Need and desire

Need and desire are both driving ideation. But whereas need is perceived as a positive thing, something basic and necessary, and therefore often easy to recognise, desire might be seen in a negative light, as a craving, or greed, a bad rather than a good thing. Yet design agendas, and notably in the consumer field, are often driven by desire and customer satisfaction for new products and services that go beyond basic need. Dalai Lama holds that self-satisfaction alone cannot determine if a desire is positive or negative, but whether it ultimately results in positive or negative consequences. Desire then, may be seen as a positive thing if it helps generate ideas that go beyond immediate self-satisfaction resulting in outcomes that are sustainable and good for everyone. Such outcomes, however, suggest that designers prioritise the real needs of customers and users, that is, for products or services that are really necessary rather than desirable. In modern consumer societies, however, such a distinction is difficult to make.

Thinking through drawing

When freehand drawing is being marginalised in the design process, and when many students head straight for the computer, hand drawing may be a generational issue. For example, British architect Chris Wilkinson (b.1945) finds the act of communication through drawing still very important: 'I often sketch what I'm thinking rather than what I'm seeing. It's part of the process by which my ideas come through. You could just sit in a field and contemplate, but at some point you need to get your ideas on to paper. You have to start somewhere, and for me a drawing is the way an idea begins to take form'. (Wilkinson's sketchbooks are on show at the Royal Academy of Arts, until 14 February 2016).

Forming ideas

The forming of ideas can, literally speaking, go through several stages. For example, the foundry plays a vital role for artists. Here the sculptor has an idea of what they want, and discusses with technicians issues such as scaling up, casting, welding or patinating, to see what is possible. And, after consultation, the artist often goes away with something quite different from the initial idea, which shows that the journey from first thought to idea realisation is not only difficult to predict but involves collaboration along the way.

What If?

Sometimes underestimated or overlooked in the ideation process is the power of questioning ... what if? And so, when speculating from the here and now into future possibilities, when exploring materials and processes and when developing innovative applications in new social, cultural, economic and political contexts we are prompted to ask crucial questions. Indeed, asking the right question can speed up solution finding or problem solving.This calls for multiple approaches to ideation, from rigorous enquiry and sensuousness to lateral thinking and hands-on experimentation across design disciplines.

Self-reflective pondering

Design ideation is about creativity and generating ideas. But it also about developing ideas which is a self-reflective activity at a conscious level. Ideation, then, as a reflective practice, goes beyond techniques such as "brainstorming", and focuses on the quality rather than the quantity of ideas. Moreover, as a purposeful and valuable activity, ideation involves the skillful use of ideation tools to help develop and communicate ideas using both verbal and visual language.

Good and bad ideas

It is difficult to know let alone predict why some design ideas succeed while others fail. This is because design ideas represent proposals, or work in progress, rather than final plans, artefacts or systems. And so there's a gap between ideas and their realisation, which can be considerable. Ideation, then, focuses on process, rather than final outcome.

Ideation and sense-making

The notion of sense-making, or individuals experience when attempting to make sense of observed data, as explored in interdisciplinary research programmes, may be helpful in making sense of ideas too, particularly in the communication phase of ideation when people and ideas interact, and both at individual and organisational levels. Sense-making, then, as applied to ideation where ideas become observed data, can be seen as a two-way process of fitting ideas into situations, or contexts, where neither idea nor context comes first; ideas bring out contexts and contexts generate ideas. And when the idea gives rise to uncertainty or ambiguity, or when there is no satisfactory fit between idea and context, the idea may be reconsidered or an existing context may be revised. Thus in applying sense-making to ideation, in fitting ideas with contexts, may not only promote better understanding of the connections between people, ideas and situations but also anticipate acceptance, accommodation or assimilation of ideas.