My Final Takeaways

My Final Takeaways

Walking into this class at the beginning of the semester, I didn’t really know what was instore. I couldn’t imagine what we would be learning about or how it interlinked with our career path. Ending the semester, I feel as if this may be one of the most useful classes I will take throughout my education career. I learned so much about innovative ideas and creativity, which I didn’t even know I had. It really pushed me to think outside of the box and contemplate some real-world issues that I would like to face in the future. I really enjoyed learning about real people who have made a difference through problem solving, and the up’s and downs they faced throughout their journey. I also loved learning about the different tools that are set in place to help our creativity and innovation flourish. It is so important that our industry keeps evolving and resolving challenges to make the world a simpler place.

            A few concepts that really stood out to me throughout my time in this course would have to be the critical thinking tools, left and right brain thinking, and creativity in general. These are all concepts in which I can use during my career and even in my life outside of work. These ideas can be used in day to day life and gaining more understanding of them will give me an upper hand when solving any kind of problem. I learned so much about how creativity works, and the idea that everyone is creative in their own way. Learning how all the different concepts we learned this semester come together to create one big problem-solving tool is so unique and useful. I will take these skills with me throughout the rest of my learning.

            One tool we used this semester in order to gain better understanding of these skills, is Ted Talks. Watching these talks become one of my favorite activities. I learned so much about creativity and innovation from listening to real people explain their experiences. One talk I really enjoyed was writer Elizabeth Gilbert. I enjoyed hearing about her writing experience and her notion on the idea that creativity doesn’t flow as easily as people think. It takes time, experience, and failures to really make something successful. She explained that it takes drive to keep creating, and if you are passionate about something it will eventually work out. Another talk I really enjoyed was one from Ross Lovegrove. I really enjoyed his views on organic design and only using what is necessary to create an innovative object. His concept of creating designs that are useful and organic is something we should all stick to in the future. Finally, I really enjoyed Dan Phillips talk. I feel really strongly about his purpose of the houses and his use of recyclable material within the them. It is a great example of taking unthinkable objects and turning them into something amazing. It teaches sustainability, useful production, and budget.  All three of these talks were extremely helpful and informative to me and my ideas of innovation.

            Another steady assignment we had throughout this course is CPS activities. While participating in different problems activities with a group I was able to gain a better understanding of teamwork and leadership. The more ideas flowing toward a resolution, the more creative your solution will become. It allowed me to become a better problem solver, creative and critical thinker. I gained more knowledge on critical thinking tools, brainstorming, and the reality of meeting certain criteria given by the leader.  With activities as creative as the ones given to us, everyone in the group will have different suggestions and opinions, it is important that we use our tools given in order to organize our thoughts and ideas. Having the freedom within our group to design different solutions, while still following certain guidelines gives up the opportunity to really get a look inside of our career fields. We need to create something innovative and fresh while still checking off everything that the client is looking for. It’s a good balance.

            Following this course, I am certain that I will integrate what I learned throughout this class into my future learning. I will continue to use the tools I’ve learned to solve different types of issues and use brainstorming to generate innovative ideas throughout assignments. I will also continue to keep track of different ideas that I come up with over time, knowing that they could one day be useful and creative. I am also better at identifying problem. From this course I have learned that a problem is a matter regarding and unwelcomed or needing to be dealt with. I am able to find this within criteria and then use the steps I have learned in order to come up with an inventive solution.

            When it comes to problems I plan to solve in the future, I guess it really depends on my career and what I come across in my future. Regarding my career I would really like to step into the realm of  sustainability of clothing. I believe that this is a very important issue and coming up with a solution would be a major win for the clothing industry. Another topic I would like to focus on is working conditions. While researching this subject for our final report I have really opened my eyes to this burning problem. I hope to come up with a solution that will create a better environment for garment workers. Regarding this topic I have added a sketch that represents my learning community’s solution. Other than these two major problems I will have to see what comes along the way. Any problem that I face within this industry I am certain that I have the skills to create an innovative solution.

A  machine used to track workers environments and rights.

