Idea Lab

Rhetorical Figures

Forced Connections

Action Verbs

Objectives:

• To generate a lot of ideas (good, bad, in-between)
• To make things (again, good, bad, in-between)
• To participate in collaborative research and creative design process methodology
• To examine case studies of exploratory processes and strategies among creatives

RHETORICAL FIGURES, Part I
For centuries, poets, speakers, and writers have used carefully crafted patterns of language to appeal to people’s reasoning, emotions, and ethics. Rhetoric, or the art of communication, forces active connections between concepts. Rhetorical devices not only create a level of seduction, persuasion, and beauty with words,  they also can do the same for design.

FORCED CONNECTIONS, Part II
“From cookie dough ice cream to zombie /Jane Austen novels, intriguing ideas often result when unlikely players collide. By brainstorming lists of products, services, or styles, and then drawing links between them, designers can forge concepts imbued with fresh wit and new functions.”

ACTION VERBS, Part III
“This brainstorming process involves taking an initial idea and applying different verbs to it, such as magnify, rearrange, alter, adapt, modify, substitute, reverse,  and combine. These verbs prompt you to take action by manipulating your core concept.”