Design vs Logic

It seems that I have alot to write about every week after Design Theory lecture.
There are many interesting theories apparently shared by others that I totally agree with.

"I believe that 'design' as such is grossly undervalued in our society and education - because the awful Greek gang of three* led us to believe that analysis and judgement were enough. Most of the major problems in the world will not be solved by further analysis. They need design.

Then there is the visual element. I have always thought it a pity that the world was run by literary blokes because the visual side is so much more powerful and constructive.

Too often we think of creativity just as 'art'. But art is not in fact a very high expression of creativity because art can be wonderful without much change in ideas or perception.

For hundreds of years we have believed that if something is logical in hindsight then logic should have been enough to get the idea in the first place. This is complete and total rubbish in a patterning system. Most of our thinking and education is based on this absurdly false belief.

We are not beginning to understand the game of creativity and it may soon be the case that conformists will become more creative than the rebels - if the conformists have the motivation to learn the game of creativity.

The definition of a provocation is simple: there may not be a reason for saying something until after it has been said. This is totally contrary to out normal permitted habits but we now know that provocation is mathematically essential in a self-organising information system.

Contradictions which we are told to avoid in the world of verbal logic do not exist in perception, which is based on water logic rather than the rock logic of fixed identity.

There is insufficient design and creative energy in our traditional judgement habits. The opposite of traditional logic is not irrational chaos but the more powerful non-linear logic of perception. Only perception gives value to life. Perception is fuelled by habits, history, underlying objective reality - and the way things are presented.

Each design is a sort of perception experiment. The reader can watch the experiment being set up and can then judge if it works."

Edward de Bono
Abstracted from the foreword from the book "A Smile in the Mind"

It might be interesting to note that this man is not in or associated with the design field in any way. His major is on thought. And for him to place so much emphasis on design and creativity as opposed to logic is a refreshing change to the "reality" of logic over creativity that has been force fed to us from a young age.

I believe that design, if anything, supplements logic in the sense that without a creative design, logic would have ceased to exist in the first place. Logic came to be because of a solid design that became the norm because of its usefulness and contributing values to society.

Design definitly existed before logic.

The industry in the current age is grossly understating the power and contributing factor of design. That in turn depreciates the value of commercial designers, and the craft that they specialise in. Make no mistake, anyone can be creative. But not everyone can design.

I shall end with a favourite quote from my year coordination -
"Think about it."

*For those who were lost at the reference of the "Greek gang of three", Edward de Bono was referring to three famous Greek philosophers who have shaped the thinking habits of Western culture. They are Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.