Week 2: Design Process

Week 2 Reading notes:

Crilly, Nathan, 'Fixation and creativity in concept development: The attitudes and practices of expert designers', Design Studies, May 2015, Vol.38, pp.54-91

The research studies designer’s attitude towards design fixation and processes they adopt to overcome it by interviewing 13 UK based designers working in consultancies. 

The definition of few concepts are defined in the first part of the research. Design fixation is the over dependence on specific and unhelpful features of previous examples when designing something new. Creative design is “active modification or rejection of previously accepted ideas”. 

The insights gained from the interview are put into 4 main themes: nature of fixation, factors that encourage and discourage fixation, and the effects of experience. The relationship between all the findings are organised in the mind map below. 

Factors that encourage fixation include designer’s persistence, blame culture, project constraints, experience of failure and exposure to precedents like prior art, commitment to initial ideas and client’s brief.

Factors that discourage fixation include designer’s openness, use of systematic design methods, role of facilitation in managing others, experience of fixation and variety and getting feedback through prototyping, teamwork, and client.

Dorst, Kees and Cross, Nigel, Creativity in the design process: co-evolution of problem–solution, Design Studies, 2001, Vol.22(5), pp.425-437

This article focuses on how designers are "innovative" in the design process and How do designers co-evolve problems and solutions .

 Research is done with 9 industrial designers with 5 years or more of professional experience. In the study, the nine designers were given the task --- design a "litter system" for trains in the Netherlands. Each designer completes the design within a limited time, and each concept is evaluated by 5 design teachers from the TU Delft School of Industrial Design engineering. Their designs are graded on ergonomics, technical aspects, aesthetics, business aspects and creativity. Research shows that when designers design a product, they will think very comprehensively, such as ergonomics, aesthetics, cost and innovation,etc. They don't just focus on one aspect. At the same time, experiments have shown that creativity is normally regarded as a significant aspect of an overall ‘good’ design, but "creative" design is not necessarily "good" design.

*Concept 8, creativity score is good, but total judgement is low ; Concept 4 creativity scores were the lowest of all aspects, but overall scores were high. 

Design issues in design tasks, the design environment, available resources (time), and the designer's own goals all affect the creativity of the design.

Christiaans reported  that designers spending more time defining and framing design issues is an important aspect of creativity.

*The co-evolution model of Maher et al

 *Co-evolution of problem–solution as observed in this study

    

Week 2 Lecture notes:

What is Design?

As Nigel Cross puts it; “Anything that isn't a simple, untouched piece of nature has been designed by someone”. (Cross 2018, p. 372) This implies that any human intervention to an object, process or environment to be considered in some way designed. But this still doesn’t answer, what is design? In essence, design is a way of thinking, a course of action to resolve something, or a process for responding to a social problem. It’s not an object or a thing that you can hold in your hand, but rather a systemised way of thinking. So if design is untangleable, then what is the design process? From observation the design process may look linear but it is far from that. The myth of the creative leap implies that the designer just thinks up the idea and like magic the solution is created. In truth a designer will work to explore parameters and test solutions, the process usually involving initial research, ideations, tests, revisions, more tests, further research, continued ideation and so on until a desired result is achieved. This process is at heart flexible and moves back and forth in answering key design questions like; What action is desired? How do I want the audience to respond? What is the best way to facilitate a positive response for the user? Through this design attempts to resolve indistinct problems but should not to be defined by its eventuating form, it should more so be understood by its outcomes. 

Design is a way of thinking and almost everybody designs regularly throughout their day. Simple tasks like dressing in the morning, or cooking the evening meal can be considered design; it is a creative skill that is a system and a process and as it is a process it can be taught. The professional designer will show refinement in their process and a greater skill level, with more aptitude towards design intelligence making design very important to us all as it profoundly affects our quality of life.

K. Anders Ericsson, Robert R. Hoffman, Aaron Kozbelt, 2018 ‘The Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance, Cambridge University Press, p. 372

Week 2 Tutorial notes:

Slack Questions: (our group opinion)

How would you explain design thinking to a non-designer?

Design thinking is an approach to think like a designer when developing products, services, processes and strategy. It is a way to solve problems through creativity, that is often not a “creative leap” but a process that leads to a design outcome.

How would you explain the design process to a non-designer?

Design process is a series of actions designers engage in to arrive at a solution for a problem. It involves defining the problem, research, sketching out ideas, making prototypes to test the ideas, refine and implement the solution. It is not a linear process, more often it is messy and you have to go back-and-forth between different stages so that the outcome is a good design. 

What is creativity?

Creativity is the skill to produce ideas that are both novel and appropriate, non obvious, surprising and efficient. It is not just a way of thinking, but a way of living that makes life more rewarding, enjoyable and vivid. Creative works are also the drive for innovation and cultural evolution.

What are your personal habits for increasing creativity?

Shu Yun: I like to take photos of interesting things that I see in my daily life. They are inspiration for my drawings. 

Andrew: I like to practice Ikebana. It’s a japanese style of arranging flowers. It helps to take in what is around you and is a non permanent form of expression which helps you appreciate change and to be more in the moment. 

Yi lu: For me, every painting is time to improve my creativity. Since I have no fixed painting style, I will try different painting techniques every time, so every painting will finally present a different feeling compared with before artwork.

What does Csikszentmihalyi say can increase creativity?

Cultivate curiosity and interest in everyday life, enjoy and sustain the new experience and new knowledge that are of interest, and make good habits such as organising a daily schedule or take time to reflect and relax. Reshaping your personality by developing opposite personality traits also helps to become a more creative person.

Have you tried the idea of a surprise a day? If not, what do you think?

Shu Yun: Looking at the sky from the window in my room every morning when I wake up is always a surprise for me. You’ll never know what you will see. Some days it is clear blue skies, some days there are clouds with weird shapes and some days it is just cloudy grey. I have a habit of imagining clouds as other things, a habit that stayed around since childhood and I still love doing it.

Andrew: Cooking for me is like a surprise a day. The reflection on what you feel like for dinner and the arranging of a meal that you will only get to taste once you have completed a process. It’s also a great way to connect with the people in your life. This gives you the opportunity to be surprised by them. 

How do you reflect on design projects?

Getting feedback and criticism from peers and other people that are not involved in the project, and with different backgrounds and experiences. Take time to note down the achievements and things that could be improved in the design process and the final design outcome. 

How do you express complexity?

Showing your personality as a differentiated and integrated person who could be both open and disciplined. A differentiated but not integrated person would be boring, predictable and rigid, while a integrated but not differentiated person would have many opinions but no continuity or passion. Complexity is balancing both personality traits that you have, and expressing complexity would just be being yourself. 

How do you find ways to express what moves you?

Songs, books, poetries, drawings, photos can contain emotions and express feelings. They could be a good reference to find words or scenes to express what moves you.

What is divergent thinking?

Divergent thinking is a creative way of responding to different situations and producing ideas in response to different events. The three dimensions of divergent thinking includes fluency, flexibility and originality. 

How can divergent thinking help you?

Applying divergent thinking in conversations with people makes it more engaging because you can come up with viewpoints that are unexpected and surprising. Applying divergent thinking in carrying out daily routines could make the whole experience feel fresh and new, and could even find out some interesting insights that are not thought of before.

Group Reflection and Discussion:

Design process involves creative thought. 

Design is establishing creative ideas

We are all creative in our everyday lives because we manipulate the natural things around us. 

Designers study and have a creative process at a level or discipline that produces consistent and quality work.