design(human)design

design(human)design (MIT’s MadLibs For Designers)
A cool tool to spark imagination through nonsensical design prompts.

Try tool here

‘The game offers up problems that you’d never see in the real world as a bit of mind-opening creative exercise. Called design(human)design, the game has physical and digital manifestations as a deck of cards and a website, each providing a different interface for the same idea. According to the game’s structure, there are five categories that make up the basic components of a design: the artifact, the inspiration, the experience, the attributes, and the medium. In the card version, each of the these categories has its own deck of cards, and you pick five randomly to give you a new design prompt. On the website, you just hit refresh and the interface will present you with five usually unrelated concepts that together make up something like a brief.’ Co.Design

‘As a tool design(human) design) builds on insights about the design process inspired by research carried out at IDEO Cambridge. The idea is that there are a few design “variables” that designers play with, and that they often like to provoke their creativity with “random but purposeful” inspirations—which present the designer with a random selection of design variables to act as a “structured serendipitous” creative prompt.’ Overview MIT

A short interview featuring architect, educator and Archigram founder Peter Cook on his 2016-2017 Retrospective exhibition at the Tchoban Foundation – Museum für Architekturzeichnung.

In the interview Cook talks about the importance of drawing within the design process. Drawing is more than a tool it is the extension of one’s head. It allows architects to learn, communicate and experiment in a way that is irreplaceable. Cook acknowledges how the computer has transformed architecture and allowed more complex forms to be built within the constraints of time and money. He however believes that drawing is still critical to the design process.

“The computer cannot escape doing things correctly and I think it is very important in architecture to also have the incorrect.”

Whilst the computer continually asks you to define what you are drawing in order for it to respond consistently with a sketch the spontaneity of the hand can result in a careful balance between waywardness and accuracy which are essential to thinking within the design process.

The spontaneous and the pre-considered

A short interview featuring architect, educator and Archigram founder Peter Cook on his 2016-2017 Retrospective exhibition at the Tchoban Foundation – Museum für Architekturzeichnung.

In the interview Cook talks about the importance of drawing within the design process. Drawing is more than a tool it is the extension of one’s head. It allows architects to learn, communicate and experiment in a way that is irreplaceable. Cook acknowledges how the computer has transformed architecture and allowed more complex forms to be built within the constraints of time and money. He however believes that drawing is still critical to the design process.

“The computer cannot escape doing things correctly and I think it is very important in architecture to also have the incorrect.”

Whilst the computer continually asks you to define what you are drawing in order for it to respond consistently with a sketch the spontaneity of the hand can result in a careful balance between waywardness and accuracy which are essential to thinking within the design process.

The opening title sequence within the David Fincher’s 1995 crime thriller Seven has inspired much of the early design process editing footage on this site. The title sequence which is directed by Kyle Cooper plays a pivotal role within the film by unveiling to the viewer the psychotic process of the killer through a frantic mashup of disturbing process images.

Kyle Cooper comments during an interview to Empire that:

“I was really into horror movies when I was a kid. …and I used to get frustrated when they’d hold back the monster to the very end. It occurred to me to get an idea of the killer before they finally catch him. We wanted to get the audience curious about what this guy is going to be. He has to be super, super evil.”

What for me is most fascinating about this sequence is that you get to see the process. Most films hide this and only cut in and out of a process. Examples of this being Howard Roark, as the architect, in the adaptation of the fountainhead (1949) where his design process is glossed over with cuts. Or Charlton Heston’s portrayal of Michelangelo in The Agony and Ecstasy (1965). Perhaps this is to maintain the mystique of the creative individuals or because the audience would simply lose interest. The portrayal of process through film and shedding light on the architectural design process is critical to the research of this website and something I hope to explore more.

Process portrayed through film

The opening title sequence within the David Fincher’s 1995 crime thriller Seven has inspired much of the early design process editing footage on this site. The title sequence which is directed by Kyle Cooper plays a pivotal role within the film by unveiling to the viewer the psychotic process of the killer through a frantic mashup of disturbing process images.

Kyle Cooper comments during an interview to Empire that:

“I was really into horror movies when I was a kid. …and I used to get frustrated when they’d hold back the monster to the very end. It occurred to me to get an idea of the killer before they finally catch him. We wanted to get the audience curious about what this guy is going to be. He has to be super, super evil.”

What for me is most fascinating about this sequence is that you get to see the process. Most films hide this and only cut in and out of a process. Examples of this being Howard Roark, as the architect, in the adaptation of the fountainhead (1949) where his design process is glossed over with cuts. Or Charlton Heston’s portrayal of Michelangelo in The Agony and Ecstasy (1965). Perhaps this is to maintain the mystique of the creative individuals or because the audience would simply lose interest. The portrayal of process through film and shedding light on the architectural design process is critical to the research of this website and something I hope to explore more.

