You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.
- Albert Einstein
Now that we are able to put ideas to paper, we are going to organize your ideas from the recesses of your mind and bring them into reality. New Ideas often die because of unclear convictions, and a foggy mind. Design can help focus and shape ideas.
With today's technology the ability to create your ideas has never been easier. Computer aided design programs are becoming ubiquitous, funding is becoming more accessible with the invention of crowdsourcing, and with growth of 3D printing nearly anyone can produce prototypes cheaply. The products and ideas that will stand above the rest are those that are both beautiful and purposeful. This chapter lays out the process and the principles designers use.
PROBLEM
A design problem could designing a building, a poster, a marketing campaign, designing how you work. The design process starts with a purpose.
For example designing a building has a program that balances: clients desires, city / county codes, cost, materials, the tools and skills of the designer, the knowledge of how buildings go together, size and amount of rooms. How all of these aspects come together becomes part of the design process. Knowing design principles can help create the best solution. Because of the many factors involved in the nature of a building or any design problem, it may not have a clear definable solution such as a math problem. One of the goals of design is to use design principles to create an equation that leads to the best possible solution. Another goal of the design is to authentically convey the solution of whatever problem is discovered through the process.
PROCESS
The design process has two main avenues that are normally pursued in combination, but emphasis can be placed more heavily on one area or another. The two main themes, which mirror our mind, is rationalization or exploration aka the imaginative. Regardless of the benefit, want or desire of any right brain designer the initial design starts with inspiration.
EXPLORATION TOOLS:
Inspiration
In a design project everyone has to start somewhere. Before we let our students design, we assign them a case study of a bridge or a house. They have to write a three page paper exploring the: the environment, the user behaviors, form, function, utility, and details. In design we normally call the inspirational idea or organizing force the “Parti”. While I find this term slightly pompous their is no true substitute.
The most primal example / starting point / parti is nature. It’s graceful curves, beautiful colors, and innate properties are initially intangible concepts. By exploring and investigating a simple picture or scene we can start to extrapolate ideas that can apply to our built world. Nature often has a silent soul that we all understand and try to recreate through imaginative ideas.
Take for example the picture below. What thoughts or ideas can you take from this image that might inform a building design. Take a minute and think of two ideas before moving on.
With today's technology the ability to create your ideas has never been easier. Computer aided design programs are becoming ubiquitous, funding is becoming more accessible with the invention of crowdsourcing, and with growth of 3D printing nearly anyone can produce prototypes cheaply. The products and ideas that will stand above the rest are those that are both beautiful and purposeful. This chapter lays out the process and the principles designers use.
PROBLEM
A design problem could designing a building, a poster, a marketing campaign, designing how you work. The design process starts with a purpose.
For example designing a building has a program that balances: clients desires, city / county codes, cost, materials, the tools and skills of the designer, the knowledge of how buildings go together, size and amount of rooms. How all of these aspects come together becomes part of the design process. Knowing design principles can help create the best solution. Because of the many factors involved in the nature of a building or any design problem, it may not have a clear definable solution such as a math problem. One of the goals of design is to use design principles to create an equation that leads to the best possible solution. Another goal of the design is to authentically convey the solution of whatever problem is discovered through the process.
PROCESS
The design process has two main avenues that are normally pursued in combination, but emphasis can be placed more heavily on one area or another. The two main themes, which mirror our mind, is rationalization or exploration aka the imaginative. Regardless of the benefit, want or desire of any right brain designer the initial design starts with inspiration.
EXPLORATION TOOLS:
Inspiration
In a design project everyone has to start somewhere. Before we let our students design, we assign them a case study of a bridge or a house. They have to write a three page paper exploring the: the environment, the user behaviors, form, function, utility, and details. In design we normally call the inspirational idea or organizing force the “Parti”. While I find this term slightly pompous their is no true substitute.
