Ideation: Workshop

The starting point for the ideation workshop was a morning walk through the city. We looked for places where a solar module could be installed and photographed those. We then printed out the photos and used them to develop stereotypical personas in order to gain a clearer understanding of potential target groups. Each photo served as a basis for the question of who might live in that location. For each persona, we created a short description, a sketch, and information about their living situation.
We then collected terms relating to potential features of balcony power plants that do not yet exist. The focus was less on technical feasibility and more on free, visionary thinking. Terms such as inflatable, decorative, transportable, and stackable emerged. In the next step, we combined materials and technologies that could work together, such as forged sheet metal, welded profiles, and woven textiles. This resulted in three levels on the wall: the personas, the wishful thinking, and the material and technology combinations. These elements were then randomly combined and supplemented with postures from the lectures. Working in pairs, we translated the combinations into drawings during short, intensive work phases. We had only ten minutes for each of the three combinations to develop as many spontaneous ideas as possible. The aim was to enable new approaches to thinking through unusual combinations. The next day, we presented the resulting designs to the group. Each person then chose a design, stuck it onto a prepared A1 sheet of paper, and wrote a short story about it in eight minutes. We then took turns adding to each other‘s stories and finished by creating a suitable sketch. The workshop ended with a joint discussion about the diverse results and creative approaches that had emerged during the process.