The Creative Design Workshop.....
- Feb 19, 2021
- 3 min read
On Thursday the 11th of February we were provided with the opportunity to participate in a creative design workshop hosted by Ruth Cochrane and Richard Firth.
This workshop provided us with the chance to think outside the box by using some rather unorthodox stakeholders and how the site could be adapted to meet the needs of the individual.
This led to our groups being broken into teams which consisted of our group members and our project coordinator, Lindsay.
The idea of working with our project coordinator was to eliminate any forms of existing hierarchies and bring a focus to creativity.
First up, our stakeholder was a vampire. A vampire? Yes, a vampire!
After brainstorming the likes and dislikes of a vampire this led to the creation of a blood bar. An environment where vampires have the space to fly around upon transforming into bats and creating an inclusive environment for these vampires to be themselves. We considered using projection technology to mimic an environment where vampires would feel most comfortable.
Next was a werewolf, a similar process was followed, however, a very different outcome was produced. We proposed a wellness centre for wolves which could include a car-wash-style grooming station and a Mural to feel a sense of representation, as werewolves tend to have a bad reputation. We also discussed how there is a lot of guilt in the experiences of werewolves as they cannot remember their human self when transformed, meaning that when they are human again, they often regret their kills. This led to the idea of a virtual reality hunting simulation on a treadmill which would mimic the experience of hunting but without the guilt.
We were then assigned a unicorn. Which happens to be the national animal of Scotland, due to the mythical creature's association with purity, strength and power. Our thoughts led to an environment where Unicorn’s could let loose and not be judged due to the pressures they already face. An area to cause destruction and roll around in the dirt and play Tekken style video games between a Lion and a Unicorn (Scotland vs. England). This then led to the discussion of putting yourself in the shoes of another and we considered an experience where disputes could be solved in this way. We found this made an interesting connection to our site as Robert Burns once said “To see ourselves as others see us!” in his poem “To a Louse” and Burns himself was born in North Ayrshire.
The fourth stakeholder was a Monkey buffer, which was the wild card stakeholder. In this task, any crazy idea goes, and we were tasked with coming up with something unexpected. In the end, our team came up with “Die for a day!” which sounds rather morbid and initially drew inspiration from the film “It’s a Wonderful Life”.
We thought that an experience where visitors could come away with more appreciation for their life would be interesting and important. We decided to incorporate an actual monkey into the idea by having a simulated monkey which guides you, with the toll of the experience being shown on the monkey, who would die at the end. We also thought this could lead to some sort of “library of lives” where the experiences and lives of others could be shared.
We then considered that this idea could be related to the climate crisis and could take visitors on a tour of the current damage done to the world, to highlight the importance of change which must be made if the world is to survive.
Finally, this gave us the chance to collaborate all the ideas into one and see what could be created: “Die for a day!” The punchy headline had each of us individually hooked, inspiring us to create the more realistic concept of a simulation. An electronic survey would be filled out to collect data on this person’s lifestyle on their most carefree enjoyable day. They would then see the damage caused by their individual choices if they are to continue living the same lifestyle.
While the workshop was intended to be fun and encourage outside of the box thinking amongst each of the groups, we felt several lessons were learned:
The ideas don’t necessarily have to be incredibly expensive to be impactful.
Understanding the needs of the community and then refining our parameters will help in understanding who our stakeholder is and how we can help them.
Upon having identified a stakeholder it’s important to remember not to put an individual under an “umbrella” term as there are numerous characteristics that make an individual.
References:
Unicorn Scotland’s National Animal Reference:
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