What is Co-Creation?

Data-Design Dictionary
A dictionary to illuminate data-driven generative design and creative coding.

Definition

Co-Creation describes a creative strategy[1] and creative form of teamwork between different players. This approach has great creative potential to enhance the strategic and creative process, as teams that assemble as many different perspectives as possible have been proven to deliver particularly diverse results.[2] Putting together a team of such fundamentally different players as man and machine means being able to make use of the wide range of their contrasting strengths in the co-creation process – and thus generate results that produce a surprisingly different mix of these different perspectives.

Co-creation with the machine at the intersection between design and program requires creatives to rethink their creative process and to let go – in the sense of the beginner’s mindset – of any preceonceived notions about a topic. This is the only way to recognize the platonic ideas of the underlying systems of our environment and to inscribe them into an autonomous and formative program that can, among a multitude of expressions, enable the development of dynamic brand identities. Being able to understand and apply the principles of systems thinking, generative design and programming in a process lead by co-creation thus expands the scope of thought and action of creative professionals and inevitably leads to fresh ideas and new perspectives.

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Additional quotes about co-creation

„The concept of co-creation includes a wide range of participatory practices for design and decision making with stakeholders and users. Generally co-creation refers to a style of design or business practice characterized by facilitated participation in orchestrated multi-stakeholder engagements, such as structured workshops and self-organizing modes of engagement. Co-creation envelopes a wide range of skilled social practices that can considerably inform and enhance the effectiveness of organizational development, collaboration, and positive group outcomes.“[1]

[1] Peter Jones: Systemic Design: Theory, Methods, and Practice, Tokyo 2018, p. 3
[2] Christian Buengeler, Astrid C. Homan: Diversity in Teams: Was macht diverse Teams erfolgreich?, in: Petia Genkova, Tobias Ringeisen (Hg.): Handbuch Diversity Kompetenz: Perspektiven und Anwendungsfelder, Wiesbaden 2015, p. 663ff.
The bigger picture of designing and branding with data: