Ideas from IDEO and the Stanford d.School
Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend a guest lecture at UC and post-lecture discussion with Brendan Boyle, who is founder of IDEO's Toy Lab and professor at Stanford's d.school, the institution credited with popularizing the methodology of Design Thinking, a topic I have discussed in past Home 2.0 Blog posts. What Brendan adds to the equation of design thinking is the import role that play has in the process and how it fosters more creative solutions. The idea of playwork as a driver for better product design through role play and constructive play, among other play behaviors was something that struck a chord with me as it relates to the Home 2.0 project and process that goes into it. Examples of this I incorporate into the process include role playing how different members of a family, neighbors and guests might utilize the house, and prototyping different home designs with sketches and models. The blog component of the Home 2.0 project also gives me additional opportunity to play around with creating graphics and video content. Below are my notes from the talk and here is a video link to one of Brendan Boyle's talk that speaks to spirit of the presentation, which was a lot of fun.
