The sharing of media, ideas, and the creative process that constitutes Stone Soup demonstrates core aspects of design. This unique process of shared art shows how a simple activity can demonstrate how instrumental collaboration and the design process are to design as a whole.
Collaboration is inherent in design. Multiple designers are often asked to work on projects together, creating a conscious collaboration. Additionally, consciously or not, designers participate in trends; from fashion to interior, almost all designers are influenced by the zeitgeist. What really constitutes the zeitgeist, translated to mean "spirit of the time", is the collaboration of designers and artists of a certain time who are influenced by each other in their creations. We can see these time-period influences in fashion design, architecture, and art that are classified by time period, i.e. the Renaissance, Modern Art, etc.
In Stone Soup, we collaborated much more literally. Materials are shared, the process is shared; everyone contributes something. The communal art process demonstrated how collaboration can play a pivotal role in design; by ourselves, none of us could have created what we did all together. Each person adds a little bit, and by the end we had a fully formed piece of art which has not one designer, but eight.
Our experience with Stone Soup demonstrated another aspect of design very clearly: the importance of the design process. Lauer specifies the design process as first thinking, then looking, and finally doing. The process went slightly differently for us; we looked at our materials first, then did a little thinking, but for the most part our Stone Soup was "doing". The persisting question of whether to classify the word design as a verb or noun was simple on the day we did Stone Soup: it was without a doubt a verb. Our piece would have turned out differently had we spent more time in the "thinking" stage; not necessarily better or worse, but doubtless it would have had a completely different design.
The process of Stone Soup is one that I would like to revisit-- its employment of so many aspects of design is not only fascinating, but also enjoyable.
Collaboration is inherent in design. Multiple designers are often asked to work on projects together, creating a conscious collaboration. Additionally, consciously or not, designers participate in trends; from fashion to interior, almost all designers are influenced by the zeitgeist. What really constitutes the zeitgeist, translated to mean "spirit of the time", is the collaboration of designers and artists of a certain time who are influenced by each other in their creations. We can see these time-period influences in fashion design, architecture, and art that are classified by time period, i.e. the Renaissance, Modern Art, etc.
In Stone Soup, we collaborated much more literally. Materials are shared, the process is shared; everyone contributes something. The communal art process demonstrated how collaboration can play a pivotal role in design; by ourselves, none of us could have created what we did all together. Each person adds a little bit, and by the end we had a fully formed piece of art which has not one designer, but eight.
Our experience with Stone Soup demonstrated another aspect of design very clearly: the importance of the design process. Lauer specifies the design process as first thinking, then looking, and finally doing. The process went slightly differently for us; we looked at our materials first, then did a little thinking, but for the most part our Stone Soup was "doing". The persisting question of whether to classify the word design as a verb or noun was simple on the day we did Stone Soup: it was without a doubt a verb. Our piece would have turned out differently had we spent more time in the "thinking" stage; not necessarily better or worse, but doubtless it would have had a completely different design.
The process of Stone Soup is one that I would like to revisit-- its employment of so many aspects of design is not only fascinating, but also enjoyable.
No comments:
Post a Comment