Material Experience Research

Abstract

Creativity is often associated with free expression, dynamic innovation, originality, and insightful, unconstrained genius. Nowhere is this more so than in the practice of design. The embodiment of this myth is the genius designer, from whom creative ideas spring forth naturally, effortlessly. A companion myth within the world of interface and interaction design is that design and user experience experimentation are not allies in creativity; rather, user experience research is in service of creativity, laying the foundations for design inspiration by identifying gaps and needs, or providing summative evaluations of designs.To the first myth, constraints are part of the creative process; creativity is enacted and accomplished in design practice through the judicious application and relaxation of understood and discovered constraints. Constraints help you ask better questions, not simply drive for solutions. Good examples are design systems and frameworks that codify carefully thought-out, and frequently observed constraints; they operate to inform, to codify best practices and principles for design, and to offer useful boundaries that provoke design exploration. To the second, experimentation is a creative act in itself; systematic experimentation can and should be intimately woven into iterative design processes. Experimentation allows options to be tested and explored. Experimentation enables thoughtful exploration of permutation.In this talk I will share stories of collaboration between my team, Material Experience Research, and the designers and developers of Material Design. I will talk about tools for creatives, and the ways in which such tools can enhance rather than constrain and restrict creative exploration. I will discuss research we have been conducting on how good design and user experience principles, codified within design frameworks and systems, spark creativity through provisional constraint.