Think Lab | All Activities
- Sehaj Singh
- Sep 1, 2020
- 17 min read
Updated: Nov 27, 2020
Activity 1: Preception
On 20th August we were having our first class think lab with Hemanshi Ma'am and Pranay Sir. It was a very fantastic class to learn. This class completely changes the mindset.
This activity started with the introduction of design and its important elements. They are:-
Innovation
Creativity
Aesthetic
Thoughts
Thinking
Imagination
Perception
Creativity - It is the ability of a person with which he/she creates a new idea or thing which is never seen.
Perception - It is the way a person see things and understand them. It might vary from person to person.
To understand the perception there is a start-up activity in which we need to Describe the given shape in as many different ways as we can see.
By looking at the figure and through group discussion I can describe it in 20 ways:-
House
Inverted flower pattern
Happy meal box
Dog House
Envelope
Pocket Square
Sign Board
Elf Hat
Letter Box
Crown
Cloth Tags
Pencil Nip
Tie End
Banner
Milestone
Part of a fence
Church front
Sum of 3 triangles
Sum of 6 right triangles
Sum of 2 trapezium
After this example, we were given a warm-up activity to practice more and divided every student into a group of 4. This activity is to give more practice and learning of perception to perform the main activity.
Warm Up Activity
Observe the shape assigned to my group as many different ways as possible.
I and my group observed 15 possible things.
Main Activity
Represent / Create the assigned shape in 10 - 20 different ways.
I and my group represented this shape in 26 ways.
This is what I made -
Reflection Of The Activity 1
Group's Achievements
Good concepts and interpretations.
Good list of items.
Group's Struggles
Lost Geometry.
The pictures were less.
Time Management.
The pdf was not good.
Group's Functioning
There were very good collaboration and discussions.
More focused on work.
Spend more time on discussions about the object and lacked in representing.
What Could You Have Done Differently
I should not forget about basic geometry in shapes.
Spend more time on drawing.
Best Work Of The Day
According to me, Group 1 of Section, A1 did the best that day. They observed a lot of things that I not even heard and thought of it. I also liked their drawings.
Learning Mantra
Talk Less Do More
Activity 2: Scale And Context
On 27th August we have our second day of think lab. Our day is started with the introduction of scale and context. They told the meaning of scale and context through an example of a traffic cone which is mainly used to control traffic control and diversions. But they show us a new way of using that cone by increasing its size and use it as a seat and tourist attraction. Similarly by decreasing its size and use it as earrings.
Scale - It refers to the size of an object.
Context - It shows the usage of the object according to its scale.
Then we are divided into groups of 4-5 students and the day was continued with the warmup activity. And my group members are - Me, Suditi Malhotra, Piyush, Simarjeet, Soham Das
Warm Up Activity
In this activity, every group was given a stationery item and everyone had to draw 10 rapid sketches of the given object from different angles in 20 minutes. And also to observe its form and its characteristics. We got Stapler to draw.
This What I made -
This is what I and my group did -
After this activity, we were introduced to our main activity.
Main Activity
In this activity we were told to manipulate our perception of the stapler by re-scaling / enlarging the form, playing with its angle/orientation, changing its material, and imagining new contexts for the form.
So in this activity, I decided to make:-
1. Tent 2. Slide
By using the opening and closing feature By looking very closely it looked like slide to it can be used as a tent. My idea was great but So I decided to make it and used its
I was not able to show it through drawing. middle part as support and one part as
There is also a shelter from above. I made a stairs and the last part as the slide. But it bench which helped in giving big scale. become very steep during drawing.
And this is what my whole group made -
Reflection Of The Activity 2
Group's Achievements
We all completed the work on time.
Most of our ideas were great.
We all had a great discussion before drawing.
Group's Struggles
We missed adding the background to our pictures to justify the scale of the ideas.
It took us a lot of time to think something to make with the stapler.
My Achievements
I completed the drawing part on time as compared to the last time.
Both ideas were good.
My Struggles/ Challenges
I could not draw correctly on paper what I was thinking at that time, due to my bad drawing.
I didn't draw the smaller background things to justify the scale and also changed the context in the tent part. I also forgot the common thing that I made the slide very steep.
I also didn't think about which material I should use to make that particular thing.
My Action Plan / Prescription For Future
I would try my best to improve my drawing and take suggestions from my friends.