            The idea of left and right brain thinking is something that really intrigued me. The theory is that people are either left-brained or right-brained. If you’re mostly analytical and methodical in your thinking, you’re said to be left-brained. If you tend to be more creative or artistic, you’re thought to be right-brained. People believe that the future of careers are going to rely mostly on right-brained thinking. I am going to embrace this concept in the future by using both types of thinking in order to create the best solutions. I will use left brained thinking to think through different issues that come my way, and right brained thinking to come up with a creative answer to the issue. According to the field in which I tend to go into it is important that I am more in-touch with the right side of my brain. Innovation and creativity are major key to visual merchandising. I will be using this concept in the decisions that I make within my future career.

            I believe that people should seek my advice for problem solving, because I trust that I have a good understanding of what it takes to be innovative and imaginative. I have a good understanding of the different tools you need to succeed within this course and think I have good knowledge of when and how to use them. I also believe that whatever field you are in it is important to have a good understanding of problem-solving skills and critical thinking tools. I am going to use everything I have learned in this course to not only solve my own problems but help those around me as well. I will use all the different skills to give advice to others who are in the midst of creatively solving problems as well. I have learned so much during my time in this class and I hope to continue my journey of innovation to extend my problem solving skills in the future.

The Future of Design

Throughout week 7 and 8 of this course, we touched on different topics that relate back to the basics of design and the thought process behind it. There are many aspects that go into design, besides putting thoughts onto paper. There is empathy, need, production, concept, aesthetic, and importantly a target market that is going to fully support the design in question. All these aspects go behind the scenes of one product, and it is our responsibility as problem solvers to make this process as easy and strategic as possible.

            The first theory we tackled is the subject of “High Concept, High Touch”. High Concept involves the ability to create artistic and emotional designs, to detect patterns and opportunities, to create a pleasing plot and combine seemingly unrelated ideas into innovative concepts. High touch on the other hand has the ability to emphasize and understand the details of human interaction, in order to pursue the purpose and meaning of a design. My takeaways from this subject is the idea that every design has a purpose and a background. You only need one intention to create something unique and useful. It must have empathy, innovation, detail, and emphasis in order to stand on its own. The activity given during this week allowed us to take a problem and solve it using this concept. My group was given the problem of classroom lighting and its connection to nature and needs. We created the idea of placing floor to ceiling windows to let in natural light, we also created a plant wall to tie in nature and also LED lighting to change with weather and learning topics of that day. In a time where L- directed thinking is necessary, but less sufficient, R-directed thinking must become more proficient and excel it abilities that are high concept, high touch. We must gain a better understanding of concepts that others can do better and rearrange them into something unique and personable, something that gives the worker or designer a leg up from the others. That is design, that is innovation, and that is the emotion of consumer need.

            Next, we discussed the notion of design, and what makes a design good, bad, or futuristic. We were asked to read chapter 4 of Daniel H. Pink’s “A Whole New Mind” and then seemingly teach our finding to the class, this was very interesting because not only did we have our own interpretation, but we were able to view others as well. We read about a charter school for art education, and how that can be important to the development of many. Not everyone thinks or learns the same way, so it is crucial that we establish new ways of learning to accommodate for the different types of students out there. It is also important to acknowledge the idea that art and design is helpful skill for young students to know. It is not considered a hobby anymore, but now a type of lifestyle and future of business. We also read just how important design is to function. Within the book you learn that a controversial voting ballot could have been avoided with tweaks to the design. It is important that design keeps evolving and improving with time. It is never frowned up to take an already known design and make it better. That is what the world of design needs, to keep evolving. Finally, we discussed the ideas of good, bad and futuristic design. As groups, we were asked to come up with examples for each of these categories. In my community we determined that a good design is a sock that detects diabetic shock and complications. This is a good design because it is useful and purposely created for a specific target market, making it appealing to consumers. Our bad design was an air-conditioned shoe created in Japan; this was a bad design due to the fact that it was a regular shoe with holes cut in the soul, creating discomfort and inefficiency. This is not useful, innovative, or functional, hence a bad design. Finally, the futuristic design that we created was the idea of creating a storefront in which contained easy access to different style of clothing. A touch screen that allows the shopper to directly place their wants and needs into a system, and it will automatically create options for purchase.

