Friday, November 7, 2008

Govinda - The Six Thinking Hats


The six thinking hats is a system created by Edward de Bono as a means to assist the thinking process and encourage people to look at situations differently. Applying this technique to the design process can help a person look outside the square, behind, underneath and inside while allowing positive and negative thinking. The six hats are as follows: white, red, black, yellow, green and blue. They each represent different thinking styles, such as emotive and reflective.

When I receive a new design brief, I usually first don the white hat. This enables me to look at the data available, assess what’s missing and analyse the information gathered. I then may change into either a green or red hat, using creativity or intuition and emotion. The black hat is then needed to look at the bad points of the designs and eliminate weak ideas. From there I can jump around wearing many different hats at different moments until the design is complete.

If stuck for ideas when designing, looking at the problem with the various hats is a good way to step outside the square and see the situation differently. This can really help to get ideas going.

Different hats work for different people. Have fun with the colours.