Within this short interview by Plane-Site Peter Eisenman discusses the importance of sketching and how as a process it act as “the red thread” for designers to trace their thinking steps through a project. He goes on to suggest that contemporary architectural tools are affecting a designer’s ability to think creatively:

“Technology is a cruel tool, because what it does is defer the possibility of the student being creative. The student can take an algorithm, produce 50 alternatives to the same problem … It takes away from you the possibility of value judgment.”

It is really interesting how much emphasis Eisenman puts on the importance of thinking and the use of sketching to make this possible within the design process.

The Power of sketching by Peter Eisenman

Within this short interview by Plane-Site Peter Eisenman discusses the importance of sketching and how as a process it act as “the red thread” for designers to trace their thinking steps through a project. He goes on to suggest that contemporary architectural tools are affecting a designer’s ability to think creatively:

“Technology is a cruel tool, because what it does is defer the possibility of the student being creative. The student can take an algorithm, produce 50 alternatives to the same problem … It takes away from you the possibility of value judgment.”

It is really interesting how much emphasis Eisenman puts on the importance of thinking and the use of sketching to make this possible within the design process.

    Disney animator Glen Keane talks about how using Tilt Brush, a VR 3D painting tool, has allowed him to step into the page and capture levels of creativity he last experienced as a child.

    “By putting tools in your hand that can create in virtual reality, I can put goggles on and I just step into the paper and now I’m drawing in it,”

Step into the Page

    Disney animator Glen Keane talks about how using Tilt Brush, a VR 3D painting tool, has allowed him to step into the page and capture levels of creativity he last experienced as a child.

    “By putting tools in your hand that can create in virtual reality, I can put goggles on and I just step into the paper and now I’m drawing in it,”

The ESPER machine is a fictional device used in the 1982 Ridley Scott film Blade Runner for extraction of 3D data from a 2D image.

‘In fiction, an Esper is an individual capable of telepathy and other similar paranormal abilities. The term was apparently coined in this sense by Alfred Bester in his 1950 short story “Oddy and Id” and is derived from the abbreviation ESP for extrasensory perception.’

In the film the ESPER machine allows Harrison Ford’s character Deckard to insert a 2D photograph and investigate its properties beyond its initial dimensions through a series of voice commands. At one point (42:27) the ESPER machine acts on its own and Deckard appears to continue on from this action. This is significant because it suggest that a glitch has occurred and revealed something to Deckard which he then continues to peruse. At the end of the investigation Deckard instructs the ESPER to print the manipulated image where he then proceeds to follow up on the lead it presents.

What is most interesting about the ESPER machine is the way it allows its user to interact through analogue inputs (voice and photographs) to digitally examine a problem from another perspective. This could be viewed as a very literal take on the idea of generating a creative leap by shifting the solution space.

ESPER, Blade Runner, Released 1982, Dystopia 2019

The ESPER machine is a fictional device used in the 1982 Ridley Scott film Blade Runner for extraction of 3D data from a 2D image.

‘In fiction, an Esper is an individual capable of telepathy and other similar paranormal abilities. The term was apparently coined in this sense by Alfred Bester in his 1950 short story “Oddy and Id” and is derived from the abbreviation ESP for extrasensory perception.’

In the film the ESPER machine allows Harrison Ford’s character Deckard to insert a 2D photograph and investigate its properties beyond its initial dimensions through a series of voice commands. At one point (42:27) the ESPER machine acts on its own and Deckard appears to continue on from this action. This is significant because it suggest that a glitch has occurred and revealed something to Deckard which he then continues to peruse. At the end of the investigation Deckard instructs the ESPER to print the manipulated image where he then proceeds to follow up on the lead it presents.

What is most interesting about the ESPER machine is the way it allows its user to interact through analogue inputs (voice and photographs) to digitally examine a problem from another perspective. This could be viewed as a very literal take on the idea of generating a creative leap by shifting the solution space.

Eye-Con or: How I Learned to Draw Exactly Wrong, Norman Kelley, 2013

Villa Savoye Wrong line weights Redrawn by Owen Duross

Eye-Con was a workshop run by the architects Norman Kelley with the intention to re-examine and rehearse visual deception through architectural drawing. The Eye-Con workshop got users to manipulate drawings by using the following analogue and parametric techniques:

Droste effect
The effect of a picture appearing within itself, in a place where a similar picture would realistically be expected to appear.

False shadow projections
The incorrect casting of shadows from a solid.

