Comments on: Designing Ideation: Don’t Be A Tool

By: Vicky Teinaki

Vicky Teinaki — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 09:11:29 +0000

David Allen @gtdguy had a great tweet about this:
“If the only tool you have is a hammer, it’s hard to eat spaghetti.”

By: Bookmarks for 04/02/2009 — MK Anderson

Bookmarks for 04/02/2009 — MK Anderson — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 05:03:49 +0000

[...] Johnny Holland – It’s all about interaction » Blog Archive » Designing Ideation: D… – [...]

By: solle

solle — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 12:00:09 +0000

MM quote is relevant to trying to understand existing limits of innovation and vision within context of credit crunch and recession

By: John F Walter

John F Walter — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 19:33:25 +0000

I think you are doing designers a service by reminding them not to turn into tools. You are what you use, etc. so use quite a few different tools because each one gives you a different perspective on the project you´re working on. Your quote from McLuhan is incisive because of the way you use it to drive home your central point about divergent thinking.

By: Paul Trumble

Paul Trumble — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 19:08:48 +0000

Will,

I like your post for a couple of reasons.

First, I like tools, all kinds of them, and I’ve not really thought of the extent to which they limit the final product. I enjoyed Wesch’s talk at the summit. Although it cured me of any lingering desire to study anthropology. He clearly showed the power of tools to define; I like that you’ve taken things a step further.

It strikes me that it really is another example of the Innovator’s Dilemma. Why try new tools and methods if your client hired you based on what you’d done before, or to fill a role in his methodology? Of course, if you follow that road we live in a world steam shovels and 16 inch disk drives, just what the client ordered.

And, second, I dig the Lego pictures. I accidentally swallowed one when I was a kid, but they were (are) tremendously fun.

By: Aaron Irizarry

Aaron Irizarry — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 18:42:15 +0000

Great insight… this is very helpful. It can be so easy to fall into the thought pattern of “this is how we have always done it”, or “this is what has worked before”. I read a quote that started me thinking about this

“New technology + same old thinking = same old outcome with a buggy interface.”

And now after reading this… it is a great challenge not just go with what has always worked, but to look outside the forced methods, and routines and see what else can be applied.

Aaron I

By: Jennifer b.

Jennifer b. — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 18:37:12 +0000

This is a great synopsis, Will. The one thing I would add is the level of responsibility we really hold to push back on those forced methods. We could really be doing a disservice to audiences if we don’t work harder for them. It’s hard for leaders not to be prescriptive, they don’t always know better and they want repeatable results. We have to persuade them to let us try things. The unintended consequences of a little confusion here and a little annoyance there add up over time to a world that becomes less desirable to inhabit.

If we embrace this understanding, we actually have the opportunity to be artists as defined by McCluhan, “The artist is the man in any field, scientific or humanistic, who grasps the implications of his actions and of new knowledge in his own time.” (notwithstanding the masculine pronouns-it was 1964)