designdice™

Design, at its heart, is about ideas. Most design teaching is based on the premise of a process – a series of steps that encourage iteration, lateral thought, and importantly, a familiarity with creative risk and/or failure as a natural part of that process.

Many of us will instinctively begin with 'safe' methodologies – practices that have succeeded in the past, rather than embracing new opportunities. designdice™ evolved out of these reflections; to encourage students to take more creative risks and to try and package the complexity of a rich creative process in a form that encourages play and a natural flow of innovative ideas.

The project began with observations of design student behaviour, and patterns that specific groups tended to evidence year-on-year. The key-moment was when Andy met with six Level 5 students across a morning teaching session, all of whom were independently working on the same project, and all of whom were independently making the same limiting judgements.

The thinking then developed more deliberately in the broader light of these observations, much of which were truths that resonated with even the most seasoned designer. Was there a way to address our collective propensity for creative blind-spots (either though ignorance or habit) or our tendency to gravitate towards more immediate 'literal' solutions (rather than lateral)?

The subsequent thinking developed a framework around which Andy created a series of textual prompts (much like the role of a tutor) that would force an objective reflection by the students on any given project, at any given time, bringing new perspectives, behavioural change and lateral thought to the table.

Creative thinking tools or bespoke processes are commonplace in the design world, as are academic courses that encourage students to grow creatively. All fundamentally invite the individual to consider alternative perspectives on the problem-in-hand, with the added safety of an established curriculum, or a series of logical steps to build around (De Bono's Thinking Hats, and Eno/Schmidt's Oblique Strategies being two that particularly influenced the thinking on designdice™).

Significantly, its evolution was driven by an inner 'need' to make a tangible product that would benefit students and designers in their creative journey, rather than a passion to develop a research question. Andy's centre of gravity is very much rooted in the development of real-world tools that translate pedagogic ideas into practical applications that live or die on the use they receive (by students and the wider design community).

The process followed that of any traditional design problem (i.e. discover, define, develop, deliver – albeit in a non-linear fashion), and the initial notion was road-tested with students, informing subsequent revisions, which then paved the way for the formal product design, production and delivery.

The biggest challenge was the shift into new creative territory as a product (rather than graphic) designer, and the new learning was as much a part of the achievement and outcomes as the tangible set of dice.