Week 2 – Ideas, Craft & Context

Applied thinking, speculative and contemporary theory in design

Lecture Notes

How do you visualise and develop your initial ideas?

Christoph Miller onshore– The ‘Third Mind’ when two minds connect and work together.
Talking and sketching with someone else.
Do visual research and collect references for all kind of things such as shapes, colours, typography, production methods, format, media
Also start to sketch ideas out before getting on the computer, then test them on the computer. Can’t control or predict what will happen between the two of them and what will be created.

Veronica Fuerte – Start to sketch with pencils or on computer
Vince frost -Sketch in a notebook
Sam Bompass – Start with lots of research. Starts with writing as its where he feels comfortable.

Inspiration theories and reference
Christoph Miller -Look at Swiss design heritage and bauhaus. Something that works to add a touch of the uncomfortable with the theme they are working on. Look at other creative fields for inspiration.
Veronica -Modernist influence of 60s and 70s design in her studios work. It is timeless design, she likes to ignore trends. Wants projects to be understood by all.
Vince frost -Being aware and open to inspirations, listening, looking and questioning. Getting to know a project intimately and deeply.
Sam Bompass -Archiving images and ideas that could be useful for project in the future. Can you get the idea down to two words?

Lecture reflection

When it comes to coming up with and developing ideas, the designers interviewed seemed to mostly start with sketching out ideas, talking to others and writing. It seems that the simple ways are the best ways to start a project off, doing something physical as a way of getting your creativity flowing and quickly covering an array of ideas. This is something I am trying to do with this project, working in my notebook as much as possible and taking a step back from the computer.

Reading Notes

A stroll can often provide inspiration by giving one the chance co see something that triggers an idea, something rare and unexpected or even quite common.
Improvisation is a method whereby one is encouraged to respond spontaneously to situations without having the time to stop and think.
Quick thinking taps into our ancient ‘fight or flight’ instinct and may result in generating the most effective action to take. Engaging in any activity, even doodling, can be creative.
Allowing randomness can be as simple as drawing a squiggle with a pen and picking out a shape or curve chat might work, or you could cut out pictures, colours or textures from magazines, scattering them over your desk to create associations and combinations to provoke a solution.
Trying again with a change of emphasis can help arrive at a solution. Could the solution be using only type or images?

“It’s also about finding out things that are unexpected or that you could use in a different way, so we are constantly collecting things. You pick up all sorts of rubbish that could be something. Being in a group, talking together and sharing ideas and bouncing things from one another is also important as things progress or change quite quickly.”
Emma Thomas

To solve a problem first requires that the problem is clearly defined so that the design team knows what it has to attack.
The imposition of constraints is often a spur to creativity as they challenge designers to find solutions that may not always be obvious, or that demand lateral thinking
Five Ws
The five Ws (plus an H) pose a series of simple questions – who, what, where, why, when and how – to be solved or answered by the design.
In essence, it links the why (intention) and what (content) of design with the where (layout) and how (execution). Added to this is the timeline (when) and team (who).
Designing with sustainability in mind can lead to reductions in resource consumption, changes in behaviour and a greater utilization of sustainable resources
It can educate and help change opinion by communicating information about environmental impact and patterns of consumerism.

Reading reflections

Ambrose explores some ways of coming up with and expanding on ideas in his book. He calls upon quick thinking, improvisation and randomness as good ways to come up with good ideas. As my project looks at childhood creativity, I think these ideas fit with that very well. Children don’t often worry about what they will create, how it will look and if people will like it, they simply create random things quickly and with purpose. My project is trying to recreate this attitude in adults so I think I need to try some of these techniques when working on my magazine design.

“Allowing randomness can be as simple as drawing a squiggle with a pen and picking out a shape or curve chat might work, or you could cut out pictures, colours or textures from magazines, scattering them over your desk to create associations and combinations to provoke a solution.”
(Ambrose 2015)

He also discusses the importance of having a clearly defined question and working out exactly what you a trying to achieve. One way he recommends is using the 5 Ws (who, what, where, why, when and how).

