Idea Generation Starter Kit - Introduction

An example of Idea Generation focusing only on FUNCTIONALITY.

Introduction
Finally we come to the idea generation stage of your design journey. You might have noticed the number and the variety of posts and topics that goes before the ideas generation stage. The reason for that is not a casual one - as understanding your design situation and establishing a genuine need is probably the most important step in the design process. Once you have established that firmly and you know you have identified a solid design opportunity, your design brief, considerations and specifications will come in naturally as a by-product of your hard work.

The rest of the journey may not be any simpler (it will continue to demand your effort for quality work), but you can be assured you will have a project that is worth spending the next few weeks and months working on and developing into a working prototype.

Idea Generation: Common (Grave) Mistakes

Mistake #1: Lack of process recording (that includes research recording)
One of the gravest mistake many students make at the idea generation stage is the lack of recording of the thinking and exploration process that is going on in their head all along. The examiner or the reader could not appreciate your struggle, he could not understand how an idea or concept is conceived. It may be a very good idea, but information on how you got there is missing. As a result, the student stand to loose credibility in his journal and sadly lost of marks in the section of 'research' and 'communication'.

Mistake #2: Sketching a complete drawing without illustrating the journey to get there
You will find examples of very complicated single drawings of a product with lots of features in it that seem to be too quick too soon as a first idea. What usually happened is this - the student could have pondered and worked out various issues on functionality and aesthetics, borrowed some ideas of traditional working examples and perhaps combined a few features here and there - and then proceed to sketch one, two or three (or ten) 'independent' proposals after some time. And you say 'I now have THREE (or TEN) ideas'. But few or in some cases non of them is a continuation of the other and the development process of 'one idea to another' is nowhere to be felt. How the idea or concept forms and develops from one to the other is not shown.

Mistake #3: Drawing the first (or the first few) ideas and think that is final.
Any one who has the experience of exploring ideas to achieve quality conclusion knows that the first few ideas hardly works. Of course there will be exceptions where the designer may go back to the first few ideas after exploration and development on the latter concepts - however that 'first' idea will still need to go through various rounds of refinement before it can be considered to be prototyped. Any idea or a concept (as a whole or singled out as individual parts to work on) will need to be further explored, taken apart and put back, modified, evolved, researched, investigated, modeled, tested, evaluated and improved before it will come alive as a solution.

Mistake #4: Stopping at a single view
There is no way a design proposal can be fully explored and refined relying on just one view/side of the proposed idea. At times only the side or front view is drawn and that one drawing is used for critique and evaluation of its effectiveness and functionality, etc. If that idea is found not ideal, it is usually immediately abandoned and another brand new often unrelated idea appears. (see mistake #3)

Mistake #5: Stuck and Brain Choked - no ideas.
This doesn't sound like a mistake, does it? But this is another very common problem for the majority of students. 'I have no idea' and 'I cannot think of any ideas', he or she would exclaim at the idea generation stage. This is a mistake of not understanding the pre-requisite of what comes before idea generation.

For every Problem there will be Solutions

Solution for Mistake #1
The design journal is a record of your thinking process. What you think is what you will record. It can be a question that you asked yourself in your head - write the question down, sketch the question if you may then go find the answers (and record them). It could be a sudden idea that struck you - draw your mental visual image from your mind on paper, write notes if you can't draw, then go refine and develop that idea further using a variety of drawing techniques.

Recording can be various forms through photographs, images, annotations, conclusions, etc - at no point in time should your design journey be treated like an answer script of answers and decisions. Recording through drawings should be done in as many perspectives and drawing techniques as possible (see image above)

Solution for Mistake #2 & #3
Focus on the broad concept at the beginning of the ideation stage. That could be exploration of a certain functional specifications - one at a time and then combining them later to evaluate the proposal as a whole. That will minimize the mistake of dwelling too much into unnecessary details that is not the time yet to be considering. For example: Why worry about the appearance of the product if you have not worked out how it it will do its job in an innovative way (or in a fun way, in a humorous way, in a cool way or whatever your focus is for that particular functional requirement)?

