Growing Concepts
Polytechnic Institute of Lisbon
Designing Ideas into Concepts: Exploring the Structural Differences between an Idea and a Concept View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Jon Ligon, Lucinda Ligon, Burton St. John Iii
For working design professionals, the difference between an “idea” and a “concept” is often implicit. Most creative directors just “know one when they see one.” But academically, an idea and a concept are basically synonymous. So what really is the distinction? Over the past 5 years we have analyzed over 6300 ideas generated to solve a singular challenge: “Sell a Brick” with the caveat that it can’t be used as a brick. This is a standard creative exercise that uses a common object to force designers to ideate more creatively by overcoming “functional fixedness” i.e. the cognitive bias where a person views an object only in the way it is traditionally used. In this presentation, we will share what we’ve discovered as the structural differences between an idea and a concept and what in the concept-seeking process can be made explicit. Ultimately our research shows by starting with a structurally sound concept, before moving on to the prototype phase, one can reduce the number of ’break then restart’ cycles of the design thinking process.
The Effects of Perceptions of Others on Creative Self-beliefs: Self and Others as Similar or Different View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Riku Okamoto
Creative self-beliefs are an essential foundational concept for anyone to be able to participate in the design process. However, creative self-beliefs are complex because relationships with others strongly influence them. In this paper, we examine how to perceive others to improve creative self-beliefs when conducting reflection. We had participants unfamiliar with creative activities generate ideas in a group work situation and then reflect on themselves with their team members. In order to examine the effects of creative self-beliefs, we divided the participants into two groups: those conscious of the similarities between self and others (assimilation) and those conscious of the differences between self and others (contrast). The results indicated that the group conscious of the differences between self and others (contrast) tended to reflect on their actions, and their creative self-efficacy, which is part of creative self-beliefs, was significantly higher than the group conscious of the similarities between self and others (assimilation). Although this study revealed part of the effect of reflection on creative self-beliefs underlying the design process, the study only dealt with a small part of the design process, and the number of data is not yet large enough, so we should continue further research in the future.
Information Design and Semiology: A Visual Study on Deconstructing Musical Notation for Improving First-grade Children's Learning View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Ines Antunes, Flavio Almeida, Carlos Rosa
The Western diagrammatic system for musical notation, which represents notes and melodies through graphic forms on a five-line structure - the pentagram - is considered a universal language and is respected and followed by both formal music education and musicians around the world. It evolved from oral heritage into an intentional figurative system by which melodies could be sung and played for centuries. However, when we look at the accessibility of formal music education for children up to seven (7) years of age - before reading age - it is easy to find gaps. We have analysed the main symbols of formal musical notation and conducted a comparative study of their structure and the relationship of musical graphic symbols to design principles, sign classes and Peircean Semiotics. We also deconstructed a sheet of music to identify this graphic language's positive and negative features in terms of design principles and its understanding by children up to seven years of age. When we consider children's learning, we must additionally take into account the complexity of what is offered to the cognitive structure acquired up to that point. It can be concluded that formal music notation is quite complex and does not meet the need for simplicity that would promote children's learning. By acknowledging children’s development stage and matching it with design principles, the results show that an adapted symbolic language can help the children to better understand the meaning of the musical symbols and make their translation easier and more effective.
