The lecture last week likely drew up an overall picture of a design process. Those who do not want to work fixedly could somewhat imagine their future job. The three previous posts did summary the lecture’s contents sufficiently well; for that reason, in this post, an adventure of creativity is presented to clarify the process.
The following Greek mythology gives us a fair example of the adventure.
Perhaps being the namesake of the Greek city, Athens, best honours Athena, but it was her creativity that allowed the city to keep the name. The Greek god of the sea, Poseidon was jealous of this, so he challenged Athena in a contest to give the Greeks something. The winner would become the city's final patron. Poseidon gave the residents a saltwater well. Athena topped him by providing a very creative gift: an olive tree, which provided shade from the sun, oil for lamps and olives to eat. Her multipurpose gift illustrates her brilliance. The olive today is of course associated with Greece (Donna Talarico, 2007).
As the story presents, the adventure begins with an idea. Generating an idea is not such a hard work since it is not necessary that the idea be significant. As long as humans still demand, there are a lot of things to do to meet their needs. The first try should take place from the daily life where some improvements should be carried out. Observing and questioning can also help. Besides, the idea should be new and interesting. It is because: Thinking is the door, but creativity is the key.
In the second part, the idea now needs analysing. What is its purpose? How can it give improvements? How about its feasibility? What are its affects against society and vice versa? The answers can only be objective if they are obtained from other people. Both experts and civilians will give distinctive answers to the idea. Interviewing, in this case, is more useful than thinking. Finding out about social feedback and challenges extending into contemporary society must not be ignored.
The final stage of the process is bringing the idea into life after a lot of considerations. It does not matter which way it is conducted or how long it takes, but it should not be done without passion. During the work, obstacles and criticisms may slow down the speed or even cause diversion. Like Galileo centuries ago, he kept his determination against all other harsh prejudice. Aspirations could be fulfilled with patient and persistence.
A design process which could be innovative requires creativity, feasibility and determination. “Keep your dreams alive. Understand to achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination, and dedication. Remember all things are possible for those who believe”, said Gail Devers.
The following Greek mythology gives us a fair example of the adventure.
Perhaps being the namesake of the Greek city, Athens, best honours Athena, but it was her creativity that allowed the city to keep the name. The Greek god of the sea, Poseidon was jealous of this, so he challenged Athena in a contest to give the Greeks something. The winner would become the city's final patron. Poseidon gave the residents a saltwater well. Athena topped him by providing a very creative gift: an olive tree, which provided shade from the sun, oil for lamps and olives to eat. Her multipurpose gift illustrates her brilliance. The olive today is of course associated with Greece (Donna Talarico, 2007).
As the story presents, the adventure begins with an idea. Generating an idea is not such a hard work since it is not necessary that the idea be significant. As long as humans still demand, there are a lot of things to do to meet their needs. The first try should take place from the daily life where some improvements should be carried out. Observing and questioning can also help. Besides, the idea should be new and interesting. It is because: Thinking is the door, but creativity is the key.
In the second part, the idea now needs analysing. What is its purpose? How can it give improvements? How about its feasibility? What are its affects against society and vice versa? The answers can only be objective if they are obtained from other people. Both experts and civilians will give distinctive answers to the idea. Interviewing, in this case, is more useful than thinking. Finding out about social feedback and challenges extending into contemporary society must not be ignored.
The final stage of the process is bringing the idea into life after a lot of considerations. It does not matter which way it is conducted or how long it takes, but it should not be done without passion. During the work, obstacles and criticisms may slow down the speed or even cause diversion. Like Galileo centuries ago, he kept his determination against all other harsh prejudice. Aspirations could be fulfilled with patient and persistence.
A design process which could be innovative requires creativity, feasibility and determination. “Keep your dreams alive. Understand to achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination, and dedication. Remember all things are possible for those who believe”, said Gail Devers.
Interesting post about the design process. Nice little anecdote there
ReplyDeleteabout greek mythology.
There is no such thing as "it has already been done". If Edison had said "portable light source has already been done"(referencing candlelight), maybe he would not have ever invented the light bulb.
But even so, an "idea" has to be grounded in reality. A person can
believe all he wants about making a machine that can generate time portals into the future, but what are the realistic possibilities of it ever being done? (Time travel into the past is already
questionable, let alone into the future.). In believing, a balance has to be struck. The unlimited imagination of the mind still has to limit itself to the parameters of the immediate reality.
I believe there has to be a balance in the design process as a whole. A balance between fulfilling a "want" and a "need"; a balance between aesthetics, functionality and creativity. That being said, a common misconception about creativity would be the "out with the old and in with the new" mindset. Why discard the "old" when it has been proven that they work? Instead, one should build on the old to attain
something new. "Improvements", like you stated so clearly in this post.
Of course one would require extensive input from external parties. But what if the external parties deem the innovation or design in question to be unnecessary? What if the feedback from the experts is a negative
one no matter how much you believe in your design?
That threads the fine line between faith and foolishly believing in something that would not work. The design process also comes with its fair share of failures as can be seen from numerous examples throughout history. One has to be strong enough to admit when it is time to go "back to the drawing board". In that way, time and energy can be well spent on coming up with a new innovation instead of
harping on the flawed existing one.