I will try my best to remember every point we need to show in our drawings.
Best Work Of The Day
I liked the work of Khushi Ahuja of Section A1 Group 1. I liked the ideas and how she had used a pen to something unexpected. I am very impressed. But she didn't colour the pictures otherwise it would look better.
Learning Mantra
Before working on something we should know it perfectly.
Activity 3: Stakeholders Mapping
On 3rd September we have our 3rd class of think lab. We learned a new type of thing which I never heard of and is very important to learn.
The class was started with an activity in which teachers showed us a scene of two children selling towels on road. After that, they asked the main characters in the picture. Then they asked who all are not visible in the picture but are in the scene. And in last they asked who all are affected in this scene. By this activity, we were introduced to the new term stakeholder and stakeholder mapping.
Stake Holder - It is a person, group, or an organisation that is both directly and indirectly affected by a particular situation or an event.
Stakeholders Mapping - Showing all the stakeholders of the event in form of the visual organiser (in form of concentric circles) so that reader can quickly understand them (according to the levels).
After that one more example was given to make us more clear.
Finally, the class is divided into a group of 4-5 students and we were introduced to our warm-up activity. And my group members are - Me, Soudeep Poul, Simarjeet, Harshul Grover, Surbhi Jain
Warm Up Activity
Understanding the situation in the given picture
• Who all are the "stake-holders" in this situation - who are the people/ agencies who can have a viewpoint about this situation? Make an exhaustive list
• Plot the stake-holders in a concentric circle or any other format, depending on their relevance.
This is what I and my group did -
This Our Stakeholders Mapping -
And now comes 2nd part of the day, the main activity.
Main Activity
Discuss and identity interesting, relevant, and connected perspectives/viewpoints.
Select at least 6-8 perspectives for the final presentation.
Present these perspectives on the A5 size sheet.
Display your work on the board and walk around to see other people's work.
This What I made -
This what my group did -
Reflection Of The Activity 3
Group's Achievements
We all completed the work on time.
Our presentation was very good.
We corrected our mistakes in the activity.
Group's Struggles
We lacked a good amount of discussion.
Our drawings were very bad and simple.
We repeated the same type of thinkings.
My Achievements
I tried my best to improve my drawings
I tried to take the lead for my team.
My Struggles
I have again struggled with my drawing and especially the colouring part.
My thinking also got repeated but changed it afterwards.
My Action Plans
I will try my best to have a good amount of discussion in my group.
I will improve my drawing more and more.
Best Work Of The Day
According to me Group 4 of Section A1 did the best drawings and had good discussions among themselves and Nivrathi Akshaya made the best drawing in this group and also their mapping has many details. In this group, I would only suggest Nanki Singh improve the drawing.
Learning Mantra
Discussions are very important.
Activity 4: Expressive Typography
On 10th September we had the 4th class of our think lab. That day we experienced a new type of thinking activity. In this activity, we are not allowed to use any colour. We were allowed to use only those drawing instruments which have black ink/colour. This was a very exciting activity. Then our day started with a long introduction.
In the introduction, we were asked What is Typography. And then teachers taught us the definition.
Typography - The process of writing the letters or text in such a way that it is clearly readable.
Expressive Typography - Writing the letters of the word in such a way that it explains the meaning of that word by changing their font or size in any form.
The word balancing is shown with certain examples (to show exactly what is typography). They are -
Then finally we were introduced to our Warm-Up activity. We were divided into groups of four. And My Group members are - Me, Nandini Sharma, Sneha Arora, Muskan Singhal.
Warm Up Activity
In this activity, we need to virtually express the meaning of the words through the creative arrangement of letterforms.
Experimenting with typesetting parameters can be tried out: Changes in Orientation, Size, Position, Style, Weight, Width, Space, Grey values, etc.
For this, our group got words, i.e., Threatening and Frustration
This What My Group Did -
I got the word frustration and in the first one, I made the frustration, showing a person with big S and T with his hands on the head shown with the rest of the letters. And in the second photo, I made the frustration word with frustration and wrote letters randomly on the area.
After that, we were introduced to our main activity which is also very interesting.
Main Activity - Typographic Narrative
Then we were shown this activity through some examples. They are -
Brief
Create a "Typographic Narrative" on 6x6 inches sheet.
