Design Transformations

My friend (and recent DGP graduate) Gerry Chu has started a cool blog on interaction design called Design Transformations. It looks at how existing designs can be transformed into new ideas by applying certain “design transformations.” For example, his first post is about how a mouse is just a trackball turned upside down. Eventually, the goal is to come up with a kind of cookbook of transformations that designers can use for brainstorming.

The concept reminds me a bit of Roger von Oech’s Creative Whack Pack, which I got at a Christmas gift exchange a few years ago. It’s a set of 64 cards, each one with a different “creativity strategy.” Some examples: “Try a Random Idea”, “Imagine How Others Would Do It”, and “Slay a Sacred Cow.” It may sound a bit cheesy, but they’re actually pretty useful. See also Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategies.

(Photo by tanakawho)