The architecture of light: architectural lighting design concepts and techniques. A textbook of procedures and practices for the architect, interior designer and lighting designer pdfdrive com

Figure 1.1 A simple written list of themes and words that come to mind when visualizing a specific topic.
In this example, prominent “big ideas” have been circled.
Figure 1.2 A bubble diagram shows the relationship between ideas as they progress.
The products of a brainstorm are proof that we all have great ideas. The dedicated designer is simply more diligent in cultivating ideas, writing them down, communicating them, and keeping track of them. If we don’t allow ourselves free reign to conjure ideas, and get them down on paper, the ideas are lost forever, victims of the powerful forces of self-censorship and self-criticism. Let it be said that in the land of design, there is no shortage of skeptics and critics to tell us that our ideas are too whimsical, too expensive, too time- consuming, or unrealistic. If we expect that this refining of ideas will come from outside forces, it becomes very clear that we don’t need to critique them internally. Thus, we go forward, writing down ideas, concepts and solutions as fast as we can think of them, knowing that through the process of developing design, the best ideas will rise to the top.
The reward of this process is the confidence to propose ideas without fear
of rejection. When we know that we have a long written list of great ideas, and a brain that can conjure new ones at will, then we are much more productive when engaged with others in the process of refining them. We are neither dismayed nor dejected when our ideas are deemed unsuitable. We see criticism as a challenge, rather than a threat. This welcoming of feedback and “thick skin” is one of the most valuable traits of a skilled designer.
Making a regular habit of brainstorming develops the creative
productivity and flexibility that are the foundation of a designer’s confidence and
skill.
REVERSE ENGINEERING FROM DESIGN
The process of reverse engineering is exactly as its name indicates. It is a tool of dissecting something to discover what makes it work. Take, for example, a guitar maker who takes apart a beautiful acoustic guitar to identify exactly how that guitar gets its woody, slightly hollow sound. Upon dissection, it is discovered that the sound is the product of a veneer of rare Sumatran teak wood bonded to the inside. The guitar maker can now incorporate this simple feature in constructing guitars in the future whenever the same sound is desired. How, you may ask, does this anecdote apply to the design mentality? The answer lies in the belief that as designers dealing in the realm of the built environment, we are responsible for designing spaces that compel interaction and elicit emotion.
Besides the basic function of the spaces we design, we care most about how
people feel and consequently, how they behave and interact with our design.
We experience designed environments and the natural world around us every day and thus have the opportunity to reverse engineer design every day. What we, as designers, can do to make use of this skill is to take the time to identify how we feel in our environment and what is at work to make us feel that way. Dissecting our experiences in this way has three distinct steps: