How To Boost Your Creativity
Published on Thursday, December 27, 2007 – 12:37 pm | 54 brilliant comments »
I have previously written an article on how to be creative however, it didn’t tell you how to boost your creativity.
Below are some great ways of stimulating your brain to get great ideas - fast.
Change Your Environment
Decorate a wall with old product packages, put up king size posters of your favourite designers, rip out pages of a colour catalogue and pin them up, find music that inspires you, create interesting lighting by sticking distorted paper in front of the lamps and - if you own the place - redecorate in an inspiring manner. Alternatively, cover the walls with paper and let yourself go with paints and brushes. It is a fact that decorating a work environment with flowers increases the generation of new ideas by 15% (Roger Ulrich, Ph.D., Behavioural Scientist, Texas A&M University, 2004).
Why, Why, Why Technique
Ask ‘Why?’ several times until you explore undiscovered parts of the problem you’re working on. You’re creating an advertisement. Why are you creating an advertisement? Because they need one. Why do they need one? Because they’ve got this interesting product to show off. What makes the product interesting? It glows in the dark. Why does it glow in the dark? Because (…). Suddenly, you’ll find yourself with more information to spin around.
Use Different Mediums
Got process colours? Go mix them and paint something. Draw something. Take whatever ideas you’ve got, redraw them by hand, and see if they turn out different. If possible, cut it into pieces and put it together another way.
Write Your Own Brief
Write your own brief, and include as much information as possible. Try to define the problem clearly. If you’ve got one from a client, rewrite it in your own words.
Edward De Bono’s Six Thinking Hats
- White - State the facts and figures
- Red - State the emotions.
- Black - State the negatives. Use judgment and caution.
- Yellow - State the positives.
- Green - Ideas that come by seeing things in a new light. Suggest alternatives, proposals, provocations.
- Blue - Sum up what has been learned. It controls the debate. To see it in action.
What if? Technique
If you’re stuck half-way in a design, let your mind wander. What if this was seen mirrored? What if these two switched positions? What if I inverted the whole thing? You could also go further by making stories and creating characters. What if this illustration could come over and give its opinion? Sounds too much like an acid trip for me, but some people have success with it. What if it was (put in whatever adjective you can think of)?
Use mind maps
Brainstorm, preferably with a partner, and draw a mind map. There is nothing that is as effective as mind mapping, as it has a tendency to grow and grow as you explore the topic. This can of course be combined with other techniques. Mindomo is a great web based app. Freemind is another good alternative, written in Java.
Don’t be critical
You can’t both be creative and critically judging at the same time. These are two difference processes that should take place in two different phases of the process. Write down everything, no matter how badly you’re trying to tell yourself it sucks. Get it down. There are no bad ideas, just bad decisions.
Criticism belongs later in the design process, when you’ve got so many ideas and concepts that you can begin being selective.
Osborn’s Checklist
Apply the following check list and see if it generates any new ideas or perspectives. Try to avoid being held back by assumptions of how things should be done.
Put to other uses? As it is? If modified?
Adapt? Is there anything else like this? What does this tell you? Is the past comparable?
Modify? Give it a new angle? Alter the colour, sound, odour, meaning, motion, and shape?
Magnify? Can anything be added, time, frequency, height, length, strength? Can it be duplicated, multiplied or exaggerated?
Minify? Can anything be taken away? Made smaller? Lowered? Shortened? Lightened? Omitted? Broken up?
Substitute? Different ingredients used? Other material? Other processes? Other place? Other approach? Other tone of voice? Someone else?
Rearrange? Swap components? Alter the pattern, sequence or layout? Change the pace or schedule? Transpose cause and effect?
Reverse? Opposites? Backwards? Reverse roles? Change shoes? Turn tables? Turn other cheek? Transpose ‘+/-‘?
Combine? Combine units, purposes, appeals or ideas? A blend, alloy, or an ensemble?
Force associations and connections
Pick a random word from a dictionary, a magazine, a website or wherever, and try to force connections between the word and the problem you’re solving. This could and should be combined with mind mapping and sketching.
For further creative techniques visit MyCoted.
What other methods do you use to get ideas fast?
54 comments thus far »
15 Ways to Recharge Your Brain
Published on Saturday, December 1, 2007 – 5:07 pm | 1 lonely comment »
Do you ever feel like you just aren’t thinking right? Got writers block? Feeling uncreative?
A quote from Harold Kushener says “Think of life as a good book. The further you get into it, the more it begins to make sense.” We can adapt this to our creativity; the further we get into our brains, the more it begins to make sense, and thus comes our creativity.
So if you are not just thinking right, here are 15 great ways to recharge your brain as posted on LifeClever.
