設(shè)計(jì)是設(shè)計(jì)師思維活動的結(jié)果。思維活動是否具有一定的規(guī)律?是否能夠被總結(jié)和學(xué)習(xí)?這種好奇帶來了對設(shè)計(jì)思維的研究。
每個設(shè)計(jì)師都有各自的設(shè)計(jì)推演方式,只是通過文字清晰地闡述自己設(shè)計(jì)過程的設(shè)計(jì)師并不多,國際風(fēng)景園林師聯(lián)合會的首任主席、英國風(fēng)景園林師杰里科(Geoffery Jellicoe)是其中之一。他認(rèn)為自己的設(shè)計(jì)受到潛意識的作用,而他也一直在思考潛意識理論,并應(yīng)用到實(shí)踐之中。杰里科深受瑞士藝術(shù)家保羅·克利的影響,特別是克利所啟發(fā)的“潛意識”創(chuàng)作途徑。他對瑞士心理學(xué)家榮格也頗有研究,認(rèn)同榮格所說的人類活動中無意識的重要作用。杰里科曾說:“榮格讓我第一次知道了潛意識的作用,能增強(qiáng)在景觀中的可知性物體的設(shè)計(jì),就像在所有藝術(shù)創(chuàng)作中那樣。通過插入一個只有潛意識才能感知的想法來提升一個設(shè)計(jì)是可能的嗎?過程非常簡單,你先用正常的方式做一個設(shè)計(jì),你發(fā)現(xiàn)它很平常,你將畫放遠(yuǎn)看,你逐漸會有了好的想法,你希望發(fā)現(xiàn)某種美的形式,現(xiàn)在你重新組織設(shè)計(jì)的細(xì)部,這就是一種潛意識帶來的信息?!?/p>
杰里科的作品總是具有濃厚的神秘氣息,我們從他的設(shè)計(jì)圖紙中可以感受到他設(shè)計(jì)時思想的流動,圖紙上隨意的線條呈現(xiàn)了他那飄忽不定的思考。似乎他的設(shè)計(jì)思維更依賴于感覺、靈性、情感甚至是潛意識,但如果我們仔細(xì)分析他的設(shè)計(jì),仍然可以看到他的作品都具有清晰的結(jié)構(gòu)、明確的空間組織和循序漸進(jìn)的景觀序列,可見他的設(shè)計(jì)其實(shí)并不只是在潛意識的支配之下形成的。正如他所說,“你先用正常的方式做一個設(shè)計(jì)”,而這個正常的設(shè)計(jì)一定不是在潛意識之下完成的,更多的還是理性思維的產(chǎn)物。
設(shè)計(jì)思維,實(shí)際上就是設(shè)計(jì)師在設(shè)計(jì)中的思考過程,是設(shè)計(jì)師在設(shè)計(jì)中通過觀察、分析、判斷,進(jìn)行不斷取舍、不斷提煉、不斷推演、不斷決策,從而不斷完善以尋求最佳方案的設(shè)計(jì)過程。由于每個設(shè)計(jì)師個體都有不同,看待問題的視角也會有差異,同時思維又與情緒發(fā)生著密切的聯(lián)系,而人的情感又無時不在變化,所以研究設(shè)計(jì)思維并不是一件容易的事情,得出令人信服的結(jié)論以求指導(dǎo)他人如何展開設(shè)計(jì)思維則更加困難。
設(shè)計(jì)思維來自何方?當(dāng)然首先來自設(shè)計(jì)師對使用者的研判和對現(xiàn)場的分析觀察及感悟,再有就是來自想象和聯(lián)想。想象力依賴于設(shè)計(jì)師的天賦和一些偶發(fā)的因素,而聯(lián)想更多地來自設(shè)計(jì)師后天的培養(yǎng)、設(shè)計(jì)師成長的環(huán)境和閱歷。