You will have to choose a short 2-3 line narrative - story, song-poem, essay with a dominant theme.
Express the theme/tone/level of the narrative visually compliments each other.
Each student work on one narrative.
In this activity, I made this -
For this activity, I chose the Theme - Autumn Rain in which I wrote the above poem in the form of scenery and depicted Trees with falling leaves, thundering clouds, and the beautiful rainfall.
And this what my teammates did -
Reflection Of The Activity 4
Group's Achievements
We discussed everything properly.
We completed everything on time.
Many of our ideas were fantastic.
Group's Struggles
We did not make the main activity on illustrator which made our drawings look shabby.
My Level Of Satisfaction
I was first not much satisfied with my ideas. They were looking very simple.
In the main activity first I made my drawing on paper due to which it becomes difficult to understand.
But when I did it on Illustrator its looking neat and easily understandable.
This makes me much satisfied.
I could improve my drawing and my ideas in the warm-up activity.
Best Work Of The Day
I liked the work of Harshil Arora. He made the theme Loud and according to its picture, it's looking very loud.
Learning Mantra
Group's Learning Mantra - Happy Team Leads To Happy Work
My leaning Mantra - Always do neat and clean work
Activity - 5: Challenging Assumptions
On 18th September we had our 5th day of think lab. This was a very fun and relaxing activity and in this activity, we felt like working for a company. This activity made the mouth fully watery throughout the day by thinking of the food items.
Then the day started with the discussion on assumptions about tea. Then we discussed the assumptions about Dosa. Then teachers told the challenges of Dosa and how they are overcome.
Assumptions - Thinking about something and believing it to be true even if it's wrong.
Challenges - Something which is difficult to be solved and needs a lot of thinking to prove the assumptions are true.
Then the day continued without warm-up activity and directly with the main activity and we were divided into the group of 4 and my group members are - Me, Prachi Pahuja, Surbhi Jain and Somanya Nasa
Main Activity
Activity Brief
To propose a creative/innovative experience of eating a given popular food item. Create a promotional material to communicate your concept.
Deliverables from each group:
Assumptions of your given food item.
The assumption that you are challenging.
Promotional Poster (can be digital or hand-drawn). It will include the proposed brand name, tagline, the image of the new proposed food experience.
3D Model (paper) of the proposed food.
My group got the food item - Custard and the assumptions, poster and the 3D model we made is shown below -
In this activity, I made the box in which we will deliver these custard cubes.
Reflection Of The Activity 5
Experience of planning and going through a process.
By scheduling our timings before work helped our group to complete our work on time but it also affected the rate of thinking. It was taking a lot of time to decide what to do and we also extended our time to get the faculty feedback. When we were discussing our ideas, the idea we selected was great but while making the 3D model our implementation changed, i.e., we decided to make custard cubes but while making we forgot to make cubes but made the unfinished products in form of cuboids which need to be cut in cubes.
Changes from last activities
The changes which I achieved is that I was able to give more ideas and even in this activity everyone liked my suggestion and with other improvements, we did it that only. I was still struggling with the creative and explaining part. My idea was great visually but not able to show to physically. I still need to work on these aspects,
Group's Achievements
My group completed the work on time.
We had a good amount of discussion.
Our idea was good.
Group's Struggles
In our poster, we highlighted our product instead of the company name.
In the 3D model also we need to make custard cubes but we made cuboids.
Best Work Of The Day
I liked the work of Group 5 of section A2. I like the way they presented their work and their idea was also great and we could see much coordination within the group.
Learning Mantra
Solo work may give better results but teamwork gives us the best.
Activity 6: New Possibilities
On 1st October I had our 6th day of the think lab. In this activity, I learned what really new means in design and got into the world of fantasies. It was a great activity and made everyone lost into those fantasies.
The activity started with a brief of the main activity directly. By the brief, I get to know many important terms, i.e.,
New - Something that is already existing but never seen and discovered recently or just now for the first time.
Possibilities - Something that might happen or occur.
Fantasy - The activity of imagining impossible or improbable things.
Then everybody is divided into the groups of four and my group members were Me, Nanki Singh, Akshaya Nivarthi, Mehak Soneja and Lavanya Jain
Main Activity
Activity Brief
You will work collaboratively in a group of 4-5.
Make a plan for executing the task with time-lines & task allocation.
