As the artist picks his [her] way along, rejecting and accepting as he [she] goes, certain patterns of enquiry emerge.
Bridget Riley
What’s it all about?
Pattern language was originated by Alexander, Ishikawa and Silverstein, three architects who wanted to look at how to generate new building design ideas. The basis of the approach is straightforward: instead of expressing the elements of a problem in writing or verbally, you use symbols and patterns to spark new ideas. The act of drawing is used as a means for letting go of your assumptions and opening up your more intuitive responses.
What’s it for?
The purpose of the technique is to free you from the constraints of verbal or written language by taking a problem or issue and mapping it visually using a series of abstract symbols. It forces your mind to look at problems in a whole new way. Once you have produced a series of symbols, you can start to look for any visual patterns that emerge and what they suggest to you about the problem.
Using the tool
The tool takes you through the five steps of the pattern language process, helping you to break the problem down into smaller, visual chunks. It can be done on your own or with a group and is suitable for businesses of any scale. Depending on the scale of your problem, it could take anything from 15 minutes to a few hours.