The first part of the workshop involved the three designers explaining who they are and how they've got to this stage in their career. They were as followed;
Tina Connelly - Senior designer for CBBC/CBeebies
(originally worked with Hilton Hotels and theme park design before moving to work for the BBC)
Rob Farnell - Senior designer for Iplayer and IPTV
(worked for Mama's & Papa's, now works as a UX designer for the BBC)
Danny Lambert-Maddocks - Junior designer for CBeebies/ CBBC
(graduate from the University of Huddersfield; went on to work for Urban Outfitters. Now works at the BBC)
Throughout the workshop we were taught how to generate and process ideas; in order to help us think outside of the box in the way we design. The workshop focused heavily on how we would approach a brief and how not to limit ourselves and not box ourselves in to an idea.
During the presentation the guys from the BBC gave us tips what they had learnt along the way or what they use now themselves. Tina made a point that 'no idea is a bad idea'; this stuck with me as I'm often reluctant to put down an idea if I think it's bad but she made a point that you need to get the bad ideas out so you can stop thinking about them and then you can move on to the good ideas.
Next we looked at the different stages when creating; here is the process:
Explorer - seek out new 'stuff'
Artist - turn the 'stuff' you find into new ideas
Judge - critically evaluate your ideas
Warrior - press ahead undaunted with your chosen ideas
Another useful tip provided by Tina Connelly - Your work is your baby, accept the fact that you baby is ugly to others. Let go of your baby and take criticism.
Next we had a paper plane contest which had a meaning/lesson behind it; the aim was to get the paper to fly the furthest. After we realised it wasn't about the look of the plane, it was the distance that was important which encouraged people to think outside the box.
Finally we were given a brief which was:
'To create an inspiring, inventive, conceptually relevant and eye catching display for the John lewis flagship store for the spring season, that reshapes expectations of what a store window can do and can be, but keeps products firmly as it's heart.'
For this task we worked in groups and used the BBC's methods of idea generation which involved 30 second idea generations etc. These methods made you work under pressure and ideas flowed as you knew you were under a time constraint. As a team we delivered a high impact but low effort idea back to the members of the BBC and peers.
Thoughts
I enjoyed this workshop as it allowed me to look at the way I generate ideas and how I could be more efficient/ produce more ideas. I'm glad I signed up to the workshop although I knew some of the methods before the workshop after doing the 24hr challenge with the BBC last year.
Here are some photos of the day:
