Rapid Ideation Session Day 4: the Libra demon

I have brainstormed for the headlines component of this theme, now I have moved onto brainstorming the Libra demon image.

For this process, I opted for Alex Osborn’s brainstorming technique and I will also draw in elements of mind mapping. The reason I am combining these is that I need to be very open with my idea generation and I want it to be as free as possible at this stage. However, all of these ideas are going to be central to the original image and there will be a lot of overlap and connection between each of these ideas, so I will need to be able to visualise this.

While this ideation process needs to be as open as possible to allow for as many ideas to generate, I also need to ensure that I do not lose focus and that they do all relate, so that I can use them to establish a basis for a game idea and find a link between the ideas developed in this exercise and the ideas developed in the headline exercise.

I will need to make this process as visual as possible so that I can see how all the ideas connect, but also so that I can start considering styles and concepts for this project. I will therefore not use a tool as regimented as the MindView software I used to visualise the Pong/Breakout project, as this is better for visualising concepts once they have been worked out. I also don’t want to stick to traditional note taking as I often find it hard to pick out ideas or see how they relate in just text.

I have decided to experiment with a concept called Sketchnoting, which I was inspired to try out when I came across it being used on the Instagram profile of Kirsty Ho, an illustrator, designer and animator. Kirsty has used sketchnotes to document talks that she has attended as well as her travels, using Procreate on her iPad.

I was captivated by the flow of ideas within her sketchnotes and the balance between sketching and writing, as well as how they worked together. In several of her sketchnotes, Kirsty has used distinct colour schemes, which she has adapted to highlight different points and branches of research within her notes. She has taken this further in some of her sketchnotes and added animation to them to give them more life (Ho, K., 2021).

I carried out further research to further understand the benefits of taking sketchnotes over traditional note-taking (Jetpens.com. 2016). The method was pioneered by Mike Rhode, a designer who was struggling to capture the details of meetings and events with traditional note taking and decided to develop sketchnoting as a means of creating constraints for himself that he could take advantage and use to create more vibrant notes that better captured the depth and breadth of the concepts captured in his notes.

In my first attempt at sketchnoting, I decided to do it digitally, using Autodesk Sketchbook (Sketchbook Pro, 2019). I redrew the Libra Demon in my own style and then I started analysing each of the parts of the image and what they symbolise. Here is my first attempt.

When I was brainstorming, I also did further research into areas such as the Libra star sign and its various attributes, as well as what the scales symbolise in order to guide my brainstorming.

In hindsight, I should have just done this on paper as it would have been quicker and allowed for a more natural flow or alternatively invest in a tablet with a screen.

However, there are numerous ideas that I can draw from here such as the mask, the starsign Libra, its element which is air, Libra’s planet is venus, the scales symbolise justice. I found a got more ideas from the concept of Libra as opposed to the drawing of the demon itself.

The next stage of this will be to start combining ideas from this brainstorming with the sentences I concocted from the headline exercise. I will then weigh up the pros and cons of each idea.

References

Autodesk, Inc. 2021. Sketchbook Pro (2021). [Software]

Ho, K., n.d. Kirsty Ho (@kirstyho). [online] Instagram.com. Available at: <https://www.instagram.com/kirstyho/> [Accessed 18 February 2021].

Ho, K., 2021. Sketchnotes 2. [online] Kirstyho.co.uk. Available at: <https://kirstyho.co.uk/sketchnotes2> [Accessed 19 February 2021].

Jetpens.com. 2016. Sketchnotes: A Guide to Visual Note-Taking. [online] Available at: https://www.jetpens.com/blog/sketchnotes-a-guide-to-visual-note-taking/pt/892 [Accessed 18 February 2021].