Many students wander too much into drawing a complete product in the first attempt and missed the important step of coming up with a great concept that is usually achieved at the initial stage of ideation where you play with broad ideas and propose various alternatives - all of which does not require detailed drawings that goes into styling and the bolts and nuts of the product. A chosen concept is then refined and developed, and that is where details starts coming in. When you do so, you will know you have arrived at the development stage of your design phase.

Solution for Mistake #4
Study the sample Idea Generation image above. I only have one objective. And that objective is to hold a piece of paper. The objective of holding a piece of paper is one of my functional specification. I also have a supplementary specification - that is I want to come out interesting alternatives to hold a piece of paper (note) that will make the storing of the paper fun and interactive. You may be interested to note that I have another requirement - the product must be made with only ONE piece of material...

Reminders on What to Note for "RESEARCH" + the usuals

Research has always been one of the weakest area in many students' works. As do establishing a genuine need or situation and design brief, the idea generation section and especially the product development stage. More about Idea Generation and Development in the coming posts. So watch out for them.

The good news is this area of weakness is not going to stay for long. All we need to have is a structure that helps us do what we want to do.

The above image contains the usuals, i.e. suggestions on how you can move on from Design Considerations & Constraints --> Design Specifications --> to Idea Generation. Within each stage is the ongoing emphasis on Research.

Always keep a look out for opportunities for research. Similar to design opportunities - design opportunities are everywhere - research opportunities are in abundance and they are everywhere in your journal!

The research opportunity is there whenever you make a claim or a statement. Usually students leave that claim or statement at status quo without exploring what goes before (i.e. what led you to that statement) or what it will lead to after making that claim.

You'll need to expand on that claim or statement. You can expand in 3 ways:

1) Identify and record what you already know about that claim or statement.

2) Identify and find what you do not know(yet) and do not have (yet).

3) Finding relationships that is directly or indirectly related to it.
- What is related to it?
- In what ways is it related to it?
- What else is similar to it?
- In what ways is it similar to it?
- Who is involved?
- Who else is involved?
- Who is related to it?
- Who else is related to it?

To record your findings, do it through photographs, images and annotations to your visuals, use charts or any other form of appropriate communication techniques to bridge your point to your readers.

Why Research? Hopefully by now, if you have been listening in my class or read my posts, you should be able to appreciate why (?) research.

Advanced Systematic Design (Pattern) Generation - Idea (Pattern) Generator - by Daniel Lim

This set of animation shows an advanced systematic design (pattern) generation. A variety of change is introduced to create even more pattern designs. The image below show some of the variations you can play with to modify and evolve your patterns.

The next image illustrates for you an example of how an ideation process to design a cup coaster using the Advanced Systematic Design (Pattern) Generation may look like:

The final image from this post below shows a suggested the ideation process up to development of a selected coaster design. Within it are detailed instructions and information on what should take note and include in your design journal.

For my earlier post on "Idea (Pattern) Generation using THREE CIRCLES" go to http://designjournalsos.blogspot.com/2011/01/idea-pattern-generation-using-three.html

For the next stage, Refinement of the Chosen pattern go to:
http://designjournalsos.blogspot.com/2011/07/simple-refinement-development-and.html

FAQ: Your email enquiry - my answer

Your Question:
'How do I know if my mind-map for the theme is sufficient? I have done part of it now I don't know what else to add'.

My Answer:
My two suggestion for you is as follows:
1) Make sure you understand the objective for doing anything (e.g. the objective for doing a mind-map for your design theme) before you start doing. Do you know yours?
2) Once you understand the objective for doing something, you will surely know (a) what to look out for (i.e. what research areas to focus on), (b) what it will lead you to do later, and (c) know when you have reached enough information and its time to stop.

