Research 02: Make Something

Along the way lets put our creative juices to work. This activity comes from a classmate at Tulane and is similar to how I keep in touch with design trends, learn about new designers, and store up design ideas for later use.

• Pick up a design magazine at the bookstore or newsstand. If you are feeling adventurous pick out one that you've never read before. I like Metropolis and Dwell, but look for something that will let you discover something new.
• Comb through the pages and tear out any image that looks interesting to you. Create a pile of seed images to draw upon.
• Now collage these images together to create a room. It could be any room, even one that doesn't make too much sense.

For those of you who have never done anything like this... a collage can be as simple as you want it to be. Just tape or glue the images adjacent to each other in order to create a composition the can communicate a message.

Let the message develop itself. Don't take it too seriously.

After you develop the collage give yourself a quick review. What do your selected images say about what you might want in your home? When you examine why you placed one image adjacent to another, what does this tell you about where these kinds of adjacencies can occur in your home.

Save the collage in your Design Stockpile.