Walking for ideation: walking with and without human companions and its impact on creative ideation

How do walking companions’ impact creative thought for ideation? This article uses creative practice research to address gaps in the literature on the connection between walking and creative ideation, to question the role that walking companions play on mental thoughts for creative ideation.Positioned within a field of literature that unpacks walking, place, thinking, and creativity, this case study will share my creative development of the surface pattern design ‘The Paths. The Women’. The study will engage creative practice research to study the creative process within my existing design practice focusing on ideation within the act of walking in place.The article will share my experience of two walks completed to assist the development of this design, one with and one without human companions. My thoughts will be externalised through a method of translation called imagined interactions, which shares mental images and internal dialogues, through writing and sketches. Imagined interactions serve as a tool to question the similarities and differences between the walking experiences, including safety, observations, shared knowledge, and mental processes, to propose that walking alone is the most conducive approach to the formation of ideas for creative outcomes within my practice.My aim is to provide other creative practitioners with a case study that shares the pathway of thought when walking and how this pathway is influenced by walking companions. This research may help inform other creative practitioners when choosing companions for their own walks for creative ideation.