Due to the nature of the theme, my mind-map for exploration of the theme 'Storage' is as follows:

1) Begin with the theme (in this case 'Storage') somewhere in the middle of the page. 'Storage' now is your BROAD CONCEPT. Now list out the DETAILS.
2) Branch out by listing the DETAILS, i.e. locations where 'Storage' can be found. (e.g. Home, School, etc).
3) Now each DETAIL (e.g. Home, School, etc.) in turn becomes a BROAD CONCEPT. Of which other details will branch out.
4) e.g. 'Home' now becomes a BROAD CONCEPT. Branch out DETAILS, i.e. the various parts of 'Home'. (e.g. Kitchen, Bedroom, etc.)
5) Take e.g. 'Kitchen' as a BROAD CONCEPT, it is now about time to list out a) items that requires storage, and b) existing storage solutions.
6) The next stage will be to complete your mind-map with relevant photographs and images of the examples you have listed at the end of your mind-map.

Following this internal link for an example of the steps shown above:
3NA Storage Innovation Research Starter SOS
http://designjournalsos.blogspot.com/2011/01/3na-storage-innovation-research-starter.html

Additional (Important) Information:
When you think you are done you ask yourself if you have done a good job exploring what 'Storage' is (and more challenging, what 'Storage' is not). If someone comes and looks at your mind-map without the title 'Storage' in the middle, will he be able to say,'Ah, I know this is an exploration on the various types of storages', or 'Oh, I didn't know that this can be considered as storages', or 'Oh I didn't know much about storages until I see your mind-map on it'. etc.

What is next?
Hopefully what you have done will enable you to identify one or more of the following design opportunities:

1) a problem area that requires a better solution than existing ones or for a problem that may not have an existing solution yet, and/or
2) an area of improvement to existing solutions, and/or
3) challenge yourself to an opportunity for creating an alternative solution. Come out with a different way or a different experience to do something.

Hope that helps.

Regards
mrdaniellim

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Difference between an Image Board and a Product Research Section

I have seen many students naming pages of their design journal 'Image Board' that should have been more appropriately titled as 'Product Research' instead.

A page that is filled with images of products with critiques, comparisons, comments, etc. around them and then titled 'Image Board' do not really match, does it? Does 'Product Research' sound more direct and relevant?

What is an 'Image Board'?
More widely known to show target users (target audiences/groups).

1) Usually targeting a specific group of users (e.g. teenage girls, elderly man above 70 years of age, etc.)

2) Decorated with photographs and images that best describe everything about them. (e.g. lifestyle, culture, trends, objects of desire like iPhones and iPads, colorful headphones, designer bags, etc, activities or things that are defined cool, hangouts, etc).

3) A good image board is as good as a well-drawn mind-map around the theme. You could almost identify a few good design opportunities just looking at them.






An example of an image board is shown  above showing the life and lifestyle of elderlies in Singapore. Note that the target users are deliberately Asians. If not all of them should be Singaporeans.I've not just included various possible activities that a typical Singaporean elderly may engage in, I've also categorised the images so that I can tell a story as I move around the collage. Can you identify the flow?

How do I know if I have covered enough?
Ask: If someone wants a good understanding of my target group, what questions would he ask? Have I provided enough images to answer his questions?

A 'Product Research' Section

Product research on the other hand is concerned with... products. And that depends too on what product you are focusing on. And what aspect of those products you want to find out or highlight. The following are some common objectives of doing product research:

1) to understand historical trend and how the product has evolved in terms of forms and functionality.
2) to understand a product, or to compare two or more products in terms of forms, innovation, cleverness in terms of functionality, etc.
3) to investigate how a product work and what made it work.

The product research section would be filled with images, probably a couple of them to show various views and stages of use, and peppered with meaningful annotations to record your findings, observations and comments that reflects your objectives.

Research - Various Forms of Research

The above mind-map shows you RESEARCH in different forms which you can use.

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The most common and useful in my opinion would be

1) 'Observation'

Nothing beats experiencing the situation first hand and witnessing them.

2) 'Shadowing'

'Shadowing' is somewhat similar to 'observation'. The difference is in 'shadowing', the person doing the work (or using the product) is aware of your presence while you watch, observe and record the acts or processes.

3) 'Narration'

'Narration' is an extension of 'shadowing'. This time the 'shadower' gets the user to 'narrate' (say) out loud what he is thinking while using the product. 

