Utilizing Collaboration to Develop New Design Solutions
Working in a group setting and collaborating with others can be a great way to generate new ideas that each member may have not come up with individually. Especially if that group is diversified and the contributing members come from a wide array of backgrounds.
I’ve worked in professional settings where collaboration was key to solving problems and now with being in graduate school, I’ve been exposed to many situations where collaboration has been a necessary component to finding a creative design solution. Working as a graphic designer (and now a web designer) I’ve been lucky enough to have the experience of working with all kinds of professionals. Art directors, account executives, copywriters, development gurus, production specialists, CEOs and even the dreaded “client”. This even rings true in our graduate program, where all of us have come from very diverse background and all bring something new to the table. All of these experiences of collaborating with a diverse group of people has taught me the art of compromise and patience. Working with others (especially those with a different way of problem solving and thinking) can be a frustrating task at time, but so far I’ve found that the end the result is usually work the extra effort it takes. Through collaboration I’ve been able to come up with some great design solutions that I may not have been able to come to on my own without outside influence, inspiration and input.
I found this great article about the “art” of collaboration and some keys to successfully reaching your collaborative goal.
This site lists the key elements of collaboration as:
Motivation- Everyone in the group needs to feel like they are gaining something from the collaboration and that they are working towards a valuable end result.
Communication- Understanding the project completely and knowing what you are working towards is a huge part of the process.
Diversity- Working with a diverse group of people that all bring something different to finding a solution.
Sharing- Knowing that the outcome of this collaboration is a shared and flexible ownership of ideas.
Support- Working together as a team to accomplish your goal.
Problem Solving- Working together to come up with solutions and being able to go with the flow and develop new solutions when necessary.
This article also goes into different ways of working within a group and is definitely worth a once over. Check it out!
Overall collaboration can be a great tool for finding “out of the box” solutions to design problems. Working with a diverse group is a great way to open yourself up to new ideas an approaches.
