feature / students / alumni / internships / graphic-design / industrial-design
December 06, 2023
By Vaish Prabhakaran
Photographed by Juan Posada

Navigating Google DesignStorm: A Journey of Creativity and Collaboration

At ArtCenter, we embrace the remarkable power of industry partnership to prepare students for success. Vaish Prabhakaran (Grad ID) recapped a Google DesignStorm that was a journey of creativity and collaboration. 

In just three days, I experienced the remarkable power of creativity and collaboration during the Google DesignStorm in Partnership with ArtCenter. 

In a room filled with brilliant minds, I realized the immense impact of bringing creative individuals together. Despite the storm of ideas and stress, sparks of innovation flew freely. We transformed research into testable ideas in three days—an astonishing feat that I would not have believed was possible at the beginning of the storm.

Day 1 – We were grouped into threes and quickly began collecting thoughts and embracing the unique perspectives we each brought. Guided by the Google and ArtCenter teams, we analyzed thoughts and trends, digested feedback from presentations and discussions, and brainstormed new directions using the What-If? And clustering exercises.

Day 2 – After a brief rest, we uncovered core insights and transitioned to ideation, scenario development and physical solutions. We researched technology, sketched forms, and considered user emotions and habits.

Day 3 – We broke down tasks, crafted a user journey, and delved into CAD modeling, rendering and interface development. After producing renders and imagery, we presented our vision of the concept as a story and received invaluable feedback.

The fidelity of concepts created in just two-and-a-half days was astonishing. This experience makes me ponder: should design storms have an "after storm" phase for fresh perspectives? For us to step outside our thoughts to get some new view? I realized I had many more thoughts or ways we could have done better after a day of rest. Or are DesignStorm meant to evolve continually, and this time constraint is crucial to the process?

Above all, this experience exemplifies Co-Design, where everyone's thoughts and inputs profoundly impact the result. I want to invite you to join this conversation. Have you encountered similar revelations in your creative endeavors? Share your experiences. Let's explore together!