The most recent design process that we went through as a class focused on finding a solution to solve how the class would decorate the Design Studio Room and entertain visitors for the Sauder School of Business Open House. Our team began with idea generation. It took a few minutes for the team to start coming up with ideas. Once we began, however, the team used previous ideas to create new, more innovative ones. At one point there was a lull in the idea generation. To kick start our brains into action, we challenged ourselves to come up with 10 new ideas in 5 minutes. This “stressful time crunch” was effective and we hit our idea target.
Prototyping proved to be an interesting challenge. We made two series of “maps” of the room and laid out how each brainstormed activity would be viewed by Sauder’s guests. We hit a few roadblocks along the way and had to re-arrange our ideas in order to make each of them fit with the map.
This was the third time we had walked through the design process. I felt more comfortable and familiar with the process – like it was becoming second nature to observe, idea generate, prototype and test.
I like the idea of putting a bit of pressure on yourselves to generate ideas in a limited amount of time. What I find usually can come out of it, are the really creative ideas that are not restricted by our own negative attitudes or self-consciousness/confidence that prevent us from typically saying our ideas out loud. I find myself as well working well under pressure because I have to focus myself. Some of my “best work” comes with a time constraint, but that can also be said for some of the toughest work. But who said work has to be easy always?
I also find that I generally work better under pressure and within a limited time frame but not when it comes to creativity and idea generation. When I force myself to come up with a certain number of creative ideas in a limited amount of time, I usually can’t do it. It’s like my brain stops working. I have to let the ideas come naturally and sometimes really take my time with it, which can be really frustrating. I guess everyone has a different way of thinking.