INTERVIEW WITH TAKU SATOH
INTERVIEW WITH TAKU SATOH
"You need to have the strength and courage to question the ideas you come up with as harshly as possible."
I talked about creativity with Taku Satoh, Director of 21_21 Design Sight. Here's what he said.
Greg Cohen: When you create something out of nothing, how do you get started?
Taku Satoh: I work in design, so I don't create things out of thin air. There are always some constraints in the design. There are various restrictions such as the wishes of the client, the preferences of the consumer, and the law. My job is to determine what needs to be done and execute it based on these constraints.
Creating something out of nothing is an invention, but what we are doing is discovery. In the situation that already exists, if you keep the issues in mind each time, think about them carefully, and look closely at society, you can discover what you can do. In other words, it is a feeling of discovering and presenting something that no one else is aware of.
Once you have an initial idea, how do you nurture it, coax it, question it, and nurture it into a finished product?
Sometimes ideas come to you when you're thinking about them, but most of the time, how about something like this? When I was sketching various things, it came to mind. If you try to draw an idea that you thought was not good, you can clearly see that it is not good. Therefore, I will sketch out any idea that comes to mind. If I come up with an overwhelmingly good idea, I will continue to improve the quality by repeating the sketch to the end, and if I accumulate several possible ideas, I will brush up on each one further.
Sketching is taking something that comes to mind and putting it out through your hands. It is a work that comes into you through your own eyes, and it is a work that repeats output and input using your body. This is very important. And once you've drawn your sketch, it's also important to leave it aside for a day and take a sober look at it the next day. In other words, look at your ideas objectively.
When you're drawing, you're so absorbed that you're likely losing your objectivity. We must look at it with a calm eye and make a strict judgment. I believe that this repetition will make it even better. And there is no completion in the design. Just as things are thrown away and become waste, everything has a future.
Why are some ideas more promising than others?
Design is the work of connecting an unspecified number of people. Since you will be interacting with many people with diverse values, you need to examine your ideas from all angles. Therefore, an idea that satisfies as many conditions as possible after being examined from as many angles as possible is a better idea. To do this, you need to have the strength and courage to question the ideas you come up with as harshly as possible. You can't be happy just because you have an idea.
When and where do your lightning bolt ideas come from?
There is a feeling that ideas always come down from above. Rather than coming up with it yourself, if you put all the conditions into yourself, forget your ego, and free your mind as much as possible, there will come a moment when you realize, "Ah!" It's not so much about me as it is about coming down from the outside. I'm not a brain scientist, so I don't know much more than that.
How do you move forward when you feel stuck or at a dead end?
Even when I come up with a terrible idea, I always want to make my work fun, so I don't get too stuck, but when I think about it, I think there are two ways to overcome it. I always have a lot of challenges, so if I get stuck, I put them aside first and move on to other tasks. It's about not overdoing it.
The other is to distract yourself by doing something you are passionate about, such as surfing, listening to music, or reading a book, which has nothing to do with work. You may be doing these two things all the time. And when I go back to the original issue, my mind is reset and clear, so I can come up with good ideas.