Finally, we finished the learnings with three different TED talks that tied perfectly into CPS chapter 4. First, we heard from Dan Phillips, a builder with an unconventional style. He takes used and recycled materials to create unique houses that function just the same as houses with more layers. He uses materials that would otherwise get left behind or unused and turns them into functional and decorative pieces to live with. It is important that we realize how much is being wasted every day, things that could easily be used or created into something different. We need to construct opportunities to fit the challenge at hand, for Phillips, his challenge was eliminating waste. Next, we heard from Ross Lovegrove and Simon Sinek, both similar yet unique talks. Lovegrove discussed the Importance of cutting out the middle and creating organic designs, getting rid of the parts that aren’t a necessity and getting to the bare minimum. This was his challenge at hand, and he works towards creating a future in which less is more. Products that are organic, multifunctional, displays purpose, and aesthetically pleasing. Sinek on the other hand discussed the rule of the golden circle. The idea that why is the main function and how and what come next. Consumers like knowing why before what, we are drawn by emotions and empathy and if we connect with the products why, we are more likely to consume the what. Both these talks touched on the importance of challenge. Within problem solving it is important that we acknowledge the challenge at hand and try to tackle it with creativity and innovations. We need to invest in ideas and take ownership of our thoughts. That was my takeaway from these three TED talks and CPS Ch. 4, we need to continue and be creative because you never know who is going to invest in your creativity.

The sketch I have added is the sketch created for the futuristic design activity. We created a touch-screen system that allows consumers to have a personalized shopping experience.

A Creative Journey

For week 5 and 6 of problem solving, we were asked to really dive deeper into creativity and its ties to problem solving. We looked at different Ted Talks, chapters within our book, and even started a new CPS activity. It is important to understand how much goes into problem solving, and the creativity that it takes to make a change.

            Throughout the last few weeks we were asked to read a couple chapters from our book “A Whole New Mind”. One chapter that really stood out to me was Ch. 2, Abundance, Asia, and Automation. This chapter really connected to me due to the fact that it is something we can all recognize. We all have an abundance of things that feel needed, but they aren’t crucial to our survival. Years ago, there were only certain items at certain stores to choose form. Options were not really a thing, you got what you needed in one style. Today we live in a time where ten different stores sell one type of item. There’s choices, and people feel as if they have to buy all of them. A new design comes out and we feel as if we need it, when in fact the old design works just as well. We also live in a time where we need everything done right now. American software companies are over shadowed but much smaller firms is Asian countries. They can produce the same type of work but cheaper and faster, so the question of why seems to be answered for itself. If something can get done more efficiently than that is how it should be. We are constantly evolving, growing, and looking for shortcuts. Our world is going at full speed, and we must catch up. That leads me into the final topic of automaton, if a machine is faster then it will do the job for you. With an evolving world comes evolving technology. Creating something innovative, helpful, and smart seems to be all the craze, but what if that meant taking your job. We need to focus more on how technology can benefit us, and less about how it can take over.

            While going over the studies over the last week, I realized that we are constantly talking about people who are pushing the envelope, not only in their field, but within the environment. Someone that stands out to me is fashion designer Stella McCartney. She has really shifted her focus onto the importance of sustainability within the fashion industry and makes strides everyday to help the environment. She created sustainable luxury fashion and speaks at conferences to raise awareness for this issue. I love the fact that she is using her platform for good and is influencing others to make a change as well.

            Another major topic of this course is the idea of a problem-solving journey. We were asked to compare our journey to those of another career field. For this I asked my roommate who happens to be a finance major. What I learned from studying her ideas on problem solving is the fact that someone in her field likes to take shortcuts and stick with the known result. If something has worked before it is promising that it will work again. Whereas someone in my career field will try to think outside of the box in order to come up with a quicker and more innovative solution. I believe this has to do with the way our minds are being trained. Someone in finance is driven by formulas, sticking to a certain way and calculating an answer, left brained thinking if you will. A student within design is trained to be creative and find multiple solutions that have better results, there is no one formula. This is considered right brained thinking. Both ways of problem solving are right and both sides are effective. It all depends on how your brain works and excels.

