Hands-On Design: Reinvent Your Creative Process

Hands-On Design: Reinvent Your Creative Process

“Thank you so much for taking this first step with me into the world of design process. Now it’s your turn to finish the process and create a prototype out of your second blank T-shirt. Remember the main stages of the process: Start by sketching initial thoughts for your design.

Then re-frame it in a couple steps to spend time with the materials you'd like to use. We did spend a good 30 minutes with the shirt, then some time with the marker, then both together. We kept running lists, noting all our findings and observations. Only then did we start to design, or “think creatively”. We came up with a minimum of 10 different pairings, which led to a minimum of 10 different concepts. Now you should pick one of these. It could be your favorite, or the strangest, the most difficult to execute or the one that is furthest away from your usual work, whatever it is, as long as you know why you’re choosing it, it’s all good. Then produce that prototype. There is much more to be talked about and to be discovered. And I hope this course will help start you on a continuous journey, becoming more aware of your design process and its possibilities, and that you continue to grow your creative muscle. I don’t want to take away and replace your current design process, please keep it. But I would like you to add to it. Let this be the first step. Please be reminded not to rush and jump to conclusions easily and eagerly, that it actually is helpful not to design right away. So take your time, observe and embrace play and experimentation. Get your hands dirty, get active, get involved, even physically if possible, with the things you are asked to design. There is tremendous potential to be found if you only take the time and look. Remember that we spent 20 minutes putting on and taking off a simple white T-shirt, repeatedly, 30 times, and what valuable insights or knowledge we gained from it. Even if it makes you feel stupid or childish, you have to overcome it to get to the reward. Knowledge is power. The next project or assignment you will encounter, client- or self-initiated, try to take your time and look closely. Reframe the assignment, to free you from assuming, from thinking you already know the answer. Also have a long look at your tools, even if you worked with them for a long, long time, and try out what else you can do with them. Maybe a new technique or style will come out of it. For sure it will be entertaining and interesting. There’s no question that certain projects are more compatible with certain design processes, so it’s best to try it out, and see what happens, for you to gain experience. And don’t forget to have fun with it all. From now on, try to be aware of your individual steps in your work process. This is my final good bye. Please be reminded to be patient about getting your questions answered. I’ll do my best, as I’m running my studio. And please don’t forget to give advice to each other, to your course mates, in the forum. Receiving each other's thoughts in addition to mine will certainly be helpful. I remember from art school that us students learned as much from each other as we did from our professors. Thank you and enjoy the process. ”

Partial transcription of the video

“Final Project Hello and congratulations on reaching the end of our course. Thank you so much for taking this first step with me into the world of design process. In this video, we're going to review the steps for you to complete the final project. First, we started sketching initial ideas for the "design a T-shirt" assignment. Then, we reframed that assignment to "spending time with cotton fabric and a marker" to see how it would open up possibilities. We kept running lists, noting all our findings and newfound observations. From there, and only then, were we ready to design and think creat...”

This transcript is automatically generated, so it may contain mistakes.

Course summary for: Hands-On Design: Reinvent Your Creative Process

• Level: Beginner
• 95% positive reviews (21)
• 684 students
• 4 units
• 13 lessons (1h 45m)
• 9 downloads

• Category

  Design

• Areas

  Creativity, Design, Design Management