無論是潛意識、感性還是理性,杰里科必然有意無意地從自己的成長背景中汲取了充分的營養(yǎng),并形成了獨(dú)特的設(shè)計(jì)思維方式。他的設(shè)計(jì)靈感源于大學(xué)時期在AA的學(xué)習(xí),學(xué)生時代對意大利文藝復(fù)興園林的測繪和研究,早期在AA的任教以及從事建筑設(shè)計(jì)的實(shí)踐,對哲學(xué)、文學(xué)、歷史和藝術(shù)的廣泛閱讀,對現(xiàn)代藝術(shù)的追尋,以及與精通植物的夫人共同的生活和工作中的合作。
這些履歷并非只是一個個單一過程的鏈接,所有的經(jīng)歷融合在一起就會產(chǎn)生化學(xué)反應(yīng)。設(shè)計(jì)思維是一系列現(xiàn)象的綜合,復(fù)雜又混沌,針對設(shè)計(jì)思維和設(shè)計(jì)方法的研究成果也層出不窮。有不少研究試圖教育設(shè)計(jì)師如何進(jìn)行設(shè)計(jì)思考,諸如將復(fù)雜的設(shè)計(jì)對象拆分為不同的層級和不同的要素,逐一進(jìn)行分析,最終再疊加綜合,從而理性地推演出最佳的設(shè)計(jì)方案。也有不少研究試圖告訴設(shè)計(jì)師和管理者什么是更好的方案,方法依然是將復(fù)雜的設(shè)計(jì)拆分成各種因子,逐一分析,再加權(quán)綜合,進(jìn)行評價。這些研究方法共同的發(fā)展趨勢是拆分的因子越來越細(xì),越來越多,評價的體系越來越趨于量化,以力求設(shè)計(jì)的思維和評判更加理性和“科學(xué)”。
設(shè)計(jì)的思維與科學(xué)研究的思維當(dāng)然可以互相借鑒和影響,但兩者在本質(zhì)上卻是走在兩條完全不同的道路上。每當(dāng)我審閱博士論文時,面對論文中那復(fù)雜的研究框架和技術(shù)路線框圖時都會產(chǎn)生疑問,人的思維會如同這些路線圖一樣,沿著一條線性的軌跡逐步推進(jìn)嗎?只有上一步完成下一步才能開始嗎?或許科學(xué)研究是這樣,但是設(shè)計(jì)則完全不同。理性分析當(dāng)然能夠幫助人們更準(zhǔn)確地判斷,然而并沒有什么好的設(shè)計(jì)是依賴數(shù)學(xué)公式計(jì)算出來的??梢钥隙ǖ氖牵袀ゴ笤O(shè)計(jì)師的思維都不會沿著一條確定的線性軌跡展開。設(shè)計(jì)是一種創(chuàng)造性的活動,情感在設(shè)計(jì)中彌足珍貴,而靈感又會在毫無預(yù)判的狀態(tài)下閃現(xiàn),設(shè)計(jì)思維具有很大的不確定性和隨意性,所有好的設(shè)計(jì)既沒有固定答案,也不可能通過一種線性的邏輯推演出來。
設(shè)計(jì)思維是一種個人化的思考方式,有相當(dāng)多理性的成分,也有偶然性、文化差異性、時空變化性……設(shè)計(jì)思維在一定程度上可以被分析、總結(jié)并學(xué)習(xí),但結(jié)果一定是與個人的閱歷和經(jīng)驗(yàn)結(jié)合,形成另一種獨(dú)特的設(shè)計(jì)思維。設(shè)計(jì)思維沒有定式,它因人而異,因時不同,因地而遷,所以才有設(shè)計(jì)結(jié)果的豐富和多元。
主編:王向榮教授
2019年7月2日
Design is the outcome of designer’s thinking activity. Does the thinking activity present in certain laws? Can it be summarized and learnt? With such curiosity, researches about design thinking come into being.
