In this lecture we looked at coming up with ideas for our pitch, and how to do this.
“The more things you are interested, in the better your work will be”
-Michael Beirut
During this semester I read a book called “Think Like an Artist” by Will Gompertz. I believe that this book applies to this topic as there is sections in the book relating to ideation. As we have a presentation coming up we need an idea to pitch to the investors. This idea has to solve a problem.
In this book Gompertz explores ideation as a core aspect of creativity and emphasises how artists generate and develop their ideas. He highlights the importance of being curious and being able to observe and experiment. It is quite heavily pushed that many of the greatest artists are inspired by simple everyday life.
He suggests that ideas often come in the form of disruption such as moving home, changing jobs, conflict, heartbreak etc. I took this as something that really frustrates me and causes disruption to peace of mind. This way I actually believe in the idea as I relate to the issue I am trying to solve with my app.
Gompertz also encourages embracing failure and thinking unconventionally to unlock innovative ideas. He believes that “It’s nearly always plan B”, which I found extremely interesting as I usually tend to stick with my first idea as I just want to get started. However, this has led to me being unhappy with most of my work. He explains an interesting reference to Piet Mondarin who spent years painting trees before becoming a master of abstraction.
Overall, I usually find the ideation part of design the most fun yet feel the most critical about. Each idea I have, I often critique and am never happy with. However, sometimes I just expect to be hit with an idea without having to look for one, which often leads to me choosing the first idea that comes to mind and being unhappy with it. However after analysing ‘Think like an Artist” and looking at different ways to come up with ideas I almost feel less stressed about the next project as I know I have so many options to use for ideation.