I took this advice and refined my question further, before answering some of the W questions.

How can I use the magazines I created as a child to explore childlike creativity and freedom of thought and turn this into an inspirational resource for creatives to get back in touch with their inner child?

Why – encourage creatives to worry less and just create like their younger selves would have.

What – a grown up childish magazine. Repurpose the childish content into a ‘grown up’ design format. Being free and bold with design. Creating a lot and not worrying too much about the look.

Who – creatives who are feeling stuck, prone to overthinking etc.

Further Research

“To stimulate creativity, one must develop the childlike inclination for play.”
Albert Einstein

Childhood creativity

“Children are divergent thinkers, capable of producing a range of ideas — freely, generously, and without an inner critic taking notes.” (Dropbox 2019)

As we grow our brains become more ‘rational’, so we make better decisions and judgements, but a side effect of this is that we lose that natural freedom of creativity (Dropbox 2019). Adult also worry more about failure and feel embarrassed when they’ve made a mistake. Children don’t mind being told that their ideas are stupid or not good enough, they just move on to the next idea(Solomon 2018).

It seems that as we grow we become more self conscious, worried about making mistakes and think more sensibly. All these things make us less creative as adults than we were as children.

Zine

Most definitions of zines include the fact that they are small-circulation, self-published, and often inexpensive or free (Arnold 2016).

Zines can have anything in them, there are on rules or limits. They can be hand drawn, digital or a mix of things. They often seem to be based on subjects that the creator cares deeply about. The magazine I made as a child could be classed as a zine.

Exciting Places for Boring People is a collection of new black and white drawings by Andy Rementer. The zine serves as a stage for Andy’s cast of funky characters, dazzling cityscapes, and bizarre book ideas. (Nieves 2021)

I like the free and weird nature of zines, where anything is allowed and the creator can create fantastical and bizarre worlds. It also allows people to discuss big issues and things that are important to them.

Jeffry Kriksciun’s scenes from an Alley https://bookletlibrary.org/k/kriksciun-jeffrey/

Indoors Zine

(Bourton 2020)

Bruno Munari

Bruno Munari’s children’s books are something I looked at in the first module. I love how they invite the reader to interact with them through simple, clever design and tactile pages. This is something id like to bring to my magazine design.

Kindling Magazine

After speaking to Harriet about my idea, I got a copy of Kindling Magazine, made by the creators of Kinfolk Magazine, to look at how they have created a magazine for parents. They have achieved a perfect balance between childish and sophisticated in their design and within their content. The magazine also have a nice feel to it physically with slightly textured matt paper, giving it a very different feel to glossy fashion or gossip magazines. The magazine also contains occasional coloured pages, that add a fun and childlike element to the design. I think this magazine is a bit more text heavy than I am planning to go for with mine however, as I hope to be able to evoke a creative and childlike feeling for readers as they skim through the magazine.

Moodboards

Based on my research I decided to create moodpboard based on a few potential directions to take this magazine project into.

1- Handmade Zine style. Looking at hand drawn and home made magazines, strange content and bizarre illustrations. They are very real and lack any facade, of the discussing everyday issues, they are very far away from the common glamourised magazines. As my magazines are

2- More refined magazine style. I could take my childish content and add it into a sophisticated magazine, to create a juxtaposition between the content and design. It would elevate the childish content, get people questioning the importance of creativity and content, and provoke a reaction in the reader.

3- Paper cut out and tactile design. Inspired by both the zines and Bruno Muranri’s children’s books I could look at creating a magazine that is very tactile and invites the viewer to interact with it. This could be a good way of elevating the childlike content with more sophisticated design, but keeping a clear link to its humble beginnings and childish content.

4- Childish. Another possible direction is going completely childish. Using hand drawn scribbled illustrations, cut out faces and bring colours I would create a magazine that looked as if it had been made by a child. Nothing would be off limits and it would spark conversation about what can be classed as design and what can’t.

5- Illustration led. The natural starting point for creatively in children often seems to be drawing, and children’s books are normally very image and illustration heavy. I could take this and apply it to my magazine, using illustration to fill up the majority of the pages with very limited text.

