This is so because while neuroscientific methods are great at capturing the workings of the brain in short-term present, the creation of an original work of art or a novel scientific theory all transpire over extended periods of time. What is clear, however, according to Dr Kaufman, is that much of what triggers a creative mode as opposed to an uncreative mode is situational. That is, the creative mode is called for in contexts that are unclear, vague and open-ended. For example, so called "wicked problems", where there is no single solution to the problem, a situation or context that is familiar to many designers.

Ideation refinement

Ideas appear in many guises, some like a flash to be quickly made into something, others to develop slowly, worked, reworked, changed, modified or abandoned. In developing an idea to the stage where it is more likely to be endorsed than rejected, the idea may go through a process of refinement or clarification. Let's for a moment imagine such a process of idea refinement where the "raw" idea is made "pure" through applying the additive colour system. That is, RGB, the system's three primary colours, is perceived as coloured light made white. Imagine, then, that the red colour would take out any unethical or corrupting aspect of the idea, the green colour any unsustainable or harmful component, and the blue colour any disagreeable or ugly element of the idea. The idea, then, in this thought experiment to illustrate the complexity of ideation, is perceived as a broad spectrum light source shown as white light, or a refined idea. That is, a pure idea, free of any contaminant - as pure as natural sunlight.

Multisensory ideation

Designers use a range of tools to visualise their ideas. In this, traditional arts and crafts methods remain powerful means for expressing and developing ideas and concepts, perhaps even more so when designers and consumers alike seek out tactility and signs of a human touch as a counter to life lived increasingly impacted by digitisation, automation and globalisation. Indeed, physical interaction with things, or "thinking with the hands" can stimulate ideation (Mies van der Rohe, whose practice and teaching of architecture were influenced by his early training as a stonemason, brought a load of bricks to the classroom so the students could experience the material first-hand) . For comparison, consider a game of Chess: players naturally touch and move their pieces across the chess board. If thinking were simply done "in the head", what's the purpose of these physical moves? Thinking with the hands, then, as in manipulating materials, say, to build a physical model, becomes an ideation tool for problem solving. In other words, the capacity to ideate depends not just on cognitive ability, or abstract thinking, but on material things and people around us. Such a multisensory approach to ideation seems most apt when considering sustainabble production for a harmonious future with people and the planet.