"Learning to See" like a designer

I'm continually pleased as I watch the development of the Cornell class, Creative Design for Affordability, from afar.  I wanted to share some information and photos from the first assignment for the class:  "Learning to See".  

In a nutshell, the recent assignment was designed to encourage students to look at objects around them in a different way.  The end goal:  to provide 26 photos of "found" (i.e. not adjusted or moved in any way) items, each representing a letter of the alphabet.

The students recently displayed their work in a common area.  I just love how these assignments -- and the ones we completed last year -- each subtly change the culture of the business school.

Aside from the obvious culture change around the business school, I'm just amazed by the new language of creativity students are learning.  Here is an excerpt from the assignment (bolded letters are from the assignment):

“Learning to See”

Creative Problem-solving is a process that begins with vision and ends with reason. Creative vision searches beyond the obvious, beyond the surface of common existence to discover hidden potential - in people, materials, objects and strategy. Only after potentials are clearly revealed, can reason effectively examine and discern appropriate courses of action.

When we were children, a twisted branch became a dragon, a set of keys became a musical toy, a chair became a fort. The world and all the things in it held infinite potential. As adults we have lost out ability to think flexibly and explore. This exercise is about retraining ourselves to see things as they might be- as we did as children - rather than to categorize them prematurely as we have been taught. An adult might see only clouds, but a child sees dreams coming alive. Only with eyes that can see the potential in ordinary things and experiences, can a person be truly innovative.

In order to improve your creative abilities, you need to practice “seeing possibilities.” This project was “designed” to force a reflective process and evolve awareness over time.

It's hard to imagine that the process of completing such an assignment wouldn't have a noticeable impact on individual awareness.  I'm excited to see how that evolved awareness informs the projects developed in class.