Formatting the tools cards

a draft outline for a more operative format for card users

Tool title: Bisociation within keywords

Question: How can creative practitioners discover new and shared meanings between seemingly unconnected design contexts?

Directive: How to open up for new design proposals based on diverse ideas and create shared meaning and strong direction.

Tool type: Mapping tool – consensual

When to use the tool: Used in the initial phase of the design process.

Tool purpose: It is a tool to help come to a consensual proposal by using differences of viewpoint, or diversity of ideas is sometimes regarded as an area of conflict, however this can also be a source of innovation. by mapping

Inviting new perspectives into design proposals/concepts by sharing and confronting with other designers in the ideation phase. This process helps to open up for unknown territory and create shared meanings that will strengthen the directions of the proposals/concept.

For who: This example has been used with interdisciplinary designers (see ref. CS) both internally within the teams and /or with clients.

This can be particularly useful for inviting a ‘client’ into the process at a much earlier phase than what is normally done in industry.

Synergy type: How to create synergies at the level of languaging.

No. of participants: min. 4 (group)

Facilitation: gentle

When: It is recommended to use this at the initial stages of ideation process.

Time: 2-4 hours (medium)(depending on the level of pre-workshop preparation)

Space: a room with table and chairs for the participants

Resources: paper, pens, images,

What to look for:

Process recipe:
Exploratory stage:
Work individually select up to four keywords that represent your current practice/intrests/brief
Choose two of the four keywords* can use images instead
Find a partner that is randomly selected from a hat (depending of number of workshop participants)
Start to ‘Bisociate’* individual keywords with partner. This happens by presenting the keywords to each other and exploring any connections that emerge. It is good to map this on paper.

Presentation Stage
The pair present their keywords and examples from the bisociations (maps, images, models) to the ‘client/stakeholder’. (the designers can ask other participants to act on behalf of a client/stakeholder).

Refining phase
The designers individually go off to self reflect and revise their original proposal/concept based on new meanings and/or questions that might have become relevant.
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