Massey Research Online - Browsing by Author "Thomassen, Aukje"

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Theory as Process: “Keiko” and ‘Co-Creative Movement’.
(International Association of Societies of Design Research, 2009-10) Bradford, Mark; Thomassen, Aukje
This paper explores how designers can connect broader understandings of leadership with specific design knowledge to ‘manage’ their thinking within the ideation process. The research outlines creativity as a rigorous process – focusing on ‘how’ we think instead of purely ‘what’ we think, as design leaders in an ever-changing design environment. One way of understanding and reflecting on our existing disciplinary experience is through researching other creative “ways” such as the Japanese martial art of ‘Aikido’. Both designers and Aikidoka refine through practice – a process of shifting and reframing knowledge – with the awareness coming through the ‘doing’. In Aikido this process is conveyed by the Japanese word “keiko” which means to train, to practice, to learn, or to engage in. The aim of this autoethnographic research – based on a Grounded Theory approach to data evaluation [5] and participant observation techniques, is to structure and visualize the initial findings. The results analyze the conceptual possibilities of extending Aikido theory beyond the conventional ‘dojo’ setting in order to develop a systematic methodology for thinking about ‘co-creative movement’ as a specific form of flow [3] for enabling knowledge exchange.