Thinking For Making

Todays exercise with Simon was challenging, but also incredibly helpful in giving me further insight into the key themes and preoccupations I have, and how they sit together to help me form my project. You can see my pages from today here. Expanding on the 6 words I found through ‘Getting Making’ I chose :

Through Interrogating these themes through their definition in the dictionary, and in the context of the design work and my own interpretation, I was able to gain some clarity in how they might begin to weave together and who might be able to help me in this process.

Play was described in the dictionary as a ‘distraction’, a definition I’d not considered before. It made me think about Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) a therapeutic technique I have used myself, which in some ways utilises distraction techniques to soothe anxiety.

I was intrigued learn on further research about play theory, an arm of psychology which explores this link between psychology and play..

As my project aims to create design objects which seek to soothe anxiety I plan to reach out to a psychologist to discuss my aims and help me understand from an expert view, if my own experiences and hunches as add up clinically and are worth exploring.

Ideally I could form a relationship where they could become consultant / collaborator on the project throughout. I would like to create a network of collaborators, filling in the gaps in my expertise and help form the project, and think perhaps this could help form part of my methodology.

Im excited and intrigued to start picking out these cross overs, which start to flesh out and connect the hunches I've had, and want to explore through this year.

At first I felt a resistance moving from the written “words" in to the visual references and sketches, thinking I didn’t have time and couldn’t to find the perfect image. As a designer when things go visual I feel a level of stress that it needs to look perfect. Being forced to complete the exercise quickly felt alien and almost upsetting, but I realised these kind of exercises are not about visual outcomes but are about thinking and processing ideas. I didn’t finish but I will take the time to, and next time I will lean in and enjoy the time restraints.