Your task is to present all possible changes to products/objects/services/environment that may occur as a result of a fantasy situation assigned to your group
You must consider the socio-cultural-economic impact of the given situation.
Think of a creative format for presenting the "new possibilities
You must also present the process of arriving at the outcomes.
In this activity, we got the topic If Humans Had Wings. And we showed this with the help of a model of a girl with wings to show how they gonna look. Then in the next slide, we had shown the evolution of the wings from infant to old, then we showed the houses in heights and with large balconies and big door and windows. Then we showed how feathers gonna fall after the age of 50 and the healthy products, especially for wings. Then we also showed the traffic control system for flying, like speed limit, etc. then we also showed the training schools for flying and to learn stunts during flight. Then we also showed the change in the fashion department like making tattoos on wings, changing colours and separate saloons for the wing and also the change in the clothing and the protectors for the wings.
This Is What I And My Group Did -
Reflection Of The Activity 6
Making Connections
The activities, Stakeholders Mapping and Challenging Assumptions of the Think Lab helped me in thinking skills.
The Digital Skill Classes helped me in giving finishing to the drawings by working on the software.
The Daily Drawings which I did help in figuring how to make the drawing.
Group's Working Process
The struggle as an individual that I found that in my group was that we going a little off track from the topic in the starting but later by the suggestions of the faculty my other group members also figured that.
Even after many ideas, we were still having a lot of ideas to show written with us but we couldn't show/draw continuously in one go and got tired
Working in a group leads to more and more ideas than thinking individuals. One person can think about very few topics but in a group, we do a lot and can improve or add on some new ideas along with the one's suggestion.
Do's for working in a group
Help each other with their ideas
Try to take a lead for your group
Always maintain time management
Always do a good amount of discussions.
Don'ts for working in a group
Never be quiet and late.
Never get suppressed within the group by anyone's leadership and always try to keep your points also.
Learning Mantra
Always try to keep your points never get suppressed under anyone's leadership and say them if they are wrong.
Activity 7: Thinking Tools - Part 1
On 8th October I had my 7th day of the think lab and it was a very informative activity. The activity started with the introduction to the designing tools.
Thinking Tools - The techniques which help us in simplifying the process of thinking of a design.
Attributes - The features/characteristics/qualities which define that particular object when we note it.
There are many designing tools in the world of design but that day we learned only 2 types of them.
1. Slice and Dice
Break down a task (problem) into smaller tasks. Every task is like a house with many rooms. Solving the problem is like renovating the whole house. It is more productive to look at one room at a time instead of the whole house.
Warm Up Activity
In this activity, we were told to list the attributes of the pencil. And my whole section took part in this task and we all did this -
Then we were divided into the groups of 4 but we did everything individually and started with the main activity.
Main Activity
The main activity started with the brief of the 2nd tool i.e., Idea Box and Crossbreeding and this brief were done in the groups as the peer learning.
Each member of the group will read the Thinking Tools She / He will discuss the tools with the rest of the group
• Work out a small poster to explain all the concepts. Sketch to communicate your new idea.
• Apply the tools on "stationery items and Share examples
In a group, explain the concept of the thinking tool to the larger audience.
Idea Box - It is a way of automatically combining the parameters of a challenge into new ideas (parameter here means characteristic, factor, variable, or aspect).
Crossbreeding - It is a process of producing a new design by mixing two different things/designs/ideas like crossbreeding of a key with a flower.
So for this activity, I chose the Fevicol and did this -
Reflection Of The Activity 7
My achievements
My ideas were great.
I successfully represented my work.
I completed my work on time.
My Struggles
I missed the main part of the idea box.
The crossbreeding drawing feels more like an aeroplane, not a new design.
Learning Mantra
Peer Learning is the best way to learn things.
Activity 8: Thinking Tools - Part 2
On 15th October we had our 8th day of the think lab. That day we got to know 2 new thinking tools and they helped in thinking about the objects very differently. The activity started with a very long introduction to the tools.
The first tool is the Circle of Opportunity
The circle of opportunity tool helps un in making the unusual combinations by selecting two attributes from the 12 common attributes of an object in which we need to make changes in design. In this wheel, we make a clock type structure with its 12 numbers and with 12 common attributes of the object. Then we take 2 dice and first we roll one dice and get a number under 6 and then roll both the dices and this gives number above and by this, we get two numbers, i.e. two selected attributes. The attributes we get, we need to fuse them by thinking of the free associations.
