Design Course
Product Design 1
An introductory course
by
Synectics
The very next day Mrs. Sharmila - IDC, IIT Bombay, a PhD student was asked to tell students about the use of yet another idea generation technique to students - Synectics.
The term Synectics is from the Greek word synectikos, which means “bringing forth together,” or “bringing different things into a unified connection.” Synectics is about making connections.
Synectics is an art of thinking with the help of metaphors and analogies. The techniques of Synectics - Personal analogy, Direct analogy and Fantasy analogy, were explained with the help of appropriate examples.
Analogical thinking is a comparison between two things that are similar in some respects, often used to help explain something or make it easier to understand. Metaphorical thinking is when one thing is used or considered to represent another.
Architect Buckminster Fuller summed up the essence of synectics when he said all things regardless of their dissimilarity can somehow be linked together, either in a physical, psychological or symbolic way.