Incorrect line weights
The transformation of a line drawing with a set of line thicknesses that do not necessarily follow standard drawing conventions.

Reversible figurations
The reversing of black and white within a figure ground plan.

The outcome of the workshop is a set of drawings where participants have assembled a series of misappropriated drawing conventions and illusory devices with the title ‘I know something you don’t know’.

As with other techniques the Eye-Con would appear to allow the participant to transform an existing image through a series of analogue and digital techniques in order to find something new.

Pixar’s, Review Sketch tool, 2004

Pixar’s, Review Sketch tool, 2004

The Review Sketch tool was developed by Pixar studio whilst working on their 2004 feature film ‘The Incredibles’. The tool was born out of the director Brad Bird’s frustration with giving written feedback to animators. He felt that it made more sense to give feedback in a sketch form by drawing on top of projected images. The result from this was Pixar developing the Review Sketch tool which allows a director to use a digital stylus to draw directly on top of an image. The resulting sketches are then made accessible online to anyone who needs to reference them. The tool would prove so successful that it has been used on all subsequent Pixar films.

The ability of the Review Sketch tool to quickly review and propose changes to a digital process through an analogue input appears to be its creative strength and the reason for its inclusion with this review of creativity tools.

Sketchpad was developed by Ivan Sutherland in 1968 as part of his PhD thesis at the Augmentation Research Centre at Stanford. Recognised as a breakthrough in computer graphics Sketchpad is described as a tool by Sutherland that augments its users and aids them both artistically and technically in their work. Sketchpad would receive the Turing Award in 1988 and the Kyoto Prize in 2012. Sutherland’s work would go on to play a major role in the development of creative computing including setting the foundation for companies such as Pixar. Sketchpads GUI (Graphic User Interface) combined with a stylus augments its user and presents a new creative way for interfacing with a computer. This allowed users to see instantly the geometry they were inputting rather than having to wait for a line of code to be completed.

Sketchpad, Ivan Sutherland, 1968

Sketchpad was developed by Ivan Sutherland in 1968 as part of his PhD thesis at the Augmentation Research Centre at Stanford. Recognised as a breakthrough in computer graphics Sketchpad is described as a tool by Sutherland that augments its users and aids them both artistically and technically in their work. Sketchpad would receive the Turing Award in 1988 and the Kyoto Prize in 2012. Sutherland’s work would go on to play a major role in the development of creative computing including setting the foundation for companies such as Pixar. Sketchpads GUI (Graphic User Interface) combined with a stylus augments its user and presents a new creative way for interfacing with a computer. This allowed users to see instantly the geometry they were inputting rather than having to wait for a line of code to be completed.

Oblique Strategies, Brian Eno & Peter Schmidt, 1975

SONY DSC

Oblique Strategies, is a deck of cards developed by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt in 1975. Each of the cards contains an individual aphorism designed to help artist’s break creative blocks by thinking laterally. Examples include:

Give way to your worst impulse

Faced with a choice do both

Slow preparation.. Fast execution

Developed to help musicians in particular, users are able to select a card at random when faced with a creative block. The intention is that by thinking laterally about the problem and reframing it the user will break down the block.

More info

Online example

The Cut-up technique was pioneered by the Dadaists in the 1920s and involves rearranging the structure of a piece of text by cutting it up into strips and then reordering it at random into a new text.

The artist Brion Gysin and writer William S. Burroughs developed the cut up technique further by combining printed media and audio recordings in order to discover what they considered to be the true meaning of a given text. In many instances an unedited cut-up would emerge as coherent and meaningful prose, as can be seen within Brion Gysin book ‘Minutes to Go’.

The author has previously found that a variant of the cut-up technique, whereby one writes about an intended piece of architecture from the perspective of a potential building user and then cuts them up and reorders them, can result in a creative leap. During both years of the author’s post graduate architectural training he used such a technique to develop and iterate his projects to great success.

Cut-up technique, Dadaists, 1920’s

The Cut-up technique was pioneered by the Dadaists in the 1920s and involves rearranging the structure of a piece of text by cutting it up into strips and then reordering it at random into a new text.

The artist Brion Gysin and writer William S. Burroughs developed the cut up technique further by combining printed media and audio recordings in order to discover what they considered to be the true meaning of a given text. In many instances an unedited cut-up would emerge as coherent and meaningful prose, as can be seen within Brion Gysin book ‘Minutes to Go’.

The author has previously found that a variant of the cut-up technique, whereby one writes about an intended piece of architecture from the perspective of a potential building user and then cuts them up and reorders them, can result in a creative leap. During both years of the author’s post graduate architectural training he used such a technique to develop and iterate his projects to great success.