Reading Assignment #5

Read Stage 3: Conceptualization 71-96

This chapter is about what proceeds when you have finally identified your design problem. Conceptualization is turning your ideas for solutions into reality. According to Aspelund, there are four things you have to do in order to make this happen: filling in the gaps, grounding your concept in a logical reality, presenting your concept to others, and being familiar with the innerworkings of your ideas so that details can be reworked without changing the core of the concept.

This is where brainstorming becomes key. Brainstorming is when you come up with a bunch of ideas without stopping to evalute or "judge" them. With the parts we all already have (our mental images), we can use brainstorming to fill in the gaps and details of our concepts. For me, this is an incredibly benefical exercise. It completely opens up my mind to ideas that I would have never otherwise considered because I was focusing only on one idea at a time. Aspelund gives gives suggestions for ways of brainstorming like concept maps. Concepts maps are diagrams that help to organize ideas relating to a topic or theme. This is a good way of letting you connect ideas without necessarily having to worry about the order.

Once you've brainstormed, you analyze and then are ready to present your now whole concept to others. Language, vocabulary and voice are very important in this matter as they can sway your audience one way or another. Aspelund gives pointers on the do's and dont's of presenting. Having done a presentation exercise myself, I find this information to be most helpful. As Aspelund stresses, the best thing you can do is be prepared and know everything about what you are presenting. Knowing all aspects of your project will allow the audience to better comprehend your concept.