A Creative Tool to Break Habits: Breakdown of Functions, Disassociations & Counter Questions (bdc)
Year: 2011
Editor: Kovacevic, Ahmed, Ion, William, McMahon, Chris, Buck, Lyndon and Hogarth, Peter
Author: Gulden, Tore; Berg, Arild
Series: E&PDE
Section: Creativity in Design Education
Page(s): 137-142
Abstract
Research and practice have engendered several creative tools on how to generate ground-breaking products with less environmental impact adjusted to a down-to-earth production state. However the relation between the repetitive uses of the same creative tools is a paradox in relation to habit psychology. Design educators expect creative solutions from the students although they facilitate to establish habits through arranging for repetitive performance of design and idea generating processes. This article introduces the key terms Breakdown, Disassociations & Counter questions, (BDC), as the main facets in a creative tool, a process identified in engineering practice. The strategy model was synthesized through building structures by literature studies. The BDC tool was also explored through analysis of external consistence and usefulness. Case studies were analyzed by disclosing structures to generate new solutions for the model. The model was used as a tool for knowledge transfer in design education. Students adapted the method through implementation of the model in their design process. The practical results were that the tool can help design students in breaking habits established and moreover facilitate a design approach that leads to innovation within an area of constraints. This results in a new proposal of the BDC tool which include leading the thinking process into a social or emotional context and goal description.
Keywords: creative process, learning outcome, radical innovation