REFLECTION

The photographic project and visualization as a strategy of design thinking

CHALLENGE & SELECTION

My experience of applying design thinking comes from a area that is not linked to business

development,  but to the area of teaching in a Graphic Desigh School where my students require my

couching in the development of graphic design products and photographic images.

In one of the basic courses of photography students must develop a photographic series that must

have coherent unity in theme and in the use of the visual language. Participants in this workshop

have little or no experience in photography and can use any photography  device.

To achieve the objectives visualization is key through the whole process, we use the combination of

prototyping-visualization processes, development of concepts of design criteria and brainstorming-

ideation. We work in teams of 3 to 5 participants. All this is actually a combination of an iterative

process where divergent and convergent thinking is used in the project development.

In the present presentation, due to the limitations required, I will focus on three phases where we

select tools of Design Thinking which we denominate with other names, however, I will point out its

relation with the tools as they are denominated in the material of Designing for Growth.

APPLICATION

In the first stage which we have called "thematic-technical exploration process", the students try to

learn about the possibilities of the photographic medium for the development of an idea or theme

freely chosen by them  (What is?). The participants make several photographic shots approaching

the subject or object of study using directly the photography device they have available, allowing

them through the rapid photographic capture to learn in a visual way as much as possible about the

possibilities and technical difficulties of the chosen subject, which they have to show periodically to

his or her group allowing the visualization of the particular interests.

The previous phase leads them to the understanding of a series of key elements of the visual and

technical aspects of the project  which allows the participants of the group to understand the

aesthetic possibilities and thus organize that information in a way that should lead them to the

description of the possible visual criteria of the project. (Value analysis).

The group then carries out brainstorming to develop ideas that can help the accomplishment of

their partner's project. They do this by  searching  what we call "visual references" with their own

photographic works and especialy with visual examples developed by  various photographic authors

which allow them to shed light on to how to develop the project of their partners in a way that can

conform to the technical and aesthetic possibilities of the projects presented and discussed. This

process allows them to develop key aesthetic and design criteria (Concept Development).

INSIGHT AND APPROACH

One of the things I have learned is that at the beginning of the process it is necessary to overthrow

in the participants the expectations they may have of wanting to frame the possibilities of the

project without, beforehand, openly and without prejudice, to explore those possibilities.

Photographic  devices, whatever they are, are excellent tools for discovering things in the world that

one may not have seen before. The process, more than to look for,it is a process of discovery. Then,

sharing these visual findings in several cycles of conversation with colleagues and discussing the

possibilities, develops the understanding of the aesthetic-visual and technical problem of the

projects.

On the other hand, the fact that, in many cases, there is a good amount of common key elements

that arise in the various projects, it is possible to enrich the analysis of their aesthetic-visual values

as well as enrich, in the colaborative atmosphere, the search for "visual references"(visual

brainstorming) that can become possible solutions.

Felipe Moreno

