New Engineering Design Processes through Constructs of Humour

This project aims to reinvigorate early phase concept design by developing new creative engineering design processes through constructs of humour.

Humour is a human faculty and a capacity for its generation and appreciation is detectable in most people. Humour therefore plays an inherent, often positive and unconsciously strategic, role in organisational culture, team dynamics, management and creativity. In humour and organisational studies there is significant support for the deliberate leveraging of positive humour cognitive mechanisms to further enhance creative and social processes.

Creative processes are critical to innovation through engineering design, particularly during early conceptual process phases. When engineering designers and teams engage in idea generation and other creative tasks, a lack of openness to others, engagement with the problem and willingness to take risks can inhibit the quality and volume of concepts produced. 'Brainstorming' is a group problem solving technique that can be applied to nearly any open-ended task. It has become a shorthand for any solution focused group discussion and in many cases does not take place in the open-minded, inventive, fluid atmosphere that is necessary for it to be effective. While other techniques such as morphological charts, TRIZ and the gallery method exist, they are similarly impaired by a lack of participant engagement.

A dominant theory of humour is that it is a process involving the set-up and resolution of 'incongruities'; the recipient feels emotions of surprise and satisfaction resulting in laughter. For engineering design, incongruous humour is a powerful analogy for creative design process explaining how novel, unexpected but appropriate solutions are recognised. One study suggests that a group of experienced comedians were more effective in product design idea generation than trained designers. However, the precise reasons for this are not fully understood, corresponding results have not been sought within real situated design processes, technical or otherwise, and there has been no formal attempt to package humour based processes for effective use in design practice.

Using prominent arguments in the literature in relation to incongruity, relief and superiority in humour, we have conducted a preliminary study that established the feasibility of incorporating stimuli to enhance concept design sessions Based on this, we have identified three exploratory themes based on aspects of humour with potential for further integration with creative design methods:
1. Humour to facilitate collaboration. Laughter can help free us from the shackles of day-to-day analytic thinking. This theme will explore the use of humorous material and comedy to generate group cohesion and structure sessions to achieve a positive, non-critical attitude towards the task in hand.
2. Humour to encourage immersion. Creative thinking benefits from a level of absorption or 'flow' discussed by and others to achieve depths of empathy and insight. This theme will explore the use of improvisational routines ('Yes, and...') and comedic exercises to increase the level of engagement by the group.
3. Humour to diversify the solution space. Incongruity, or the juxtaposition of dissimilar ideas, is fundamental to many jocular structures. This theme will explore the use of the properties of incongruity to encourage the group to strive for unusual ideas through the use of humorous narratives and unexpected perspectives.

This project will allow further integration of aspects of humour to enhance engagement, structure and novelty in idea generation; to assess effectiveness through a series of workshops; and to present enhanced guidelines as a basis for new methods and tools to enhance innovative working practices. This would represent a significant step forward in the academic fields of creativity, innovation and design methods.

The project's results will deliver impact to engineering organisations / designers, project participants, cross-disciplinary creatives, academic researchers and design education in the following ways:

Engineering Organisations - The output guidelines will be digitally enhanced with examples of implementation and case study through video, web and other digital media. Elements of this work will be made freely available through creative commons licensing to create further engagement and contribution. It is also anticipated that valuable facilitation experience and knowledge will be developed through the project and that training and intervention programmes will be developed through the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) mechanisms of DMEM and the University of Strathclyde. The project is focusing on engineering design, where the project idea was initiated, however, it is envisioned that there will be significant transferability of the project outputs to other creative processes of design and innovative business.

Engineering Designers - The project will result in improved creative performance during the conceptual phase of engineering design processes. This will be achieved by developing approaches based on humour mechanisms broadening the solution space, through positively affecting team engagement and sustaining engineering designers engagement with complex problems. Designers will have access to the output guidelines and be able to consider humour processes as part of their personal development planning.

Participant Companies - The interventions in phase 3 of the project aim to change engineering design processes for improved creativity and ultimately innovation. The interventions will be designed and evaluated with the express intention of embedding sustainable improvements in engineering design creativity for the participant organisations.

Cross-disciplinary creatives - Humour may be most effectively integrated into organisational practice through intervention and training programmes. This provides new cross-discipline avenues for creative professionals where their creative and performative experiences are highly valued. The project has potential to define new roles for humourists within engineering business. Collaborating organisation "To be Continued..." are already using improvisation as a basis for corporate team building workshops, but the project will provide a new and specific disciplinary experience and focus for them to enhance their future potential.

Academic Research - The project aims and outcomes are well aligned with 'Design Creativity' and the associated International Journal of Design Creativity. The project deliberately integrates humour creation processes as the basis for design process; there is potential for creative design processes to be resultantly affected, altered or for new processes to be realised. Project outputs will also be selectively prepared for publication in other prominent journals, such Design Studies, Journal of Engineering Design and Research in Engineering Design.

Education - Design process and methods are central to design led engineering education. The enhanced guidelines are anticipated as an effective means to engaging students in creative design methods at a number of levels: in introductory design process modules; more formally exploration in mid-course Design Methods teaching and; pragmatically as part of design projects. Early dissemination of results will be through the International Engineering and Product Design Education Conference.