Generation of ideas

This inventive phase of design is unlike other activities in the design process - and indeed differs from other subjects in the engineering course - in being absolutely non-critical. You may find it difficult to switch off your analytical faculties, but it is vital that you completely separate creation from criticism, since nothing inhibits creativity more than does nit-picking criticism. There is plenty of scope for criticism during later activities in the design process.

Don't be disheartened because you think you lack any powers of invention. Krick op cit concludes that inventiveness depends upon :

• Inherited qualities : we cannot all inherit Leonardo's genes, but read on . . . .
• Method : you can employ proven techniques to increase your inventive prowess
• Attitude : you must be positive, you can invent !
• Knowledge : your understanding of how related problems are solved can be increased
• Effort : Edison (inventor of the light bulb) was spot-on when he observed that
  'Invention is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration'

Apart from the first, these are skills, and like all skills they develop only with practice. This course cannot make you a good designer, it can only point you in the right direction.

Ideas cannot emerge from a complete vacuum. Our minds generate ideas, however indirectly, from our store of knowledge - moulding, modifying, and trying on for size the myriad items buried away in our subconscious which might conceivably be relevant to the problem in hand. This necessary knowledge base is indicated in the rudimentary design process - the deeper and wider the base, the more useful ideas are likely to be generated. Student designers are therefore advised to continually increase their general, scientific and technical knowledge by taking advantage of the resources available in university libraries eg. Some interesting and not- too- heavy periodicals are cited in the Bibliography.

There are numerous techniques to enhance creativity - Synectics, Morphological Analysis, and the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TIPS), to name a few. Some techniques are more structured than others; some are more hit-and-miss - but they all suggest ways of modifying and/or combining existing partial or related solutions in order to devise new solutions. Which is all very well, provided the inventor knows about existing solutions. The knowledge component is therefore crucial when ideating.

Structured techniques are suited to more bounded problems for which detailed knowledge of related solutions in a specialised field is particularly important. For example the designers of a new industrial vacuum cleaner would need to know about the fluid dynamics of multi-stage fans, the intricacies of manufacture with various plastic materials, the latest trends in visual appeal, what sort of jobs the cleaner might tackle (slurp up liquids? back-pack transportability?), cost/performance of potential competitors, ease of emptying, etc etc.

The present course is aimed at jolting the tyro designer away from ingrained analytical habits, and so the problems introduced here - typified by D&B tasks - are amenable to less structured methods such as brainstorming, based on general knowledge of how similar problems are solved by Nature for example. Brainstorming is essentially a free association of ideas where each idea is recorded when first thought of, and actively encouraged to beget further ideas. A designer can brainstorm alone, or preferably with others who have different interests, different experiences . . . . ie. essentially different spans of knowledge.

Any hint of criticism during ideation is strictly taboo - there is no such thing as a 'crazy' idea whilst generating ideas. This is the key. If you think that an idea is unworkable or laughable, then the thought MUST be suppressed. Any idea which gives birth to other ideas cannot be wholly daft, and as this spawning is not weighed up until post-ideation criticism, there cannot be any justification during ideation for concluding that the idea is crazy or not. There is plenty of scope for criticism after the ideation activity has ceased.

In Appendix D Roberts presents a number of idea-generation techniques. You should read this extract to obtain an overview of the various methods available for enhancing creativity - if nothing else it indicates that the topic is sufficiently regarded to have attracted a lot of interest over the years. We shall concentrate on brainstorming as described by Roberts - you should practice this wherever possible to gain proficiency.

Some hints which are generally applicable to the ideating phase and which have not yet been mentioned include the following :

• Two activities follow the problem statement in the rudimentary design process :
  • ideating to create the bank of solution candidates, and
  • completing the problem by defining the constraints and criteria.
  It is suggested strongly that ideation be carried out first, before one's thoughts turn critically to constraints and criteria. The reason for this recommendation may be seen from the fluid filled pipe - how can fluid be prevented from escaping from the end of the tube ? What is the effect of defining the constraints and criteria before ideation ?

• Ideas in engineering are often but not always recorded more succintly by sketches than by keywords.

• Although the more ideas you generate the better, you must recognise when to stop inventing. Design costs money; so if you find that your creativity is drying up, then it may be time to quit.

• Further candidate solutions often pop spontaneously into one's head some days after a deliberate brainstorming session has been terminated. If possible, time should be allowed for this subconscious gestation as it can't be hurried.

• Finally, remember that it takes effort to search for new ideas, and, as later criticism invariably throws up lesser problems, you must be prepared to confront these lesser problems. We'll look at this more closely when we come to the practicalisation activity.

EXAMPLE Generate ideas for the operating principle of a mechanical device to raise and retain a 1kg unopened can of baked beans as high as possible from rest. Prior to raising, the device must fit inside a cubic envelope of 0.4m side.

SOLUTION How many of these ideas did you generate ? (The comments in italics were added only after ideation had been completed.)

A common failing on the part of budding designers is to abandon ideation before sufficient candidates have been identified - during ideation you should always aim to