INTRODUCTION TO DESIGN SYNECTICS

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INTRODUCTIONTO DESIGN SYNECTICS
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Based on Design Synectics byNicholas Roukes
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Synectics Definition

• The term Synectics is from the Greek word
  synectikos, which means bringing forth
  together, or bringing different things into
  unified connection.
• Synectics is about making connections.

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Since creativity involves the changing of things
into new structures, every creative thought or
action draws on synectic thinking.
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Synectic thinking is the process of discovering
the links that unite seemingly disconnected
elements.
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It is a way of mentally taking things apart and
putting them together to furnish new insight for
all types of problems.
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Synectics Definition

• Creative discovery comes from analogical and
  metaphorical thinking, the process of linking
  unlike subjects.
• You must create VISUAL analogies and metaphors.

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Thinking to Connect

• Analogical thinking is a comparison between two
  things that are similar in some respects, often
  used to help explain something or make it easier
  to understand.
• Metaphorical thinking is when one thing is used
  or considered to represent another

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Thinking to Connect

• Metaphorical thinking is when one thing is used
  or considered to represent another.

or is like
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The Synectic Process

• Make something strange familiar
• Create something new
• Personal analogies-do you feel like a sponge,
  doormat? Do you see yourself as a lion, a mouse?
• Direct analogies-A school is like a saladlife is
  like an elevator.
• Conflicting analogiesWar-creative and
  destructive. Talent is a blessing and a curse.

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Metaphorical Thinking

• A metaphor is a soft thinking technique
  connecting two different universes of meaning.
• Examples Food chain, flow of time, fiscal
  watchdog.
• The key to metaphorical thinking is similarity.
  The human mind tends to look for similarities.
• A road map is a model or metaphor of reality and
  useful for explaining things.
• The Dolby Sound system is like a sonic laundry.

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Architect Buckminster Fuller summed up the
essence of synectics when he said all things
regardless of their dissimilarity can somehow be
linked together, either in a physical,
psychological or symbolic way.
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The Synectic Attitude

• Synectics encourages the ability to live with
  complexity and apparent contradiction.
• Synectics stimulates creative thinking.
• Synectics mobilizes both sides of the brain, the
  right brain (the dreamer), and the left brain
  (the reasoner).
• Synectics provides a free-thinking state of
  consciousness .

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The Synectic Ways of Working

• Synectics is based on the fusion of opposites.
• Synectics is based on analogical thinking.
• Synectics is synergistic. Its action produces a
  result which is greater than the sum of its
  parts.

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The Synectic Pinball Machine

• Synectic thinking is like a mental pinball game.
  Stimulus input bounced against the scoring
  bumpers (the Trigger Questions) is transformed.
• Ordinary perceptions are turned into
  extraordinary ones the familiar or prosaic is
  made strange.
• Synectic play is the creative mind at work.

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The Synectic Triggers

• Synectic Trigger mechanisms catalyze or create
  new thoughts, ideas and inventions.
• Synectic Theory is based on disruptive thinking.

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The 23 Design Synectic Triggers
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Take Creative Action!

• Ideas are not born in a vacuum.
• Use the 23 synectic triggers to transform your
  ideas into something new.
• The triggers are tools for transformational
  thinking and may lead you to some great
  discoveries.

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Art Think Ways of Working
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Your Assignment

• Draw a picture you can use to transform using the
  23 synectic triggers. Be sure it is a complete
  drawing of an object. No heads, people or
  cartoons!

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Synergy

• Buckminster Fuller was responsible for making
  synergy a common term.
• Synergy, like synectics, is the working together
  of two or more things, people, or organizations,
  especially when the result is greater than the
  sum of their individual effects or capabilities

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Creativity is the marvelous capacity to grasp
mutually distinct realities and draw a spark from
their juxtaposition.- Max Ernst