In my Media 1 seminar we discussed our reflective portraits in groups. After some difficulty with missing cables and confusing audio jacks, we got started. Except, there was a twist: we were to use Edward de Bono’s ‘six thinking hats’ to give feedback to our fellow group members. To simplify things, only four of the ‘hats’ were to be used:

Yellow = positive

Green = alternatives, creative, new ideas

Red = gut reaction

Black = something that doesn’t work.

This process, however, began with a rocky start and never felt comfortable to our group. Perhaps it is meant to be somewhat uncomfortable, to put one out of one’s comfort zone in an attempt to foster new ideas. One challenge was that each group member was charged with a specific ‘hat’, which created some conflict if, for example, a person with the ‘green hat’ wanted to mention something that didn’t work. I think this thinking strategy would work better as a guideline rather than a hard and fast rule. From my understanding, this thinking process is intended as an indirect and creative approach, but in the way we applied it, it felt rather limiting.