The most primal example / starting point / parti is nature. It’s graceful curves, beautiful colors, and innate properties are initially intangible concepts. By exploring and investigating a simple picture or scene we can start to extrapolate ideas that can apply to our built world. Nature often has a silent soul that we all understand and try to recreate through imaginative ideas.
Take for example the picture below. What thoughts or ideas can you take from this image that might inform a building design. Take a minute and think of two ideas before moving on.
Photo by: Joel Bedford at https://www.flickr.com/photos/jalex_photo/1525171367
One of the first ideas I take from this photo is how trees naturally diffuses light: creating random speckled shadows. What if our awnings, windows, or even roofs mimicked this property. I can see rooms bathed in filtered golden light from skylights above, resembling the natural skylights created by trees in nature. Natural sunlight highlights the gradual color of the rock, and the different hues of the vegetation. Quality natural lighting and soft colors can be great inspiration to design.
The second idea that comes to mind is the sense of touch. This picture makes me want to grab the rocks and toss the small stones into the standing water. Feeling the contact on the hard stone, and cool water on me feet. How can we bring this sensation into our buildings? Maybe we can’t financially place stone everywhere, but we could place it in a space where one can pause and reflect. Maybe the entrance, the bathroom mirror wall, or my personal favorite placing brick behind the head of the bed: these are all great spaces of personal reflection.
The last idea I am getting from this image is the sense of wonder and exploration. Malls and casinos take advantage of this sense of exploration. They will place something intriguing just around the bend, for malls it would be the big box stores such as JC Penney, Best Buy, etc. For casinos it might be an exciting new game just around the corner. They place something, in sight but out of reach. This way you see a hint of what is to come, and you are invited to go further explore. Normally they put these interesting items on the far sides of the development so you will have to walk by everything else they have to offer.
Nature offers a breath of ideas. These barely scrape the surface of all the secrets nature has to offer us in design. Whenever you start a project get familiar with what has been done. This can either inspire you to build on their progress or inform you of what not to do. This step sets the standard and tone for your project. Whatever you are doing pick the best to study from. Choose the best buildings, business plans, processes, ideas, or concepts. Investigate what is working and what is not. Not only if it is applicable to your project.
Use the principles laid out in this chapter to analyze your designs. Take visual notes that you can come back to later if you are stuck, to inspire you. By processing in a unique way, unique results can happen. For example Zaha Hadid starts most designs by painting, Steven Holl by water coloring. Use sketching and drawing to give you insights others won't have.
Q: What are you doing now that by an finding example can help you break through?
Below are some places to start looking for examples.
DESIGN STUDENTS
House: Lake Flato, Jonathan Segal, Olson Kundig
Buildings: BIG Architects, Norman Foster, Steven Holl, Frank Gehry
BUSINESS STUDENTS Hint we are all business students.
How can nature inspire you to refine your process?
How can design principles inform your projects?
ProTip: Read Walter Isaacson's book: Steve Jobs.
We often don’t want to follow other people or examples because we don’t want to be them. We want our life, not a copy of their life. We are looking for a breakthrough, to be better, to be different! But learning from others doesn’t mean you have to copy them. Steve Jobs learned from his mechanical inclined father that it was beneficial in transaction to always know what every part costs and how to get the best price. When Steve was learning from his Dad, did he think he had to become a mechanic. No, he took the ideas that worked and applied them to his life. You are learning an array of principles to further your goals. The same idea executed by different people can lead to totally different products/businesses.
Start with the best, dissect examples to learn the levers you can pull and find what works for you.
Start with Simple Ingredients.
Nature builds complexity from simplicity. Time, gravity, and water was all that was needed to create the Grand Canyon. The veins in your hand, the rivers of the world, to the roots and branches on a tree are all grown according to fractal laws. Fractals is nature's cheatsheet for creating complex things from repeating patterns. They are infinitely complex patterns that repeat to create different scales. They are created by repeating a simple process over and over again in a ongoing feedback loop. We can learn from nature that from simplicity can come amazing things.
