Day 2
creative process; chance; failure; serendipity; design; experimental
Room 2: Design Ontologies | Afternoon Session | Talk 1
Frameworks for Exploring
Chance in the Creative Process
Cassie Hester | Mississippi State University, USA
| [email protected], [email protected]
Abstract: In risk-averse contexts such as professional
graphic design practice and the post-secondary classroom, final outcomes are often evaluated far more
than the processes that informed them. Although final
artefacts can be criticized as successes or failures
via a variety of criteria, applying these same terms
to developments in the creative process is a mistake.
‘Failures’ are simply iterations that deviate from
pre-determined expectations; all steps in the process
are valuable and inform the outcome. Developing
the ability to recognize the potential inherent in
the unexpected and appreciate the role of chance
in the design process is critical to creative growth.
‘Playful’ investigations – that are more concerned with
processes than outcomes – are essential in challenging
perceptions about the role of failure in the development of design solutions. Methods for facilitating
chance and engaging the play instinct in the studio
and classroom include, but are not limited to, adopting
limitations and constraints, creating and modifying
tools, synthesizing both new and ‘dead’ technologies,
and engaging in collaborative exercises. Guided by
the psychologies of flow and play, Frameworks for
Exploring Chance in the Creative Process is a small
collection of exploratory methodologies for generating
happy – and somewhat intentional – accidents.
86
Hester | Push Until It Falls Apart | © Cassie Hester