The second tool is Scamper
With this tool, we find all the answers to these questions below.
After that, we all were separated into the groups but worked individually for our own ideas. We also didn't have the warm-up activity and directly started with the main activity. My group members were - Me, Rubin Stephen, Harshita Sood, Harmeet Kaur and Adrisha Shukla but she was absent.
Main Activity
We need to select any item and then -
1 Apply Scamper
2. Apply Circle of Opportunity
This is what I made -
This is what my group members did -
Reflection Of The Activity 8
My Achievements
I am now able to create the visuals.
The drawing I made for the R of the scamper it seems wrong but I randomly thought That what if its legs are attached to the walls. So I can get new ideas from this type of weird thinkings.
I completed all the work on time.
My Struggles
It took me a lot of time to actually make the drawing the chair part and mainly editing it for the new ideas and due to which I couldn't properly even make the humans and the detailings and the P part, it took me a lot of time to actually figure out how to draw it.
Then another big struggle is thinking for the results I found in the circle of opportunity.
Learning Mantra
Always try to make the drawing on the digital platforms it will definitely improve the quality of the drawing.
Activity 9: Six Thinking Hats
On 22nd October we had our 8th day of the Thinking Lab. That day we got to know a vast thinking tool which big designers also use. This thinking tool is 'Six Thinking Hats'. In this tool, we apply 6 different coloured hats on the object we need to design.
Six Thinking Hats - The 6 hats are Red, White, Yellow, Green, Blue, Black and each hat has its own responsibility and they all together help in doing one thing at a time, not to confuse in taking decisions.
After this small brief, everyone was divided into the groups of 6 students and my group members were - Me, Harshil Arora, Sanya Jain, Muskaan Singhal, Shreya Sharma, Somanya Nasa.
Then, we had the peer learning on the six thinking hats by reading information through Google and explained to each other for which got the Blue Thinking Hat to explain and for that we made the poster as follows and then teachers explained it more deeply.
Main Activity
Activity Brief
• Each group to select one of the boxes from the given choices.
• Apply all 6 thinking hats to the given situation/object.
• Read and discuss your finding with the tutor.
• Work on a poster and share the details with the larger group.
From the boxes, we got the word Uber and we divided the role of the hats within everyone as -
Me - Blue Hat
Harshil - Yellow Hat
Muskaan - Green Hat
Sanya - Red Hat
Shreya - White Hat
Somanya - Black Hat
Then we made the overall poster like this -
Reflection Of The Activity 9
Group's Achievements
We had a successful peer learning and also explained the blue hat to other groups very well.
Our presentation was very good as compared to the last projects
Everyone listed to the brief clearly and did the task correctly.
Group's Struggles
In between the main activity, we got confused on how to use the hats and Sir helped us later.
We got confused with the chronology of using hats and got to know that there is no sequence.
We lacked some information in the blue hat.
Learning Mantra
Presentation always matters, a good presentation always attracts the views and many times they like the project more only due to this.
Activity - 9: Illustrated Gallary
Activity - 11: Final Reflection of the Think Lab
Think Lab Activity started with full of energy and enthusiasm. All of the activities of the think lab helped me improved my thinking power and got to know the various tricks to discover new ideas. The first activity was the perception, a new word to my dictionary which is the most used word in the design world that means the way we see and understand. Then we understand the scale and context which is another factor that matters a lot because it determines the dimensions of our idea. Then we learned about the stakeholder mapping which helps in taking the survey for the projects and aspects we need to keep in mind. Then we learned about the expressive typography which helped in making creative headings and writing themed stories or poems. Then we learned about the challenging assumptions in which we learned how to make promotional and that time it really felt that work for our own company. Then we learned about the new possibilities and learned about the fantasy world and the changes in the design world by that evolution this lead to the introduction to make new. Then we learned the thinking tools which are the thinking solutions, they are - slice and dice, idea box, cross-breeding, the circle of opportunity, scamper and six thinking hats. These all helped in making unusual combinations of two attributes of either the same or different objects and these combinations give ideas for the innovations. The six thinking hat is the best thinking tool and even big designers still use it. These things will help in future while designing the interiors.
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