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MANILA – New York-based designer and educator Lucille Tenazas taught unconventional strategies to generate creative thinking at the adobo Masterclass, which was attended by a diverse group of participants.
Currently the Associate Dean in the School of Art, Media and Technology at Parsons The New School for Design, Tenazas began her talk by emphasizing the need for continuous improvement. “I always feel that there’s more to learn. That’s what keeps my practice relevant,” she said.
Entitled Purposeful Purposelessness: A unique approach to design thinking, the class focused on projects dealing with collaborative problem solving. The participants included designers, writers, PR practitioners, and marketers, as well as participants with backgrounds in economy and psychology.
Tenazas gave her take on Immanuel Kant’s purposeful purposelessness. “When you’re younger, there are all these pressures. At a certain point, you can afford to get a little bit sidetracked. The older you are, you’ve amassed the purposeful qualities that you have… you temper your purposelessness with discipline,” she said.
Through representative projects, Tenazas shared her approach and methodology. She stressed the importance of authenticity and authorship. “The key thing is to have a sense of who you are and your value system. That has to come out in your work somehow so that people take you seriously,” she said.
Design, Tenazas said, is not simply about pretty work, but deep thinking. “Image and text – I don’t just slap them together. It’s important to understand, how are they affecting each other?” she said.
She also emphasized the importance of collaboration, and being open to new ideas. “I always assume that there’s something I can learn from everybody. Just because I’m the teacher, doesn’t mean I have the answer to everything,” she said.
Following Tenezas’ lecture presentation, the participants were involved in a collaborative project, exploring word play, chance operations, and random connections. In one exercise, participants used synesthesia as a narrative strategy by creating meaning from unrelated concepts.
The exercises were intended to make participants rethink their perception of objects, situations and ideas, in order to explore non-traditional associations to common scenarios.