            Finally, we were given a new CPS activity this week that is really going to push our limits of creativity. We were asked to create a video games with different backgrounds, characters, and designs that all hit a certain target market. I think this is a great activity to really work on our innovative skills. We are able to exercise many different creative thinking tools, such as brainstorming, force-fitting, and scamper. With an activity as creative as this everyone in the group will have suggestions and opinions, it is important that we use these tools in order to organize our thoughts and ideas. Having the freedom within our group to design a video game, while still following certain guidelines gives up the opportunity to really get a look inside of our career fields. Being creative while following rules is something that will come up a lot of the time in this industry. We need to create something new and fresh while still checking off everything that the client is looking for. It’s a good balance.

            Since we have been on our creative journey for one month my idea of creative thinking has change drastically, I never know just how much went into creativity an innovation. I have learned so much about the different tools that can help and just how important a group setting is. I hope to gain more insight to problem solving throughout the rest of the semester and use this information to make a different in my career. The different tools I have learned about will benefit not only my learnings in class, but my everyday life. All the reading and different activities have really encouraged me to dive deeper into my creative side, even if its just 10 minutes a day.

This sketch is from CPS activity 2. I added this one because I really enjoyed that assignment, and we came up with the idea of clothing racks made from recyclable plastic. I felt like this really showed our step toward innovation and creativity.

Every Angle

Week 3 and 4 of this course have been very captivating. We focused a lot more on the aspects of the brain and ways in which they can either pull our creative side or our analytical side. We also dove deeper into the different problem-solving tools that will be helpful for design. Finally, we had the opportunity to watch some unique, but noteworthy TED Talk. Each speech had aspects that really made you think but also kept you intrigued the entire time. I found the Richard Turere the most interesting. The way he took a problem that was hovering over his town and decided to tackle it was super inspiring. He looked at the problem at every angle and determined every possibility. He took his knowledge, research, and creativity and put it all together in order to create something that worked. He took trial and error and used that as a driving force, and this is a true definition of problem solving. The other TED Talk I found stimulating is the speech of Temple Grandin. Although I have never heard her story, I was really surprised that this topic is not discussed in schools more often. The idea that not everyone thinks the same way is a matter that is commonly know yet not generally accommodated. I loved the way Temple showed so much passion and not only stated the issue but gave suggestions to improve the system as well. Her notion of digging to the root of a problem and using personal skills in order to confront that challenge is a concept we can all get behind.  Ron Finley shared the importance of creative thinking and being effective with the way you deliberate. I love how passionate he was about the topic he was endorsing and how quickly he made the decision to come up with a solution. All these different talks had different concepts, but the same underlining meaning. They enforce solving problems that others are afraid to tackle. Take something you are passionate about and stick with it and be an advocate for creating a difference.

Next, we discussed the lectures of  Creative Problem Solving. There were many takeaways over the first couple of chapters, but the biggest one for me is the idea the creative thinking has more tactical thinking than is thought. You must organize thoughts, detail possibilities, and prioritize options. There are also many misconceptions about creativity. You don’t have be naturally creative in order to create something useful, because everyone has the potential to be innovative. Finally, my last takeaway is the creative problem-solving framework. You must understand the challenge, generate ideas, and prepare for action. All these things must be done in order to find a solution to a problem. This can take as long as needed, since ideas may not come as easily as figured.

We also were required to read chapter one of A whole new mind by Daniel H. Pink. This is a book about the different hemispheres of the brain, and how they each have their specific features of intelligence. Our brain is designed to hold much information and process it in a way in which we as humans can comprehend. Our brain thinks in many ways, the different nerves, lobes, and cells come together in order to generate different thoughts. These different aspects also come together to problem solve. We use our previous knowledge and the prefrontal cortex are responsible for forming creative solutions. There are also many different functions of the left and right brain. One fact about the brain is that the left hemisphere specializes in text and the right side specializes in context. This means that the left side remembers the information and the right side comprehends is. Another fact is the idea that the left hemisphere is sequential, and the right hemisphere is simultaneous. The left side is more practical and analytical and responds well to sequence, while the right side responds better to stimulus. The final two facts include the ideas that the left side controls the right side of the body and analyzes detail, while the right brain controls the left side of the body and is better at synthesizing the big picture. Both sides of our brain compute very different information, yet both sides must unite in order to function correctly.

