During the start up phase of the project I experimented with different ideation methods. As a project group we started with brainstorming and jamsessions to get some first ideas and a good idea of the context for the project. Then we started experimenting by creating simple prototypes in the second week. Next to that I organized a moodboard workshop for the group. I included examples of moodboard and we made one ourselves using both digital as more traditional moodboarding tools.
What I liked about this session is that moodboards work really well to define a context and feel of a concept. The next time I need to spend more time on sorting the images, making clusters by theme for example. By doing this the board can be more effective as a inspirational tool.
During the study trip to Brussels I followed a workshop System Thinking for Designers at Nahman. This approach tries to define a complex situation by combining research with making a system with stakeholders that influence each other.i In the workshop we set up a simple system to define a problem definition for a design project about high school dropouts. I’d like to use this method in future projects, because it helps in getting an overview of the design context and connecting the ideation process to research, resulting in concepts with more depth.
Ideation by making, prototype with accelerometer
Brainstorm result in week 1
Creation of a moodboard
Jamsessions helped in setting the project context