Form Catalyst

In grad school, when designing a program handbook, a professor of mine showed me a unique technique. He threw a piece of ribbon down on my sketch and told me to find inspiration from the lines and shadows of the ribbon and go from there. He didn't expect me to consider the content of the handbook and create the aesthetic based on that, which was the process I was accustomed to. This was an approach I was completely unfamiliar with at the time but have come to see a lot of value in. While I think that a consistent process for designing is helpful, I know that there will be times that a solution can’t be achieved via the same old avenues. Sometimes a little creativity is essential, in the process itself.


Following the What is Design? talks, we get right into the how do we design? lessons. The design process, and studying our methods of thinking is a typical part of this unit. I also like to touch on alternative approaches to getting started with a design. For this project, I give the students some recycled materials and ask them to create a playground or recreational equipment model that could be used for any age group. The students busily poke and tear apart the supplies in front of them until something that resembles a playground emerges. Sometimes the models look like a typical swing set, other times the materials are put together in pretty imaginative and unexpected ways. We discuss the models and what type of equipment they might resemble or become. From this step, students attempt to design and sketch an actual, able-to-be-built playground, inspired by their models. Each student ends up creating a design that most likely didn't follow their typical thought patterns. When discussing their work, the students agree that If they had set out to design a playground without the restriction of using their models, the result would be a completely different drawing and idea.