The original magazines I am using as my starting point are very much zines, so I think as much as this style is interesting, it is too similar to my original starting point. The refined magazine style on the other hand seems a bit too far away from the childlike style I am trying to capture.

I think the tactile and colourful design direction would be the best fit for my magazine, it allows for grown up design, but with a link back to its handmade and childish roots.

I looked at books, magazines and posters that are very colourful and have a tactile look about them. I think the colourful paper, simple shapes and cut outs have a nice link to the handmade and childish look of my reference magazines, but with a more designed and adult look to them. I think this creates a nice balance of work that is attractive to look at, but calls on the childlike fun and creativity I am looking for. I also think the addition of some illustration will be good within the magazine to break up the bold shapes.

Child Research

I want to get some input from children as part of my project, so I created a couple of questions to send to parents I know to ask their children.

Questions to ask your child:

Adults are not as good at being creative as children are. Why do you think this is?
What could adults do to make them more like children?
(Prompts: Any activities? Things they could eat? Dance moves they could do?)
Can you tell me a funny joke?
Can you tell me a quick story?
Can you make up a silly word?
Would you like to submit a drawing?

Design Development:

Inspired by the lecture I decided to try and start my project off by sketching and writing notes in my notebook. I thought about what I was trying to achieve and brainstormed ideas for a potential name.

I also experimented with colourful paper and paint to try and get into the headspace of a child and create without worrying about the outcome of what I was making.

I then developed these first ideas and drawing further into some draft graphics that could be potential covers for my magazine.

I also decided on the title of Figment. Definition: a thing that someone believes to be real but that exists only in their imagination, or a fantastic notion, invention, or fabrication. I think the word is fitting as my magazine is to help boost creativity and imagination and get creatives thinking about fantastical and bizarre ideas.

Reflection

In previous design projects I am guilty of jumping onto a computer too quickly and relying heavily on Illustrator and Indesign. Due to the subject matter of my self -initiated project project and the lecture this week really pushing the use of drawing when starting out with idea, I decided to stick within my notebook for as long as possible.

I found that writing physically writing notes helped me to join up ideas in my head and pushed my thinking forwards. I also found that the sketching I did and the painting an paper cuts I experimented with, while not feeling as if I had any plan or structure at the time of creation, ended up being really helpful content. A lot of the shapes and illustrations I created in this way are things that I think I will take forwards in this project. I have also tried not to overthink the design for this project, as it is supposed to evoke childlike creativity and instead just let myself be lead through it making quick decisions like my younger self would have.

I would have liked to be able to get feedback from children at all stages along my design process, but in reality with other time pressures I have only been able to ask for some input virtually for now.

Reference list

AMBROSE, Gavin. 2015. Design Genius : The Ways and Workings of Creative Thinkers. London, Uk: Bloomsbury.

ARNOLD, Chloe. 2016. “A Brief History of Zines.” Mentalfloss.com [online]. Available at: https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/88911/brief-history-zines.

BOURTON, Lucy. 2020. “Indoors Zine: A Zine about the Great Indoors Entirely Made from Home.” http://www.itsnicethat.com [online]. Available at: https://www.itsnicethat.com/features/dropbox-indoors-zine-publication-photography-illustration-070520.

DROPBOX. 2019. “Why Are Children so Creative? The Link between Childhood and Creativity.” Medium [online]. Available at: https://medium.com/life-inside-dropbox/why-are-children-so-creative-the-link-between-childhood-and-creativity-3931ead5f0c3.

NIEVES. 2021. “Nieves · Andy Rementer.” http://www.nieves.ch [online]. Available at: https://www.nieves.ch/734/exciting_places_for_boring_people [accessed 2 Oct 2021].

SOLOMON, Yoram. 2018. “3 Reasons Children Lose Creativity as They Grow Up.” Inc.com [online]. Available at: https://www.inc.com/yoram-solomon/3-reasons-children-are-more-creative-than-adults.html [accessed 1 Oct 2021].

Lizzie Wa Design