What is the role of a design brief?
The reading this week challenged me to think deeply about the role and process of design. I have always said that I am not creative, as the arts are not my forte. I do enjoy the arts, but I don’t consider myself a natural designer. In the reading Learning from the extremes by Charles Leadbeater and Annika Wong, many variables, factors and constraints were listed that effect design. The role of the design brief to identify outcomes of the project and outline any constraints. The design brief provides the designers with the initial starting point to begin meeting the needs of the end users. The specific problem may not be clearly defined in the brief, but the parameters what needs to be accomplished is.
What are the key tensions inherent in a design brief that seeks responses that are distinctly different from the status quo?
The design brief is not written by the designers but rather the stakeholders interested in fixing a problem or see an opportunity for improvement. The author of the design brief generally has not researched the problem or completed observations. It is the role of the designers to review the brief and begin investigating how to improve the end users experience. The status quo is doing something the way it has always been done. The role of the designers is to find a unique solution, that may not work anywhere else, but meets all the requirements and is a creative solution to the problem or opportunity.
I was greatly inspired by the article The Toyota Way – a quantitative approach by Phillip Marksberry. The company has such a human centred approach to management and teamwork. It helped me reflect on the way I interact with educators I support as well as administration. The core value of the company is respect. Similarly to satisfying the tensions between the brief and the designers, respect is required to arrive at the optimal solution.
Are there alternative approaches to design briefs, that help us move from knowledge-based decisions to a process that empowers design teams to make discoveries of their own, in what Hatchuel and Weil call “the concept space”?
The concept idea is still a little foggy to me. I understand the idea that a concept is abstract, knowledge is not. A concept may be something totally new that has not yet been designed or created. Creating a concept space encourages innovation and creativity to design something that hasn’t been done before. I think that trust is necessary to support “the concept space” of designing. An attitude of its ok to fail, learn from it and try again is important to reach a successful result.
Integrating the C – K theory into the classroom could support student learning. As teachers we need to be open to concept (C) design to develop programs for our students. We have our knowledge base (K) from which we draw core ideas for instruction, but no two students are identical. This is where concept design can support teaching within the classroom. Each student comes to school with different perspectives, knowledge, learning styles and interests. It is our job as teachers to reach each student and design a program to attain positive student outcomes. As teachers we need to be open to customizing the learning environment based on what we know to reach our students. I dont’ know of a specific formula to do this, however, if we follow the concept design new and innovative learning environment may be developed.