Workshop: Design ideation through humour

Brainstorming is one of the most common design creativity methods, yet it has been criticized for failing to change perspectives of the design problem (McFadzean, 1998). Also, although brainstorming rules prohibit judgement and criticism whilst encouraging ‘wild ideas’, the rules are often neglected in practice (Matthews, 2009).

Humour has long been associated with creativity. Studies have found that comedians, and those who perform well in ‘sense of humour’ testing are highly creative individuals with a skill forfinding surprising connections between seemingly unrelated ideas(Kudrowitz and Wallace, 2010; Humke and Schaefer, 1996). A humorous atmosphere can also improve creativity and problem- solving by reducing inhibitions and enhancing freedom of expression (Ziv, 1976; Isen et al., 1987). There are also analogies to be made between the processes of creating humour and engineeringdesign. These findings present an opportunity to reinvigorate theearly phase of the design process, when divergent, creative thinking is most valued.

This EPSRC and AHRC funded research explores the link between humour and design creativity through the development of new ideation methods that integrate the structure and principles of humour creation processes (such as comedy improvisation) into ideation processes to solve complex engineering problems from new and surprising perspectives.