Six Thinking Hats- Tane

(Useful Links)
www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTED_07.htm
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Bono_Hats
www.lyndacurtin.com/programs/six_thinking_hats/some_global_examples_of_de_bono's_tools_in_use.asp
www.members.optusnet.com.au/charles57/Creative/Techniques/sixhats.htm

Here is a real life example of using the Six Thinking Hats method in the graphic design industry.

This is Tane Richardson. He is a graphic designer, or he thinks he is.

In this example, Tane Richardson recently decided he wanted to draw a really cool dog.

When he thought of the idea, he wore the Red Hat. He was all like, 'oh, dude, I'm going to draw like the awesomest dog ever. Ever.'

Tane Richardson allowed himself to become enveloped by the sheer emotive enthusiasm for the idea. He promptly opened windows paint, and drew this.

Finished, Tane reflected on the drawing, quickly seizing the Blue Hat to decide which Hat he would look sexiest in next. He decided there was room for improvement, and put on the White Hat to analyze the situation.

In the White Hat, Tane deduced these stone hard facts:

-He wants to draw a really cool dog.
-He is not very good at drawing dogs, cool or otherwise.
-He should google some dog pics and use them as reference. And then make them cooler.

Here is the picture he found.

Still wearing the White Hat, Tane traced the picture quite strictly and painstakingly to produce this:

In the Yellow Hat, he liked what he saw.

Tane put on his expensive new Black Hat, and looked again.

He didn't like what he saw.

He put on his Green Hat to figure out a lateral way around this.

He decided Photoshop was for losers and moved on to Illustrator. There, drawing on some of the last remaining droplets of passion he had for the project, Tane produced this:

He put his Yellow Hat back on and pointed out the positive aspects of the image:
- It looks like a dog.
-The lines look clean.
Then using the Black Hat, he decided:
-It looks shoddily drawn, and badly planned.
-It is a highly uncool dog.

Tane put on the White Hat to analyze the situation once more, and decided:
-This is hopeless.

Eventually Tane Richardson gave up.
He took all the hats off, shut down his computer, and had a long cry.

Method Man - Tane

above is the design process according to Ardent Interactive at:
http://www.ardentinteractive.co.nz/custom-images/ardent-design-process-diagram.jpg
Let us delve into the world of methods. We don't need roads where we're going.
The UK Design Council believes:

Methods are an integral part of the design process. The advantage of using them is to structure a process; they can allow you to hold a team together, aid communication and share viewpoints across multi disciplinary teams. Part of the skill of being a good design strategist is identifying appropriate methods and creating the right conditions for their use.
(http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/en/About-Design/Design-Methods/The-design-process/)

Below is Method Man.

He raps about the design process, and the methods involved, and the importance of those methods.

Nah he doesn't. (Got you excited for a sec there, Stacy?)

And from what I could glean from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design#Design_disciplines
some methods include:

User-centered design, which focuses on the needs, wants, and limitations of the end user of the designed artifact. (Don't worry, I don't understand the diagram either)

Use-centered design, which focuses on the goals and tasks associated with the use of the artifact, rather than focusing on the end user.

KISS principle, (Keep it Simple Stupid, etc.), which strives to eliminate unnecessary complications

There is more than one way to do it (TMTOWTDI), a philosophy to allow multiple methods of doing the same thing.

My personal opinion is that I hate the very notion of methods because they sound restrictive but i'm sure i subconsciously use the same methods over and over again because this produces my personal visual style. I'm still very much an amateur designer and I think methods are more widely used and are more important to professional designers.

I don't like methods. I like imagination.

POST 2: 'Six Thinking Hats'

'Six Thinking Hats' is an important and powerful technique. It is used to look at decisions from a number of important perspectives. This forces you to move outside your habitual thinking style, and helps you to get a more rounded view of a situation.
This tool was created by Edward de Bono in his book '6 Thinking Hats'.Many successful people think from a very rational, positive viewpoint. This is part of the reason that they are successful. Often, though, they may fail to look at a problem from an emotional, intuitive, creative or negative viewpoint. This can mean that they underestimate resistance to plans, fail to make creative leaps and do not make essential contingency plans.
 
Similarly, pessimists may be excessively defensive, and more emotional people may fail to look at decisions calmly and rationally.
If you look at a problem with the 'Six Thinking Hats' technique, then you will solve it using all approaches. Your decisions and plans will mix ambition, skill in execution, public sensitivity, creativity and good contingency planning.

Examine de Bono's technique as a method in design processes.
Apply it to a case study of graphic design relevance.
Your post should be around 200 wds with links and images.

ALEC - mehtod

Method is with us everywhere we go; whether we want to accept it or not. It is evident at breakfast when you set the toaster to full, pop it early and smother the crisp bread with butter before it has the chance to cool. You have just subconsciously applied a method to achieve a certain goal that reflects your likes and dislikes.