Every designer has their own design method. Only few designers have clearly expounded their design process by words, including English landscape architect Geoffery Jellicoe who is the first chairman of International Federation of Landscape Architects. He believe that his design is impacted by the subconsciousness and he has been studying on subconscious theory meanwhile applying it to practices. Jellicoe is deeply inspired by Switzerland’s artist-Paul Klee,especially the “subconsciousness” creation method enlightened by Klee. He also studies Carl Gustav Jung a lot, a Swiss psychologist,and acknowledges the important role of unconsciousness in human activity. Jellicoe once said: “I know the role of subconsciousness for the first time thanks to Carl Gustav Jung, that it can strengthen the design of intelligible object in the landscape just like all artistic creations. Is it possible that a design can be improved by inserting an idea under subconsciousness? It is very simple, you need to design in the normal way firstly and after looking at the drawing from a distance you might get a good idea gradually. You hope to discover a form of beauty and now are reorganizing the details of the design which is a subconscious message actually.”
Jellicoe’s works are always with a strong sense of mystery. We can feel the flow of his thinking at the time of designing from his design drawing. His erratic thinking is embodied by random lines on the sketches. It seems that his design thinking more depends on feeling, intelligence, emotion and even subconsciousness. However,in case that we carefully analyze his design, we can still see his works have clear structure, space organization and progressive landscape sequence, indicating his works are not formed only based on subconscious domination. As he said, “you design firstly in the normal way”. The normal design must not be completed based on subconsciousness but on rational thinking.
Design thinking is actually the thinking process of designers when he/she is design something, it refers to the design process of doing selection, extraction, purification, deduction and decision making by observation, analysis and judgment in order to realize the optimal proposal. Every designer is different with various perspectives toward problem. Meanwhile thinking is closely related to emotion and people’s emotion changes all the time, thus research about design thinking isn’t easy and it’s more difficult to draw a convincing conclusion to direct others how to design.
Where is design thinking come from? Of course, it’s from the designer’s study and judgment about users, on-site analysis,observation and inspiration as well as imagination and association.The imagination relies on the designer’s talent and some accidental factors, while association is more based on the designer’s postnatal acquirement, growing environment and experience.
No matter the subconsciousness, sensibility or rationality, Jellicoe necessarily absorbs adequate nutrition from his background of growth intentionally or not and forms unique mode of design thinking. His design inspiration comes from the study at AA School during the university period, mapping and research experience regarding Italian Renaissance Gardens in his student years, the teaching experience at AA School and practices of architecture design in the early stage,the extensive reading about philosophy, literature, history and art, the pursuit of modern art as well as the cooperation with his wife who is proficient in botany in life and work.
The above-mentioned experiences are not only the linkage of single processes, but chemical reaction will also arise after they are blended together. Design thinking is the synthesis of a series of phenomena which is complicated and chaotic. Research achievements concerning design thinking and design method emerge in endlessly. Many researches are aimed at teaching how to carry out design thinking, such as splitting the complex design objects into different levels and factors to analyzing them one by one and ultimately conducting superposition synthesis to rationally deduce the optimal design proposal. There are also a lot of researches aimed at telling designers and managers which is the better proposal, by still splitting complex design into various factors and analyzing them one by one, comparing with weighted integration for assessment. The development trend of these researches is more and more factors are split, the assessment system is more and more quantified to make design thinking and judgment more rational and “scientific”.
Of course, design thinking and scientific research thinking can learn from each other and influence each other, but they are on two completely different paths substantially. Each time when I go over the doctoral thesis, I doubt about complex research framework in the thesis—will people’s thinking being promoted gradually along one linear trajectory just like the roadmap? Can next step commence after the previous step is over? Maybe, scientific research is like this, but the design is totally different. Of course, rational analysis can help people to accurately judge. It’s a pity that no good design can be calculated based on mathematical formulas. It is sure that all designers’ thinking won’t follow along one definite linear trajectory.Design is a creative activity, emotion is precious in the design and inspiration will flash in without anticipation. The design thinking is of great uncertainty and randomness, so all good designs have no certain answer and cannot be deduced by one linear logic.
The design thinking is a personalized way of thinking with quite a number of rational elements, yet with contingency, cultural difference and spatiotemporal variability. Though design thinking can be analyzed,summarized and learnt to some extent, the outcome must be based on personal experience, is a unique design thinking. It has no formulary,varies with each individual, becomes different as time goes on and moves from place to place, thus the result of design are rich and diverse.
Translator: WANG Xiyue
Chief Editor: Prof. Dr-Ing. WANG Xiangrong
July 2nd, 2019