NextD Journal I ReReThinking Design Special Issue, April 2007
Beautiful Diversion
issues, e.g. sustainability ones not sufficiently attended to in the mainstream. Here it is rewarding as hinted to in the piece to explore the how’s of design approaches in a variety of societies. In doing this, it may be wise to delay judgment and naming of what can be the problem prematurely. Finally, because seeing and also innovating comes from believing rather than skepticism, I wish to point to the real-world designer/business relationships that can unfold even in schisms (of arty ego’s or other personas). I came to appreciate the complexity of these relationships gradually when exploring actual design-making in a variety of settings. Having learned about the complex quality issues in design, it is a challenge to open up rather than narrow down what can become of interest. As illuminated in our recent MOD (management of design) project in Oslo this winter, with the Design Faculty students and BI culture & leadership students, living in beta seldom seems to be a simple question of fit in — or fuck off!
Christopher Vice |
Herron School of Art and Design, United States
When I encounter arguments about the relative merits of design making versus design thinking or about who will be leading design in the 21st century, I am reminded of a lesson from Dr. Min Basadur, President and Founder of Basadur Applied Creativity. In Issue 1, Conversation 1.1 of NextD Journal, “Innovation: Teaching HOW Now,” Basadur wrote, “One important process skill that I like to share with others is the ability to adapt these ideas from one area to another. If keeping things simple is the most important process skill, perhaps the second most important is the ability to adapt. The worst way to learn is to confront every new idea with the words ‘I’m different, that won’t work for me.’ The best way to learn is to say, ‘I’m different but so is everyone else. How might I adapt this information so it will work for me? Adaptation is the secret of learning.” In Benjamin Bloom’s taxonomy of six levels within the cognitive domain of learning, SYNTHESIS is the second highest order. SYNTHESIS is where adaptation takes place. I have always believed that the willing capacity to adapt ideas (and objects) to contexts is essential for designers. Design without synthesis and adaptation is stuck in application. Evaluation of ideas without synthesis is just a knee-jerk reaction.
Page 20 of 58