1. Go for a brisk walk
2. Take a nap
3. Lie in a nearby park or on a bench and watch the clouds go by
4. Listen to music or even podcast novels
5. Browse a local bookstore
6. Stroll through a nearby art gallery
7. Get a coffee in a cafe and read the paper or, even better, a gossip magazine
8. Hit the gym
9. Meditate or do yoga
10. Hang out at the local dog run and get in touch with your animal nature
11. Window shop
12. Sit on the corner and sketch buildings
13. Memorize poetry
14. Get a massage
15. Do math problems or crosswords
What other methods do you use to be creative or recharge your brain?
1 lonely comment thus far »
How To Be Creative
Published on Monday, November 26, 2007 – 12:40 am | 24 brilliant comments »
Do you ever get asked ‘Where did you get that idea from?’ in any of your projects or pieces of work and you couldn’t answer the question? Well, I have actually come across that a few times and it made me think to myself, where do I get my creativity? How do I get my creative juices flowing? How do I boost my creativity?
I made a short list of where I usually got my ideas from and came down to two things I always did to get my creative juices flowing, that being mindmapping and finding inspiration. I then compared my ways to other creative individuals on the net but we will get to that in a bit.
Mindmapping
So what? Everyone has heard of mindmapping but are you doing it in the best possible way - the way that suits you best? The key to perfecting mind-mapping is creating your own personal style.
- Do you use keywords? Images? Both?
- Do you use a variety of colours?
- Do you use a hierarchy system? A number system? Outlines? Circles?
- Do you use random words for inspiration or do you relate words? Both?
- Are all lines & thoughts connected? Or do you loiter off into new mind maps?
You must find the best method that suits you, as the key to getting great ideas and getting your creative juices flowing is by perfecting your own personal style, as not everyone has the same way of doing things.
Finding Inspiration
If you are really stuck for ideas (even after mindmapping), I have always found that by getting an idea of what other people have done and what has succeeded (or failed) is a great way to get your feet off the ground again.
Try looking in books, magazines, newspapers, on then internet, journals, and any where else you can think of! Check this post on where to find design inspiration.
Although mindmapping and inspiration are two great ways of getting creative, there are many other ways to help you out. For example, a creative blog by the name of Think Simple Now outlines in an article how to get to your inner creativity. See below.
Other Creative Methods
Have you ever tried practicing any of the methods below? Give it a try, you’ll be surprised.
- Get Relaxed - Take a moment to do something that makes you happy; that brings you joy; that you love; that centers you. Meditate, take a walk, go for a swim, read something that puts you in a good mood, write a diary - writing down your thoughts.
- Give Gratitude - Thinking about all things you are grateful for produces a positive energy flow and vibration. As you feel the love in your heart for all the wonderful blessings and gifts in your life, you will instantly relax and feel all warm-and-fuzzy inside. In that moment of warmth and love, you are open to creative energy.
- Tickle Your Imagination - Imagination is highly visual. Try closing your eyes, and imagine that you are in a scene, any scene. Okay - pick your ideal scene, practice seeing the details of your environment in this scene. See the colours, the textures, touch something. What does it feel like? What do you hear? What do you smell? What is the temperature like? Etc. This makes you more relaxed and gives you gratitude also.
- Be In the Moment - Every outstanding musician or artist will tell you that when they are creating great music or art, there are no thoughts, they are completely in the moment, and experiencing flow. Athletes call this ‘being in the zone‘. You can practice present moment awareness by giving full attention to whatever you are doing: eating, washing dishes, making your bed, etc. Meditation helps tremendously. The book “The Power of Now” by Eckhart Tolle is also highly recommended.
- Be Inspired - Practice seeing beautiful things that moves you emotionally. Flip through a book containing thought provoking images, go to an art gallery, read something inspirational, talk to someone who calms you.
- Draw - This may sounds funny, but one of the effective ways to practice getting in touch with your creative side is to start drawing. Drawing forces you to see things differently.
- See Alternatives - Be curious. Practice asking yourself how to do something differently. When seeing the solution to a problem, ask yourself, “What are some alternative ways to doing this?“. Develop the mental attitude that “there is always another way” even when alternatives seem ‘impossible’.
- Be Open - Never shut down any idea that comes your way, do not make judgments about it. Appreciate any idea that comes to you, even ones that seem “stupid” or “obvious”. This way, you encourage more creative ideas to surface from your being.
- Think on Paper - With a bunch of loose paper, start jotting ideas down. Write everything down that comes to your head: random words, phrases, ideas, thoughts… sometimes you might want to circle things and draw lines to connect ideas. When an inspiration hits, follow it. If you suddenly have a different idea, jot it down somewhere on the page or in a new page.
What other methods do you use to be creative?
24 comments thus far »
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