With rising demands for design-oriented projects and greater emphases on creative economies, German landscape architect Christian Phongphit explains why creativity and critical thinking must converge if designs are to be effective
Story by SIRIWAT POKRAJEN
Design has been a topic of growing interest in Thailand in the past few years due to the global awareness of its contribution to a nation's economy, culture and overall development.
Its importance, as many developed countries have come to realise, lies not only in its visual pleasures, but also in its improvements to the quality of life.
Although several Thai design and creative projects have been scrapped or delayed because of the current political instability and movements to preserve the public purse, the Thai innovative community remains determined to show the general public how design is the way of the future.
In May, the Thailand Creative and Design Centre organised a seminar on innovative economy to show both the public and private sectors how imagination can enhance Thailand's wealth.
On Aug 21, the British Council, together with the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, unveiled the "Transforming Public Spaces" (TPS) project. TPS seeks to engage the public in "naming and shaming" buildings, streets and other spaces that are ugly or simply don't work.
This is a radical effort to make life better with good design.
But to come up with the right design, says 32-year-old Christian Phongphit, a German landscape architect, conceptual photographer and lecturer at the School of Architecture and Design at King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT), we need a lot more than skills in the use of design tools.
Design requires a combined sense of possibility and practicality; both ingeniousness and critical analysis. These two thinking processes have become the main subjects of the unconventional workshops that Christian organises for young aspiring Thai designers.
Location3
First of all, creativity is all about the location, because ingenious ideas usually come when you're in an idea-promoting environment. Before having any real exercises, an inventive setting must be established.
The space where clever ideas are given birth and flourish is important. It helps to get rid of assumptions and to generate fresh ideas. Also, the innovatory setting boosts student motivation, which is the most important aspect of education.
This is why Christian chooses to organise all his workshops at alternative venues, such as an underground art gallery. This also means the students can lie on the floor or eat chips if they like.
"I've tried conducting my workshops in a conventional classroom, and they didn't work," Christian says. "Good ideas don't come when you're in a box. You need a space where people can relax and be inventive."
Flexing your mental muscle
Creativity is like a muscle, says Christian. If you don't train it regularly, you'll lose it. It's a talent we're all born with. But to keep ingeniousness vibrant and growing, you have to constantly practise it.
One workshop in his series of innovation and strategy training is called "How to Boost Your Creativity". It aims to stimulate students' innovatory perceptions and to show them how inspiration can be drawn from the world around them.
The workshop also encourages students to get over mental blocks and the fear of failure, recognise and use their own instincts of imagination, and finally develop a daily practice to keep their clever thinking ability going.
Christian stresses that no serious economist today doubts that ingenious ideas and innovation will be the most important commodities of the 21st century!
In a child's world
So, how can we pump up our creative muscles? One piece of simple advice that Christian gives is: Stay childlike. To be highly creative, he says, one must see the world through the eyes of a child - with curiosity and playfulness. Look and observe what's around you. Let small things excite you. Love and discover details. And never stop asking questions.
You should grow older in wisdom and ability, but remain childlike in your outlook.
For those who have already forgotten what it's like to be a kid, here's an easy exercise. Force yourself to do something new every day and reflect on it in a notebook, Christian says. For example, try a new drink every time you go to a 7-Eleven store and ask yourself how it tastes and why you like or dislike it.
Like kids who explore the world around them every day, this exercise helps you to break your routine and provides you with fresh, flexible thinking. Routine in professional and domestic life is an obstruction to creativity.
First, let there be chaos
The design-thinking process is a clever problem-solving process. First, there's a problem, then comes the solution.
Creative thinking is an important aspect of design, and it's all about possibilities that beckon to become realities. Thus, this stage of thinking works best when it is allowed to remain chaotic.
Christian recommends to his students that they should go wild and crazy and list everything that comes to mind. Be open and never judgemental. Two powerful tricks are to think in reverse and ask yourself "what if?".
Want to create a good washing powder? Think what a bad one would be like: its inability to clean, bad smell, yucky texture and disgusting colour. Or what if a washing powder could be eaten? Funny or absurd ideas can relax you and boost your creativity.
Eventually, this will spark a few good ideas that can actually work.
In design, insightful thinking is the starting point, the research and development part. Out of this chaos of non-linear thinking comes a design concept - a prototype; in other words, a draft of your idea.