Fish bone diagram

I created my fishbone diagram over the idea of clothing waste and the notion of “fast fashion”.  I created the diagram to explain the buyer causes, environmental effects, and solutions to the issue.

Perceiving the World in New Ways

Problem Solving (Monday/Wednesday 9am)

Over the past few lectures I have discovered more about creativity, and its attributes than I have over the entire path of my learning career. I have learned what it requires to be creative and what it takes to ignite innovation. Creativity is the idea of turning imaginative and artistic ideas into something real and thriving. Having the ability to think outside of the box in which we reside in permanently. On the other hand, innovation is the ability to create a new and creative solution to a problem that affects the world around us. This could be as simple and revising a parking meter to deflect sunlight, or as groundbreaking and creating a resolution to global warming. The scale on which creativity and innovation belong to is not as important as the impact in which it creates for society.

 Within one class period we were asked to consider takeaways from a documentary titled Design & Thinking by filmmaker Mu-Ming Tsai. This film was all about the concept of “design thinking” and how this can affect the creativity in which we see within the artistic community today. Design thinking refers to the cognitive, strategic and practical processes by which design concepts are developed. This concept genuinely got me contemplating about just how much thought and strategy actual reaches into being creative. It doesn’t necessarily come easy or natural to everyone, most of the time it takes much trial and error to ultimately conclude with the final idea. There are also many different creative/critical thinking tools that were examined during this documentary, ones in which many of us can become confident in using daily. Tools such as brainstorming, force-fitting, and the fishbone diagram can be used to cultivate ideas and pursue solutions to the smallest or greatest challenges. During this video it became clear that all the successful designers shown used these types of tools in order to overcome any obstacle within their designs, they were never afraid to ask opinions or admit to a failure. For me that was the most inspiring and motivational aspect. Creative and critical thinking tools are just assistants to encourage a more well-rounded and successful idea. Finally, this film additionally had me considering that all items around us need innovation. Everything can always be improved or simplifies in order to create a better solution for the public. Nothing is ever off limits to create, and creativity will never come to an end. People are constantly changing and evolving and the world around us must evolve with us.

            Another element within lecture was the assignment of the CPS activity. During this activity we were required to reside within our learning communities and create an innovative chair, shoe, or storefront using two design elements on completely different wavelengths, a cow and a pineapple. Inside our community we decided to create a sustainable children’s shoe in which is created by pineapple leaves and a cow print soul. During the creative process I learned a lot about the interaction of my learning community. I learned that we all had creative ideas that had importance and could stand independently, but also created a successful idea when woven together. It is important to learn how to conduct yourself in a group setting, bouncing your ideas from others and coming together in order to build something better than the starting idea. We decided on a problem that really showed importance to us, and that was sustainability. We wanted to create a shoe that was stylish, sustainable, and could react easily to kids and their everyday activities. This was something my whole community could agree on and create with passion, so we decided to stick with it. Learning communities are such an important aspect of creativity, and innovation. It is always valuable to have other opinions and ideas in order to push your proposals to be better.

            Ultimately, over the last couple of classes we have been asked to think about original and new ideas in order to solve a problem within our field of interest. The problem in which I would like to solve is consumer clothing disposal. The concept of fast fashion has created a trend in which items of clothing are tossed and consumed more often, leaving piles of fabric stacking up within landfills and overloading donation organizations that ultimately are thrown out as well. My notion for innovation within retail waste is a “Clothing Drop”. This is an idea in which a store contains a space in which consumers are encouraged to drop their hammy down clothing before consuming new pieces. The items within the drop will then be used to create new sellable piece of clothing. This will create a small solution to the fabric waste within the textiles industry. Recycling fabric instead of creating new pieces will increase sustainability and make a small step in the right direction within clothing production. Having clothes restored into something new will also create an incentive for consumers to recycle their unworn items of clothing before considering the next trend.

            This class has already led me to a new creative state. I cannot wait to find out just how deep I am willing to dive into my inventive side, and I am eager to learn more about the process and the different concepts in which pertain to the problem-solving world.