That includes the procedures of using the product, thoughts and wishes (e.g. saying out loud the *thinking*. 'I wished the knob could be larger with more texture cause its making turning difficult') while using the product. etc.

4) 'Experimentation'

Once again nothing beats doing things on your own. Instead on relying on third party experiences, personally getting a piece of frustrations (bugs) while actually performing the acts can be very valuable research.

5) 'Asking the five Whys'

'Asking the five Whys' is an excellent tool to get to the root of a problem. There are too many occasions that students 'think' they found a 'problem' that needs a 'solution'. Unfortunately most of what they 'thought' is a 'problem' were actually not the real problems. 

When you use the five 'Whys' you get to the root of the problem and the problem that you first thought was a problem no longer is the problem. Using the five 'Whys' on your initial identified 'problem' might lead you to other areas of needs that requires a totally different product solution.

6) 'Survey'

'Survey' is a research tool many would be familiar. It is also one of the least useful tool in my opinion unless questions are carefully crafted and the data collected is genuine and truly reflects the objectives of the survey. 

Getting real people with the relevant product experience for survey feedbacks, people who would take time to provide authentic opinions to your questions is very important but that rarely happens. If you think you want to 'doctor' the survey to reflect what you want it to reflect... forget it.

I've briefly described six different research methods. These research methods will be used extensively throughout your design journey. As each research method is unique in it's purpose, strength and limitations, it depends on the skill of the researcher to optimize each research method and to select the most appropriate research method to best serve his research need.

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Finally, the most important thing about design journaling:

RECORDING!

I call that engaging in a 'dialogue' with your journal. You got to record your design process, your research methodology and your thoughts on paper. Note: Recording could be in the form of on-location photographs and images, developmental sketches and annotations.

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Research - P.I.E.S. (To Identify Products and Design Opportunities)

Physical . Intellectual . Emotional . Social 

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NEEDS

P . I . E . S . is a convenient tool for surveying and covering four basic area of NEEDS.

P    Physical NEEDs
I      Intellectual NEEDs
E    Emotional NEEDs
S    Social NEEDs

Each of the acronyms (P, I, E and S) can be used individually, combining two or more selectively or as a whole depending on your desired research outcomes.

But in any case, focus on one acronym at a time when you use them.

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How to use P . I . E . S . in your research to identify NEEDs? Simple. You ask questions.

You ask questions related to each of the acronyms aiming at finding out what each of the NEEDs may be.

First of all, you cannot do this exercise in a random manner. It will lead you to no where. You must have in mind your target audience (targer user or target group) to begin and end effectively.

Secondly, this target audience must be doing something in an identified location.

Thirdly, you can begin crafting questions related to each of the acronyms in  P . I . E . S .

For example:

Target Audience: Elderly Folks (Male / Female / Mix)
Location:               Satay Club Singapore / Void deck
Activity:                  Looking for place to sit / Ordering / Eating Satay / etc. 

Background:
A group of elderly folks about the age of 65 plans to meet up on a Saturday evening for 'Satay' to chit chat and talk about the good old times. Now the group has arrived in Satay Club, and they are about to look for an empty table to start ordering the mouth watering Satays and enjoy each others company.

P    Physical NEEDs

Question: What are the Physical NEEDs? The following are examples of some Physical challenges: Getting around and navigating through the crowds. Getting around and navigating through the crowds with people and chairs juttting out all over the place. Place may be dimly lit means harder for elderlies to naviagate. Finding an empty table quickly enough with faster and more agile youngsters. Eating in a hot and humid condition and feeling sweaty and uncomfortable.

I      Intellectual NEEDs

Question: What are the Intellectual NEEDs? The following are examples of some Intellectual challenges: Finding directions and navigation to the location / the nearest toilet / etc. Font size in ordering menu. Languages printed in ordering menu. Language spoken by the vendors. etc.

