How Ideas make it through to Designs: Process and Practice

Abstract

This paper describes a process called RAId (Rapid Analysis of design Ideas), which assists, in the ethical and inclusive analysis of large sets of design data. It is described against an activity with 120 teenagers working in small groups
contributing ideas for the design of an interactive waterdrinking bottle. Four investigators systematically examined
fifty designs from the teenagers using six different lenses – two concerned with the purpose of the designed technology
(hydration and re-use), two with its desirability (aesthetics and cool) and two with the product concept (business and
innovation). The investigators used these lenses to focus their examination. Each proposed a candidate solution
based on what they had seen from the teen designs. The resulting concepts are examined against the teenagers’ ideas
that inspired them with attention being paid to when, and how often, ideas were put in mind. This analysis revealed three different idea types, core, add-ons and novel, each of which needed different treatment to bring it to fruition.