Many of the world's’ most famous buildings limit the amount of materials they use.
One of the first ideas I take from this photo is how trees naturally diffuses light: creating random speckled shadows. What if our awnings, windows, or even roofs mimicked this property. I can see rooms bathed in filtered golden light from skylights above, resembling the natural skylights created by trees in nature. Natural sunlight highlights the gradual color of the rock, and the different hues of the vegetation. Quality natural lighting and soft colors can be great inspiration to design.
The second idea that comes to mind is the sense of touch. This picture makes me want to grab the rocks and toss the small stones into the standing water. Feeling the contact on the hard stone, and cool water on me feet. How can we bring this sensation into our buildings? Maybe we can’t financially place stone everywhere, but we could place it in a space where one can pause and reflect. Maybe the entrance, the bathroom mirror wall, or my personal favorite placing brick behind the head of the bed: these are all great spaces of personal reflection.
The last idea I am getting from this image is the sense of wonder and exploration. Malls and casinos take advantage of this sense of exploration. They will place something intriguing just around the bend, for malls it would be the big box stores such as JC Penney, Best Buy, etc. For casinos it might be an exciting new game just around the corner. They place something, in sight but out of reach. This way you see a hint of what is to come, and you are invited to go further explore. Normally they put these interesting items on the far sides of the development so you will have to walk by everything else they have to offer.
Nature offers a breath of ideas. These barely scrape the surface of all the secrets nature has to offer us in design. Whenever you start a project get familiar with what has been done. This can either inspire you to build on their progress or inform you of what not to do. This step sets the standard and tone for your project. Whatever you are doing pick the best to study from. Choose the best buildings, business plans, processes, ideas, or concepts. Investigate what is working and what is not. Not only if it is applicable to your project.
Use the principles laid out in this chapter to analyze your designs. Take visual notes that you can come back to later if you are stuck, to inspire you. By processing in a unique way, unique results can happen. For example Zaha Hadid starts most designs by painting, Steven Holl by water coloring. Use sketching and drawing to give you insights others won't have.
Q: What are you doing now that by an finding example can help you break through?
Below are some places to start looking for examples.
DESIGN STUDENTS
House: Lake Flato, Jonathan Segal, Olson Kundig
Buildings: BIG Architects, Norman Foster, Steven Holl, Frank Gehry
BUSINESS STUDENTS Hint we are all business students.
How can nature inspire you to refine your process?
How can design principles inform your projects?
ProTip: Read Walter Isaacson's book: Steve Jobs.
We often don’t want to follow other people or examples because we don’t want to be them. We want our life, not a copy of their life. We are looking for a breakthrough, to be better, to be different! But learning from others doesn’t mean you have to copy them. Steve Jobs learned from his mechanical inclined father that it was beneficial in transaction to always know what every part costs and how to get the best price. When Steve was learning from his Dad, did he think he had to become a mechanic. No, he took the ideas that worked and applied them to his life. You are learning an array of principles to further your goals. The same idea executed by different people can lead to totally different products/businesses.
Start with the best, dissect examples to learn the levers you can pull and find what works for you.
Start with Simple Ingredients.
Nature builds complexity from simplicity. Time, gravity, and water was all that was needed to create the Grand Canyon. The veins in your hand, the rivers of the world, to the roots and branches on a tree are all grown according to fractal laws. Fractals is nature's cheatsheet for creating complex things from repeating patterns. They are infinitely complex patterns that repeat to create different scales. They are created by repeating a simple process over and over again in a ongoing feedback loop. We can learn from nature that from simplicity can come amazing things.
Many of the world's’ most famous buildings limit the amount of materials they use.
The Sydney Opera house is dominated by one main material - its concrete shell.
Image by Hai Linh Truong
Image by Hai Linh Truong
Another example is the Eiffel Tower where iron is the only dominant material.