I      Emotional NEEDs

Question: What are the Emotional NEEDs? The following are examples of some Emotional challenges: Low service standards may affects ones mood. Foceful touting from vendors can cause emotional stress. etc.
I      SOCIAL NEEDs

Question: What are the Social NEEDs? The following are examples of some Social challenges: Does the arrangement / configuration of the tables and seats encourage good interaction? Is the environment condusive for a group gathering. If surroundings are too noisy, the elderlys cannot listen to each other effectively and they may have to resort to shouting. Which may in turn disturb the other customers. etc. 

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Apart from using P . I . E . S . for exploring and identifying need areas, the approach can also be extended to identify products related to those needs. After which should prompt you for further and more in-depth research.

Design Opportunities can then be derived from them. The Activity Mapping technique can also be used concurrently here but it will be explained in another post.

The following are suggestions on how the P . I . E . S . technique is used to identify Design Opportunities:

1) have in mind who your target audience (or target user / target group) is,2) Go through P.I.E.S. to identify the various NEED areas within the activity context.
2) identify the product(s) that they interacting with under each NEED areas,
3) assess the user : product interaction within the given environment.
4) identify problems, improvement areas or invention opportunities.

Throughout the whole process, you need to be clear about the objectives (what the user want to achieve or experience) before, during and after the use of the product.

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A quick recap:

The reason for  P . I . E . S .'s existence is for understanding NEEDS. But you do not stop at just knowing NEEDS. So what do you do next after you identify the NEEDS? 

NEEDS identified from P . I . E . S . are in turn used to explore the various

other NEEDS and/or LIMITATIONS of the related products.

Here is how. Identify:

1) the product(s) involved, and

2) study the performance of the product  (e.g. how did the product perform to its expectations), or

3) could it be the user's problem in using the product. (e.g. product mis-handling)

4) etc...

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Theme Exploration Example: 'STORAGE' - Research Exploration + Identification of Design Opportunities

Theme: Storage (N Level: 2010)

Identifying design opportunities

There are a many ways to arrive at a design opportunity to work on, the image above shows briefly another way to do that.

Think through and make sense of the contents and apply them tastefully in your design journey. Have fun....

Do take care when you draft your design situations or problem statements - make sure you have sufficient research to ensure your facts are right and justify all your claims. Be careful of over-generalization of issues.

Idea (Pattern) Generation using THREE CIRCLES

The Secondary ONEs (2011) learned how to make use of the combination of THREE circles to generate an infinite number of design patterns. For maximum effect, stick with one arrangement of THREE CIRCLES and join them up in as many ways you can think of before you change the positions of the circles for the next set of idea patterns.

You might be interested to know that this simple technique of arranging shapes and joining them are very important drawing basics. Artists and designers arrange, position and join various shapes to create interesting forms in their drafting stage (or at least I do...).

The image below shows various options you can adopt to start modifying your initial THREE circle patterns and begin your journey to endless (pattern) idea possibilities:

Have fun!

For advance systematic idea (pattern) generation go to "Generator - Idea (Pattern) Generator - by Daniel Lim" go to http://designjournalsos.blogspot.com/2011/01/design-pattern-generator-idea-pattern.html

Shapes and Forms - the Difference Between Them

All objects are made up of a combination of shapes and forms. So it is necessary to first understand what shapes and forms are and later learn how they are used to make beautiful objects.

The animation shows the difference between a shape and a form. You may be interested to know that both shapes and forms can either be geometric or organic.

Research - Products Research SOS

This set of mind-map focuses on some key areas of research when you explore products related to the theme. This should give you some ideas on what to look out for when we do research on products.

Eventually, the objective of researching related products to the theme is to gain insight on existing technology and innovations that had already been in place and to be aware of those aspects. So that when it comes to your turn, you will be able to be in a better position to look out for design needs and opportunities.

In your design journal, do not forget to include good resolution relevant images (+URLs) and annotations to supplement your research.

Look out for the other mind-map on identifying design needs and opportunities which I have previously posted. (Note: I will be extracting sections of BIG mind maps which I formally posted so that they are more focused and less daunting for you).


p.s. This mind-map is extracted from the very large mind-map on research which I posted earlier on.