Education of creativity: procedures and processes

It has been said, perhaps not unwisely, that design education is, in itself, a design problem. That is, the process of design is parallel to the process of education. (The goal of design education is to generate creativity and the goal of design has something to do with generating creatively.) These were the assumptions.

It is suspected that different processes produce different products. What kind of information does a specific educational process generate? Two processes used in design and education, the intuitive and the systematic, were studied by viewing the products of each. This was the investigation.

The weakness of the two processes, both in education and design, defined a need for a process that was integral and could communicate the complexities of present information. This was the problem.

Using this awareness, specific tools were described in terms of design education: tools with which it might be possible to bring the communication of facts in line with their operational usage.

Conclusions as to the operative strength and potential meaning of this new integral thinking are then drawn comparatively. Three studio situations in design education are documented. The problem in each case is basically the same; it is the design logic (of the student and of the educator) that differ.

The first situation is intuitive, the second is systematic, and the third is integral. Strengths and weaknesses of these processes are seen through a vertical comparison of products.