Without Methods were would humans be today?
Floundering in a sea of chaos with dodgy toast no doubt.

For designers and clients to achieve the best possible outcomes on all projects, set methods must be implemented and adhered to within the design process. Designers must look at a project with the intent on creating through method rather than creating at random. They must accustom themselves to a certain way of operating and stick to it otherwise personal style/flair/success will never be a factor in their career.

History has shown that by advancing our methods and approach to design we have greatly improved our built environments and ultimately our lives. This was achieved through ‘trail and error’ which draws parallels to the ‘evaluation’ stage in the design process. The Sydney Harbour Bridge for example was one hundred years in the making; if you include the length of time it took for bridge design to advance to a point where crossing a tidal span of water that vast was achievable and safe. The bridges’ actual design spanned around twenty years and its’ designer was constantly referring to the evaluation stage in the design process.
‘Bradfield continuously reworked the design of the Sydney Harbour Bridge from 1912 to 1929’
Just like the toast metaphor – if Bradfield hadn’t designed that bridge reflecting his tastes and standards using methods and evaluation that bridge would have fallen down long ago.

www.sydneyharbourbridge.info

www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/design_methods

Rosalind Method

no method = no order
no order = chaos
chaos = complete disorder and confusion

As a graphic designer, having some type of method that you set into place when receiving a job is essential. The aim of using a method in your design work is for the purpose of gaining insight into the wants and needs of your client.
Using method as a tool can free up your work load;
It removes the need to constantly make sure every step is covered.
It allows you to be consistent in your creative process, which helps you to make your deadlines and keep your clients happy.
Having all your process work documented allows your client to see that you have given thought to how you will go about making what they have asked you to create.
Web site designer Ross Olson uses these methods as his guidelline to his creations.

Focus The Concept: Its easy to get carried away and get offtrack.
Gather Supporting Materials: Fonts, pictures all resources, what are your competitors doing.
Establish the Style: Colours, look, feel, words.
Create Many Thumbnails: Variety is the spice of life, brainstorm.
Develop Some Sketches: Pick the best 4 or 5 ideas.
Produce the Mockups: The best one or two
Output a Final: Picking the best design and running with it.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_methods
http://www.alistapart.com/articles/method/
http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/en/About-Design/Design-Methods/

JADE: DESIGN METHODS

Why use methods?

Methods are an integral part of the design process. The advantage of using them is to structure a process; they can allow you to hold a team together, aid communication and share viewpoints across multi disciplinary teams. Part of the skill of being a good design strategist is identifying appropriate methods and creating the right conditions for their use.

Danish company LEGO, the world’s sixth largest toy maker, has transformed the processes of its design function in recent years. These changes have streamlined product development and the processes developed by the in-house design function are now being used as a method to improve innovation across the entire business.

LEGO has developed a new design system, called Design for Business (D4B), by which its whole innovation process is run.

Key elements of the LEGO Design For Business process include:

- The alignment between corporate objectives and design strategy.
- Strengthening the collaboration in core project teams containing a design, a marketing and product manager.
- Challenge sessions for the team during this process, run by colleagues and D4B members.
- The development of a standard sequence of activities for product development, with frequent evaluations and decision gates.
- The development of standard processes for presenting the outputs of design phases to allow straightforward comparison of different projects and options.

Design process evolution

Design has traditionally been held in high regard at LEGO. The company considers design to be a key element in the development of their products, has used design as a competitive weapon and has given high levels of autonomy and responsibility to its design teams.

LEGO has transformed the processes of its design function in the last two years. The design team itself precipitated this process transformation. Existing processes, while they allowed the design team exceptional creative freedom, had resulted in too many commercially unsuccessful products coming to market and had also produced significant additional complexity in the LEGO system, which by the early 2000s had risen to more than 14,000 different components.

The rigorous process transformation approach adopted by the LEGO design function has helped to maintain and enhance its status within the company. Indeed, the processes developed in the design division are being used as a method for innovation across the entire business.

Design For Business represents a combination of LEGO’s overall corporate strategy and design strategy, and has been instrumental in achieving some of LEGO’s recent business performance successes. Find out more about how LEGO's Innovation model and its Foundation overview fit in to D4B.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_methods#Background_of_Design_Methods

http://www.positivespaceblog.com/archives/design-processes-why-every-designer-needs-one/

http://www.webcredible.co.uk/user-friendly-resources/web-usability/user-centerzzed-design.shtml

http://weblog.obso1337.org/2008/6-research-and-design-methods-for-developers/

http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/en/About-Design/managingdesign/The-Study-of-the-Design-Process/

http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/en/About-Design/Design-Methods/The-design-process/

Gemma: Design Process

The design Process: Methods

The design process is a series of stages undertaken by a designer in order to come to a final solution for the project or task.
The process covers areas that need to be addressed in order for a successful design solution. The following diagram expresses these stages:

In terms of design methods, the key is to gain insights or individual truths relating to the subject design in order to achieve better experiences between the product and user, both aesthetically and ergonomically.

