So, we are designers, makers, architects & artists, an eclectic tribe of creatives – all sharing a deep desire to make the world a better place. And along with the joys & delights of dreaming up the new, come the dark nights of the soul when the ideas don’t flow, when the blank page is winning, or when you feel like you’ve lost your edge. Creative block comes with the territory.
cleverthinking. The dice work when you’re unsure where to start, are stuck & need a change in direction, or want to take a sideways leap in your thinking. You roll one (or more) of the dice – which in return offers a key-word ‘prompt’, inviting a series of creative responses, encouraging breadth and depth to your work. Every word is interpreted by you in the light of the project you are working on, so the meaning of each suggestion changes with each new context. Even though there are a ‘fixed’ number of words, there are arguably an infinite number of combinations.
‘...I ended up working in teaching through a deeply rooted belief in championing other people’s gifts and abilities – particularly when it comes to encouraging their creativity. Over the past two decades, I’ve become increasingly interested in ‘how’ we design, running workshops, delivering lectures and designing in ways that explore different process models and ways of working. The designdice™ project has been part of this journey, considering how the complexity of creative processes can be made more accessible – regardless of your previous experience.
Teaching is, I believe, most powerful when learning becomes internalised. If something is done simply because I told you so, then it only ever travels so deep. However, if a framework is created that forces you to think and apply ideas for yourself, you own that process and it becomes rooted at a more fundamental level. cleverthinking™ ...’
Andy Neal – Creator, designdice™
AIGA | Roll these dice
The sheer speed with which you, a designer or otherwise creative person, are required to generate concepts and content for a diverse range of clients must at times seem daunting, perhaps even overwhelming. Creative block is a … (more).
Design Week | designdice™
Creative block is a common plight for designers, who will often resort to word maps and image moodboards to spark new ideas. A graphic design tutor at Falmouth University has decided … (more).
FormFiftyFive | designdice™
We caught up with Falmouth University lecturer and all round nice guy Andy Neal to hear about his leap into the world of crowdfunding for his new thinking aid, Design Dice… (more).
‘The dice challenge the way you think about developing ideas…’
‘They help step outside your normal way of working, and see your process from another perspective…’
‘They worked well with pushing design projects, and also for encouraging group discussion & debate…’
(Student feedback)
Grafik | Dice Man
Designer and educator Andy Neal has created a fascinating set of dice which can help designers with design thinking, generating ideas and solving problems, whilst still allowing for an element of surprise … (more).