CO DESIGN
Overview
The ANU College of Computer Science and Engineering’s Reimagine Project is an interdisciplinary venture that seeks to lead the global reimagining of engineering and computing so that it is fit for the middle of the 21st century. The project's aim is to attract the very best and brightest from around the world to identify, articulate and solve problems – those who aspire to innovate and lead new approaches to the creation and use of technologies. The project is bringing these minds together through co design, as a way of engaging the community and incorporating diverse voices. As a design student, I worked on the Reimagine project to develop a creative way of communicating what good co design is, and its value to CECS, to a range of different industries and demographics.
Brief
Goals
Visually communicate the qualities/values of good co design
Highlight the importance of creativity and collaboration
Communicate in a way that many audiences can relate to
Build trust in the Reimagine project
Audience
ANU staff
ANU students
Academics
Industry professionals in Australia and international
Potential students, high school students, their parents etc.
Concepts
The three concepts presented to the Reimagine project:
Workshop icebreaker activity
Animation package
Public interactive installation
Due to the limitations of a university project, only concepts 1 and 2 were further developed, and the installation was presented to the client as an early concept.
1. Workshop Activity
Objective
The activity will be played at the beginning of codesign workshops as a quick icebreaker to introduce participants to one another, encourage collaboration and creative thinking, while demonstrating core elements of codesign.
Number of players
Unlimited (tables of 4 – 7)
Duration
10 minutes
The time limit on the activity is 5 minutes. Facilitators are encouraged to spend a few minutes afterward debriefing the participants and discussing the relevance of the activity to codesign.
Materials
Box of puzzle pieces or printed paper version
How to play
Participants are seated in groups of 4-7
Each person at the table has a different coloured tangram puzzle (see image)
The group is given seven minutes to create seven different pictures (e.g. house, duck, person) using their puzzle pieces
Each person must contribute one shape to each picture
Each picture must not use the same colour twice
Outcomes
The activity is straightforward, yet encourages people to think differently and creatively, with the pressure of working quickly under time constraints.
Encourage groups to collaborate and communicate effectively, setting the tone for the workshop.
Each person at the table must contribute one shape, and nobody contributes more than anyone else, demonstrating the non-hierarchical nature of codesign.
It demonstrates important aspects like diversity, collaboration, transformation.
The rules are short and comprehensive yet not too detailed that they can't be interpreted differently.
Like codesign, there are several ways to reach an outcome. There is freedom to create many solutions but within a set of parameters.
Reflection
Facilitators may encourage groups to walk around to view others’ pictures and ask questions to briefly reflect on the exercise. Prompt groups to talk about how they found the activity, what they liked or didn’t like, and discuss the relevant aspects of codesign that were explored.
2. Animation Package
These sketches and GIFs were designed to be displayed in Reimagine workshop slides, to help illustrate the fundamentals of co design and its relevance to the project; such as its iterative nature, non-linear thinking, collaboration and connection between different knowledge systems, multiple pathways and outcomes, divergent thinking, diversity of perspective, and more.
3. Interactive Installation
Reimagine seeks to grow its network of collaborators by engaging members of the community from a diverse range of industries. The Reimagine public installation will be an interactive projection in ANU’s Kambri precinct that engages the community, promotes the project and encourages collaboration between individuals, as well as serving as a data visualisation and collection tool.
The projection will appear as a large constellation of stars, representing the growing and ever-changing network of people. The call to action, “Join the constellation” will encourage passers-by or project participants to add themselves to the constellation, by inputting brief personal information which appears as a star in the projection. When someone ‘activates’ a star by entering their details, it will illuminate and connect to other stars.
Participants can use their hands to drag stars around on the wall and form different constellations. The constellation will continue to grow and transform as more people interact with the project. “Joining the constellation” will function as a wrap-up activity to close co design workshops, facilitating conversation and collaboration between individual professionals.
This engagement with the public shows important principles of co design which the Reimagine project is based upon; community, collaboration, pathfinding, network, transformation.