Methods give structure to a design process as well as this, they add to the support of the communication between designers and clients, therefore allowing the process to run smoothly. They also aid in sparking ideas, validating ideas, analyzing research and evaluating the solution. In saying this, the method is evident throughout the entire design process, holding it together with structure and pushing it to progress positively.

I believe the key to good designers as well as good designs lies in the skill of identifying appropriate methods and at the same time creating the right conditions for their use. Without method, there is initially no structure, and therefore resulting in poor design organization, communication and solution.


Websites Used:
http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/en/About-Design/Design-Methods/The-design-process/
http://www.technologystudent.com/designpro/despro1.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_methods

ROGAN : design processes

Above is diagram outlining the stages/modes of design from initial thought to finished product.

Design is a process, it begins with an idea and gradually becomes a finished product.  However the process varies from person to person.  Some people are methodical and others are more sporadic with their approach.  I think it depends on the personality of the individual, however a method can be learned.  Design may require research or it might simply just evolve from an initial thought or idea.  The development of this idea is a key part of the process.

Different design firms have process methods in place to ensure efficiency and to get the workload done at a more rapid rate.  However, individual designers generally have there own methods which may or may not involve madness.

Tracy: Design Processes

    Design Process: Important or not? 

I really like the idea of having a final design outcome, which appears as if no processing went on. It suggests that the imagery seems free and easy.  I really do think it is important to follow a process and I like the concept of the process being circular, so that you can revisit points, especially communication.

I also liked this diamond plan, which is explained in Wikipedea under design processes. I found a number of sites on which organisations had placed graphs and formulas for their particular design processes. None of them seem to consider whether or not it is an important thing to factor in to their work. It seems it is just a given that this is the way to work. This is probably because it has been tested through practice and it works best

http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/en/About-Design/managingdesign/The-Study-of-the-Design-Process/

http://www.bluefishcreative.com/images/diagram_design.gif

www.astoundcreative.com

www.valecolor.com

www.bydesignbda.com

My Style-Kurt

I find for me personally its important to have the balance of Mental and Physical or Mind and Body. In saying that, i am mostly creative (mentally) when i have been doing my sports (physically) when i,m not active and haven't been physical my creativity struggles and vise versa, Everyone has a way to come up with new ideas and fresh design, this is my Method and Design Process.

Govinda - Methods in Design

A method is a systematic way of completing a task. It’s a procedure. Methods can be applied to any given situation in where an orderly arrangement of ideas is needed. In design, some form of a method is required to complete the design process. For example, a graphic designer must research a company’s background before designing their logo, and can only create final artwork after consulting with the client. Methods in place enable a systematic approach to the design process allowing ideas to be developed, refined and further developed. But how much should a designer follow methods and how much should he work spontaneously.

Take James for example. He works for Ink Incorporated, a large graphic design firm based out of Melbourne. Ink Incorporated employs methods. They have a design manual highlighting the steps that must be taken in the process of designing. James must follow these steps and show the evidence to his supervisor. Although they can at times be helpful, especially when stuck for ideas, he finds the methods restricting and feels they often get in the way of his creativity. James would prefer to have methods there as a guideline if needed, but to have the flexibility to design in whatever method works best for that moment.

Learning methods in the design process is an important part of a designer’s education. They should be viewed with an open mind and followed as carefully as possible. As the designer gains experience in the industry, his own style of working will emerge which may contain ridged methods or a spontaneous and unique approach. It is important for the design to be able to work in a way that allows his designs to emerge and develop to ultimately produce the best work possible to satisfy himself and the client.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_methods
http://www.ider.herts.ac.uk/school/courseware/design/
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=active&rls=com.microsoft:*:IE-SearchBox&rlz=1I7DAAU&defl=en&q=define:method&sa=X&oi=glossary_definition&ct=title

post1: - quote 10%

Some consider it noble to have a method; others consider it noble not to have a method. Not to have a method is bad; to stop entirely at method is worse still. One should at first observe rules severely, then change them in an intelligent way. The aim of posessing method is to seem finally as if one had no method.

Please consider the above with reference design process/es. Write 250 words with images and links. Use case studies to explain. Due  27/10/08.

term 4 - 40%

during this term you will set 4 posts to complete each worth 10%
post 1 given 13/10/08 due 27/10/08 10%
post 2 given 27/10/08 due 10/11/08 10%
post 3 given 03/11/08 due 17/11/08 10%
post 4 given 10/10/08 due 24/10/08 10%