INTRODUCTION TO DESIGN SYNECTICS

Based on Design Synectics by Nicholas Roukes

Synectics Definition The term Synectics is from the Greek word synectikos, which means “bringing forth together,” or “bringing different things into unified connection.” Synectics is about making connections. Visual analogies-http://coe.sdsu.edu/eet/articles/Visanal/start.htm Visual Analogies-A Creative Communication Option Visual Analogies http://graphicdesign.spokanefalls.edu/tutorials/process/visualanalogy/visanalogy.htm#top

Since creativity involves the changing of things into new structures, every creative thought or action draws on synectic thinking. Since creativity involves the coordination or building of things into new structures, every creative thought or action draws on synectic thinking. Any new idea builds on an old idea so Being creative is bringing different things together in a new way, which is synectic thinking

Synectic thinking is the process of discovering the links that unite seemingly disconnected elements. Synectic thinking is the process of discovering the links that unite seemingly disconnected elements. A man was walking through a field and got a burr caught in his sock. He looked at the burr under the microscope and noticed the plant had a hook that looped around the sock fibers. He combined the idea of the hook with a fiber it could capture and invented Velcro. That’s synectic thinking. Two disconnected ideas merge to become a new idea.

It is a way of mentally taking things apart and putting them together to furnish new insight for all types of problems. http://members.optusnet.com.au/charles57/Creative/Techniques/synectics.htm Another person looked at the way leaves fell together in a pile invented Pringles potato chips.

Synectics Definition Creative discovery comes from analogical and metaphorical thinking, the process of linking unlike subjects. You must create VISUAL analogies and metaphors.

Thinking to Connect Analogical thinking is a comparison between two things that are similar in some respects, often used to help explain something or make it easier to understand. Metaphorical thinking is when one thing is used or considered to represent another Analogy: A cat is like refrigerator in that they both can be white, have milk in the body and purr. Metaphor: Children are flowers that you watch bloom.

Thinking to Connect Metaphorical thinking is when one thing is used or considered to represent another. = or is like What could you use a bee to represent? What is a rose like? What do the song lyrics mean when they say: My love is like a red, red rose?

The Synectic Process Make something strange familiar… Create something new… Personal analogies-do you feel like a sponge, doormat? Do you see yourself as a lion, a mouse? Direct analogies-A school is like a salad…life is like an elevator. Conflicting analogies…War-creative and destructive. Talent is a blessing and a curse. Make something strange familiar… How could you do that? Create something new… Personal analogies-do you feel like a sponge, doormat? Do you see yourself as a lion, a mouse? Direct analogies-A school is like a salad…life is like an elevator. Conflicting analogies…War-creative and destructive. Talent is a blessing and a curse.

Metaphorical Thinking A metaphor is a soft thinking technique connecting two different universes of meaning. Examples: Food chain, flow of time, fiscal watchdog. The key to metaphorical thinking is similarity. The human mind tends to look for similarities. A road map is a model or metaphor of reality and useful for explaining things. The Dolby Sound system is like a sonic laundry. A metaphor is a soft thinking technique connecting two different universes of meaning. Examples: Food chain, flow of time, fiscal watchdog. The key to metaphorical thinking is similarity. The human mind tends to look for similarities. It’s like looking at the family picture and trying to see who has Grandma’s eyes or who has Daddy’s eyes. A road map is a model or metaphor of reality and useful for explaining things, the Dolby Sound system is like a sonic laundry.

Architect Buckminster Fuller summed up the essence of synectics when he said all things regardless of their dissimilarity can somehow be linked together, either in a physical, psychological or symbolic way. http://members.optusnet.com.au/charles57/Creative/Techniques/synectics Picture from http://www.grunch.net/synergetics/domes/ Bucky was the person most responsible for making Synergy a common term. Much of his work was about exploring and creating synergy. He found synergy to be a basic principle of all interactive systems. He developed a subject called Synergetics, a "Geometry of Thinking". Fuller is the inventor of the Geodesic dome, and was a pioneer in utilizing basic geometrical shapes in design.

The Synectic Attitude Synectics encourages the ability to live with complexity and apparent contradiction. Synectics stimulates creative thinking. Synectics mobilizes both sides of the brain, the right brain (the dreamer), and the left brain (the reasoner). Synectics provides a free-thinking state of consciousness . http://members.optusnet.com.au/charles57/Creative/Techniques/synectics.htm To develop a synectic attitude, you really need to let your mind wonder.

The Synectic Ways of Working Synectics is based on the fusion of opposites. Synectics is based on analogical thinking. Synectics is synergistic. Its action produces a result which is greater than the sum of its parts. http://members.optusnet.com.au/charles57/Creative/Techniques/synectics.htm

The Synectic Pinball Machine Synectic thinking is like a mental pinball game. Stimulus input bounced against the scoring bumpers (the Trigger Questions) is transformed. Ordinary perceptions are turned into extraordinary ones; the familiar or prosaic is made strange. Synectic play is the creative mind at work. http://members.optusnet.com.au/charles57/Creative/Techniques/synectics.htm To really get into synectic thinking you have to develop your playful side.

The Synectic Triggers Synectic Trigger mechanisms catalyze or create new thoughts, ideas and inventions. Synectic Theory is based on disruptive thinking. http://members.optusnet.com.au/charles57/Creative/Techniques/synectics.htm If you let your mind wonder through the synectic trigger mechanisms, new thoughts will be created.

The 23 Design Synectic Triggers Subtract Change Scale Prevaricate Repeat Substitute Analogize Combine Fragment Hybridize Add Isolate Metamorphose Transfer Distort Symbolize Empathize Disguise Mythologize Animate Contradict Fantasize Superimpose Parody Here are the 23 synectic triggers. Let’s imagine using several of them to trigger a new idea. For example: Lets think of a frog. Now in your mind, animate the frog, make him jump. Now change the frog’s scale and make him jump some more…what does this new size do for the frog. Is the frog still the same loveable little creature? That’s synectic thinking.

Take Creative Action! Ideas are not born in a vacuum. Use the 23 synectic triggers to transform your ideas into something new. The triggers are tools for transformational thinking and may lead you to some great discoveries. http://members.optusnet.com.au/charles57/Creative/Techniques/synectics.htm

Art Think: Ways of Working 1. Identify: Set the problem or task, identify the subject. 2. Analyze: Examine the subject; break it down, classify it. 3. Ideate: Think, fantasize, produce ideas. Generate options towards a creative solution. Relate, rearrange, reconstruct. What design synectic triggers can you use? 4. Select: Choose your best option. 5. Implement: Put your ideas into action. Realize it. Transform imagination and fantasy into tangible form. 6. Evaluate: Judge the result. Think about new options and possibilities that have emerged. Go back to step #1. This is a proposed way to use the synectic triggers to transform your thinking.

Your Assignment Draw a picture you can use to transform using the 23 synectic triggers. Be sure it is a complete drawing of an object. No heads, people or cartoons!

Synergy Buckminster Fuller was responsible for making synergy a common term. Synergy, like synectics, is the working together of two or more things, people, or organizations, especially when the result is greater than the sum of their individual effects or capabilities So a committee could create synergy which is a form of energy.

Creativity is the marvelous capacity to grasp mutually distinct realities and draw a spark from their juxtaposition. - Max Ernst Picture from http://www.eskimo.com/~recall/bleed/images/babymax.jpg Max Ernst – Dada artist You can see that Ernst has used the very familiar Eagle to lead you into his very unfamiliar world.