The reason for simplification of the materials used is so that you can focus more on the problem and not get caught up in juggling too many variables. Buy following the simple rule of limiting the materials you use to three or less you can focus and be less distracted. You will be able to dive into the essence of a project, move to a deeper understand of the problem, and come up with a better solution. The architect Tadao Ando showcases this brilliantly. He creates amazing building by mainly focusing on one material: concrete. He is an expert on concrete. His buildings can become more nuisance, more sophisticated because of that understanding. Thus his self-imposed limitation essentially becomes liberating because he can do much more with that one thing (concrete) than anyone else can.
The reason for simplification of the materials used is so that you can focus more on the problem and not get caught up in juggling too many variables. Buy following the simple rule of limiting the materials you use to three or less you can focus and be less distracted. You will be able to dive into the essence of a project, move to a deeper understand of the problem, and come up with a better solution. The architect Tadao Ando showcases this brilliantly. He creates amazing building by mainly focusing on one material: concrete. He is an expert on concrete. His buildings can become more nuisance, more sophisticated because of that understanding. Thus his self-imposed limitation essentially becomes liberating because he can do much more with that one thing (concrete) than anyone else can.
After teaching our students at the University of Colorado about design, drawing, and the computer program they will use, we give them a design project. In the project, We tell our students to limit their exterior to three materials, whereas one material, glass, is already being used in the windows, so they only have two more to use.
ProTip: Whatever you are doing try eliminating multiple variables that get in the way of you understanding the root problem. You want to start with the basics. Ask simple questions that need answering. Focus on fundamentals and build a strong foundation to build upon.
Iteration
Once you have found some examples, and narrowed your focus, you can start to look for solutions. Now that you have limited your tasks you can become more flexible to start looking for solutions. A key concept in design is iterations. This step cannot be overstated. Design is a series of iteration after iteration. In between iterations you can use the principles of design that you used to create your object to also evaluate what you have created. These principles can be grouped into two categories; rationalization or exploration. Both have their place and can be extremely useful:
Many great books offer systems or formulas for success. These frameworks normally boil down to a list of steps probably in an easy to remember mnemonic device, which can be helpful for whatever specific problem they are trying to solve. The challenge with design is that normally the problem is not specific or clearly defined. Instead of packaging one formula that is easy to remember but limited in use, this chapter will layout multiple concepts that you can use to build your own formula based on the specific problem.
For example one problem could be appropriately solved by utilizing the concepts of: connection, consistency, and limiting materials. While another problem might call for: contrast, flow, and awe. Both solutions could be valid for different problems and solutions. In design a one size fits all "formula" is wasting time and production. Below you can pick from multiple principles to make your own formal fit your problem.
ProTip: Whatever you are doing try eliminating multiple variables that get in the way of you understanding the root problem. You want to start with the basics. Ask simple questions that need answering. Focus on fundamentals and build a strong foundation to build upon.
Iteration
Once you have found some examples, and narrowed your focus, you can start to look for solutions. Now that you have limited your tasks you can become more flexible to start looking for solutions. A key concept in design is iterations. This step cannot be overstated. Design is a series of iteration after iteration. In between iterations you can use the principles of design that you used to create your object to also evaluate what you have created. These principles can be grouped into two categories; rationalization or exploration. Both have their place and can be extremely useful:
Many great books offer systems or formulas for success. These frameworks normally boil down to a list of steps probably in an easy to remember mnemonic device, which can be helpful for whatever specific problem they are trying to solve. The challenge with design is that normally the problem is not specific or clearly defined. Instead of packaging one formula that is easy to remember but limited in use, this chapter will layout multiple concepts that you can use to build your own formula based on the specific problem.
For example one problem could be appropriately solved by utilizing the concepts of: connection, consistency, and limiting materials. While another problem might call for: contrast, flow, and awe. Both solutions could be valid for different problems and solutions. In design a one size fits all "formula" is wasting time and production. Below you can pick from multiple principles to make your own formal fit your problem.
