Designing the future of urban living

You are a talented designer living an independent life, go to concerts, parties, perhaps starting to make concrete plans for your life and then you come across the Design it. Love it. Live it. BASF design competition. How do come up with ideas for the future base on today’s living?

 

It’s important to keep a balance of the ‘what and how’ when developing ideas for the competition, you need to know what you are looking for in order to come up with an inspiring design, but it’s also good to know how to create an atmosphere that supports trust in society with the design.

 

 

Here are some tips that can help you work on your ideas’ better. 

 

Single, family or Silver? Or someone else?

It is important to identify which target group your design solution is for. The ideas generated for a family are different for those that single as compared to those in the silver generation. Or, if you are targeting the youth, your ideas and concept will have to be something edgy yet useful. 

 

Spend time with your target group

Ideally, you should spend time with your target group. What you can uncover from them can be surprising and inspiring. Especially for a group that you cannot relate to.E.g. When you talk to parents or children, you will discover challenges that never really came across your mind. Apart from talking to them, you need to imagine and envision what it was like when you are a child and how that challenge was a huge issue to you. The key is to talk , observe and interact with them. 

 

Try to find out “why” behind those inspirations. 

While interacting with your target group, you will ultimately find out what the underlying motivation is to resolve those challenges. This is crucial as your ideas will serve as solutions to them. Start by making the interaction conversational and create a comforting atmosphere for them to open up to you. Ask open-ended questions that set their minds thinking such as “why is that important to you”, “why do you feel that way”, “what makes you say that”. This conversational approach can take you a long way in finding out people’s real needs and hopes.

 

 

Learn to listen and observe.

Many a times, one’s body language tend to expose how he/she is exactly thinking / feeling without them realising it. Safety, for example, is important to most parents and children taking care of their older folks, but many can have challenges in finding simple real life solutions to address this need in their everyday lives. Whereas for a young bachelor, convenience and simplicity might be the key to enhance his lifestyle. By examining how people act and behave, you might find out more than during a conversation, and this can lead to good design inspiration!

 

Innovation and functionality are both important factors that the jury panel look out for in your ideas. Before submitting, remember also to read the brief