Tag: conceptual design
Having ideas can be hard, especially when we already have a first idea. How do we trick our brain into thinking that we should go in search of…
When renewable systems are over exploited they fall into a desertlike state. In this state the system population is too low to support regrowth and the system structures…
I’m getting this down while it is fresh in my mind following a planning conversation with Will Arnold this morning for our Net Zero Structural Design course. In…
Sharing my working notes from today.
Today at the University of Bath I am running a workshop on Analogue Skills for Design. This workshop fuses material from my conceptual design teaching with my observations…
Changing the key system is a technique I teach to help people develop new ideas when their thinking has become stuck. It’s one of my techniques for ‘turning…
I have had the great fortune of having spent three weeks in France, a good portion of it cycling. Touring is a great way to leave behind your…
Today I’m sharing a principle of workshop design about how we gather feedback in workshops. But the principle also applies more widely to how we get feedback in…
For anyone attending one of my conceptual design training courses, the second question I ask is what is conceptual design*. In this post I’ll give the definition I…
One of the first questions I ask people in my conceptual design training is can you define design as a process. In this post I explore why describing…
For me the Designer’s Paradox is a key concept in helping people understand what the process of design is. The term was coined by my colleague at Think…
We need creative thinking tools in our project toolkit to get the most out the opportunities that a new project offers. Projects provide a setting in which people…
This course, which I deliver at Constructivist for the Institution of Structural Engineers is my longest running conceptual design training course. It is an introductory course, which splits…
There used to be a sign outside a bakery in London that said something along the lines of, ‘it’s the invisible ingredients – love, care and attention –…
It is tempting to think of a design brief as wholly reliable, a document that contains all the information necessary to execute the design. But design briefs are…
I am reminded this morning of much I like working out what all the buttons do on a machine. Quite often the machines we use, be they an…
I spend most of my time designing creativity training for engineers. In this episode we flip the format. Alexie Sommer, Independent Design and Communication Director and collaborator on…
Creative surplus is the time we have to invest in thinking creatively, just like a financial surplus allows us to make financial investments. I like the term because…
There was great energy at today’s IStructE Academics’ Conference, the theme of which was Creativity and Conceptual Design. If you are visiting this site for the first time,…
I am just back from taking part in a Design Thread workshop at Imperial College, the aim of which was to co-ordinate activity between the various design-relevant courses…
I just read this great paragraph on the debilitating impact of false modesty on judgement.
Today I am working on course material related to defining what is a good conceptual design. I think, in construction at least, it is quite difficult to identify…