After that, comes critical thinking
"At the beginning of my workshops, I usually give a creativity level test. It's evident that my Thai students are more creative than my former German students," Christian says. "But the problem with Thai students is that most clearly lack a critical mind."
For example, he often questions his architecture students as to why they need to build their thesis project at their selected location.
The most common reason given, and sometimes the only one, is that the location is close to a Skytrain or Mass Rapid Transit station, which makes the daily commute more convenient. "It's a reason, but a weak one. What we need are well-reasoned conclusions," Christian comments. "The students would never be able to use this reason only for selecting a site in Europe."
To switch on the critical mind of his students, Christian challenges them with lots of questions seeking to know why they would or would not do something. It's the simplest way to become critical.
For a more structured exercise, he gives them a critical essay to read, something that is provocative or even shocking to the students - it could be a comment on their society, their culture, their religion or their politics.
After that, the students will have to analyse what they've read: What is the author trying to say? Finally, they have to evaluate the writing. Is what the author says right and just? Why?
Art vs design
"Critical thinking is the art of analysing and evaluating your thought processes with a view toward improving them; therefore, the quality of your future depends mainly on the quality of your thinking," says Christian. "And the students really have to give me a clear and precise answer in this exercise without emotions and bias."
Again, in design, a logical process of questioning and answering is needed. For every element in a design, there must be a substantial reason to support its inclusion.
Creativity without strategies may still be art, but design requires creativity that is grounded in strategies.
Repetition makes perfect
Another problem the German lecturer has found with many Thai students is that they often think only once about a challenge. "That's not how a good design is conceived. To achieve a perfect outcome, you must repeat the two steps until you reach the best solution for your problem," he says.
Christian suggests that creative thinking and critical thinking are best perceived to be at opposite ends of a sliding scale in the design process.
"At the beginning, you mostly use your creativity, which is followed by a little critical thinking. When you repeat the process the second time, you use slightly less creativity and slight more analysis. With each subsequent approach to the design problem, your efforts gradually slide toward more and more critical analyses and less and less creativity until, voila, the best design solution is achieved.
Boost your innovative thinking skills It's genuinely a false idea to think that creativity belongs only to design classes. In every subject, the two thinking processes should be the vital parts of students' education. Christian emphasizes that children should be encouraged to be creative and have the right to freedom of expression.
The more ingenious they are, the more solutions to their problems they will be able to discover. Coupled with a critical mind, you have a strong foundation for democracy.
"To be creative and critical is a group effort," Christian says. Teachers must serve as good examples in using innovative and analytical thinking pedagogies.
As a challenge, Christian offers this unique approach to teaching a foreign language class to novices. First, move the students outside the classroom. Next, take the students to a place where only that foreign language is spoken and ask the students to try and communicate to the local people there.
Location and motivation are two important factors in education, and in this scenario, the teacher allows the students to experience first what it feels like to be unable to communicate. This results in a strong motivation to learn.
More importantly, the motivation enhances the teacher's relationship with the students and narrows the distance between instructor and students, which Christian believes is crucial to a good learning environment.
As for encouraging the students to think critically, Christian says he would simply ask the students what they would like to know and learn and, at the end of the class, ask them for feedback on his teaching. Christian asserts it's really important to allow the students to give him direct criticisms so that he can improve his own teaching for the classes that follow.
The ideal situation should be that the teacher and students are engaged in a constructive dialogue. They should support one another as they teach and learn together.
Thus, it all comes down to the teamwork between the teacher and his students, Christian says. He compares teaching and learning to playing football, with the teacher as the coach and the students acting as the players.
Everybody has to be included in the discussion. The teacher lets the students work as a team and reflect on his strategies. He shows them the way to success and lets them work toward it. It takes the entire team to win.
In design, a football team can often be used as an excellent metaphor. Individual strengths and the ability to be part of a collaborative unit are what make a good designer.
If it's a one-person show and the designer has no one but himself or herself to count on, he or she will often fail, Christian concludes.
Siriwat Pokrajen is host for the TV programme 'Art de Siam' on TOC (Thailand Outlook Channel). He is also a frequent contributor to the 'Space', 'Profile' and 'The Magazine' sections of the 'Bangkok Post'. Contact him at siriwat@thailandoutlook.tv .
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