UXA2023 Zoë Rose - Creative thinking methodologies: a lost history

UX Australia

When were diamonds first used to describe the design process? When was the first 'how might we' question asked? What were the original steps of 'brainstorming'? Some answers to these questions can be found in a 30 year period in America after the end of World War 2, when parallel intellectual movements centred around creating scientific methodologies for creativity and design thrived. Many of the ideas, principles, and design processes of that age are still with us today. Other answers are much, much older. In this talk, we will do more than describe yet another design process model. Instead, we will explore the historical and cultural origins of the design and creativity methods that are still common in design, and we will explore how they were both informed by and developed in reaction to the emergence of computing and large-scale data management. By the end of the talk, you will have a new perspective on how the origins of our methodologies can embed biased assumptions in the work we do today.