Generating Ideas

Generating Ideas could be challenging unless you approach it systematically as a process that takes work and constantly evolves. In designing for learning, you often start with a challenge or a problem rather than an idea. Ideas could be generated at the beginning, where you have to start from somewhere and in the process of refining and conceptualizing the initial idea; this makes me think of idea generation as a continuous process and part of the evolving design. Generating ideas does not happen alone because you are either using previous research and building on whatever professionals have done and the findings that might inform your design, or you work with other people informing your design through critique and testing.

I learned to treat ideas as work in progress, prone to modifications and change. I struggled a lot with letting go of ideas because, I think, I did not have strong background knowledge of the problem itself with a limited understanding of it, which meant that the only thing I had was the idea, and if I let it go, there is nothing else to work with. I have learned to value ideas and treat them like living organisms and not a final destination. One of the ways to come up with an idea after identifying your objectives is by looking at what others have done to address those challenges. An example of this is my work on the project "Hug Bug." I started by identifying my objective - I wanted girls to find STEM as something they are interested in and capable of doing. I looked into what people have done before me and based my idea on the scientists' incredible work.

Collaboratively critiquing your ideas with your peers or other people on your team can be powerful. This might end up transforming, expanding, or completely changing your ideas. Formal or informal critique sessions that concentrate on the components of your design that are not yet clear are essential. I talk more about the importance of iteration and critique for me and how transformative it is in product development here. Iterations are a step further in idea development, where you ask the population you test with for feedback, or you see whether your ideas keep true when observing their interactions with your design. This is one of the most valuable ways to test the ideas you have and come up with better ones along the way.

And finally, one of the most important things that I will practice in my future work is flexibility, and being agile is in idea development; you either bring your ideas up by being ready for constant transformation or hinder the progress by avoiding change.