Brainstorming and Ideation

3-10 (with expansion of ideas on 4-10 and 5-10)

Getting new ideas, which were based on the first idea I had (light which follows one around through all kinds of different lightsources) was my goal for this evening. While Liza and Wendy were around, I made the proposal of brainstorming together for my project. This resulted in this lovely picture:

It was a very good brainstorm, which immediately gave me images. This was the confirmation that I am not stuck any more. This input is very useful as a base of conceptualisation. To express my ideas, I created some drawings of them:

I have started with the wishing well. This is would be an area of tranquillity. As can be seen on the picture above; there is a well in the middle of the which will be the object of interaction. When people need some luck, or when they are stuck, they throw coins in a fountain. I want to use this interaction to create a shockwave of light inside the 'Atelier Van Lieshout'. This is an indication that somebody is stuck in their process and could use help from different people (and thus different perspectives). 

In this second idea, which needs two pictures to explain, the user walks through a giant representation of a tree, with unusual colours and material. This tree has a lot of different roots, going al the way across the workplace, showing at random places. When passing the roots, there will be light flashing through them. The user can use these object to play around, changing the coloujrs and speed while doing so. The tree resembles the vision of the workplace and the roots resemble all the different directions one takes from this vision. Other references could be made to the period of the 'Enlightment' and Newton. 

This idea is about pouring the light into an object, which will switch the lights on. It is based on the torches which were necessary in the temples during the period before electricity. One torch was needed to light the entire room. I want people to need one glass of 'light' to light a certain area in the workplace. This is a reference to the idea of using light (and electricity) in a way without wasting it; while you are consciously enlighten the room or part of the room, you are consciously using light. This then again is a reference to designing, where designers use the things people consider to be normal and putting them in a different perspective.

Light which has a behaviour is a very interesting research area. Thinking about this resulted in the idea of a light pursuing a visitor. The visitor is challenged by the light to play with it; when the user, turns around the corner, the light will still have some speed and will spin out of the track one will leave behind.

Last, but not least is the, as I have easily put it, 'leave your mark wall'. There are a lot of people who are unconsciously (damn that word is hard to type..) touches the wall or bars on the side of the path/where-ever. I came up with an idea of using that in the workplace to put oneself consciously into contact with his/her unconscious mind. By lighting the touched area on the wall, this is triggered. In a creative part of design, it is important to be aware of every decision one takes (even if it is only in ones mind). This would be a tangible experience; with my first idea to work with fibreglass LED's.

Good start, bad end

Today was another busy day.On the planning was an EduCie meeting and a brainstorm session with my project mates. While I had little time for research the past week, I conducted some extra in the morning to use in the afternoon. Reading articles was not something my state of mind was ready for in the morning, so I decided to work more visualized. As it is the goal to create a creative workplace, I searched for images of those on the internet, printed them and marked the good/bad points of it on a big piece of paper. This resulted in the picture below.

The analysis gave me good insights in the unused moments of play and the static and straight-forward actions that are being conducted within 'normal offices'. Having all those straight lines makes me want to combine the static actions with an abstract layer.

The EduCie meeting was interesting and while I cannot say too much about it, the activity we are currently focusing on in very nice and very different from previous year. I am already excited!

I did not even have time for my sandwhiched or the next brainstorm already was about to start. The idea was to go brainstorming together with the project-group, but Mariette thought it was a better idea to have a group-discussion first, about our findings during the research. She definitely had a valid point, as we all conducted research the previous days.

The discussion was about a number of interesting things that we found out. For me it was also a moment of finding out what the research I conducted could add to my process. I clearly saw a connection between the first chapter of 'Homo Ludens' by J. Huizinga en a ted.com talk by Tim Brown (the powerful link between creativity and play). Huizinga says that playing has three main characteristics:

- it is played voluntarily

- it needs rules

- it is within a given moment and a given time.

Tim Brown had said during his talk  something like: 'We need rules to break the rules'. I think that creating these rules, within a creative workplace is a good starting perspective for my final concept. This, in combination with the workplace-analysis has lifted me out of my 'idea/concept-dip'. I think, to quote Bob Marley and many others, that everything is gonna be all right!

After the discussion, Bruno, Jelmer and I did have a short brainstorm on 'how to keep things interesting'. This subject was chosen because it is necessary to keep things interesting, to keep being inspiring with our ideas. We threw around the whiteboard marker to force each other to add something to the mindmap. This worked pretty good to get this started and after this, the discussion started to flow naturally. Having a set time for the brainstorm works really good, as I also found out during the brainstorm with the other project group which Sam coaches. The brainstorm resulted in the following picture:

Bottomline, what we concluded t is that things need to be different/changing (think of breaking patterns). This was not a real surprise, but nonetheless it is a good dimension to take into account with my concepts.

In the afternoon I tried to finish the LED-controller for the Alice- box, but I did something wrong while soldering, so I need to take a second look at it. It feels like a waist of time, but of course I did learn about electronics and programming.